The Emmys don’t always get everything right. Mr Bates vs. The Post Office, one of the finest television productions in recent memory, was completely shut out of this year’s nominations. While a miniseries’ worth should never be measured in trophies, Mr Bates vs. The Post Office has gotten far more attention in the UK than in the USA, and that needs to change.
Not since Chernobyl has a television show had as much moral resonance as Mr Bates vs. The Post Office. Like Chernobyl, Mr Bates vs. The Post Office is based on true events. Billed as “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history,” this is the story of ordinary, honest, hardworking people who were caught up in a system that only cared about protecting its own image, never caring about how many lives and reputations were destroyed thanks to the cold actions of a soulless bureaucracy.
It is important to note that the British Post Office is run a bit differently than in the United States. In the UK, Post Office Limited is a state-owned private company, and until recently, it had a very positive reputation. Many of the Post Office branches throughout the UK are little kiosks in other retail establishments, such as convenience stores, cafés, and even knitting shops. They are run by “subpostmasters,” who run the Post Office branches as supplementary businesses in a manner comparable to franchisees. The victims of the Post Office scandal are scores of subpostmasters, mainly people who made their livings running another sort of shop, and then built a Post Office (a small, glass-paneled, lockable room) inside their store or restaurant.
Subpostmasters provide not just mailing services, but they also help senior citizens receive their pensions and play other important social roles, especially in small villages. Subpostmasters must pay substantial fees and costs to Post Office Limited, but the subpostmasters are allowed to keep the remaining profits.
And this is how hundreds of innocent people were accused of theft. Post Office Limited ordered all subpostmasters to use Horizon, a computerized system that was supposed to make accounting easier. However, many Horizon machines started malfunctioning, declaring that numerous Post Office branches were missing massive sums, and the subpostmasters were contractually obligated to make up the deficits out of their own pockets. Hundreds of subpostmasters lost their livelihoods, or their good names, or their savings, or their homes, and sometimes all of these. Some became depressed, and some were railroaded into prison sentences. The victims protested their innocence, and the British justice system didn’t listen. The powers that be believed the Post Office, and the Post Office insisted that its systems were perfect and that no widespread reports of Horizon were ever made.
The title character, Alan Bates, is played masterfully by Toby Jones. Bates is an ordinary man accused of misconduct, but when most people simply roll over and take their blows, Bates becomes the leader of the movement for vindication, finding fellow victims and organizing campaigns to publicize how they have been wronged. It’s a long process, spanning a decade and a half, and even though the truth has now seeped into the public consciousness, especially due to this miniseries, the battle for compensation is still ongoing. Jones plays Bates as a man fueled by a combination of conscience and stubbornness, yet despite the odds stacked against him, he always keeps a humorous twinkle in his eye.
Monica Dolan also shines as Jo Hamilton, a kind-hearted woman who is increasingly flustered by a system that attacks her thanks to a computer glitch they refuse to investigate. Julie Hesmondhalgh is terrific as Suzanne Sercombe, Bates’ supportive wife who struggles with her own challenges. Will Mellor is a strong presence as Lee Castleton, a man whose family and career are drawn into a Kafkaesque nightmare. Lesley Nichol is quietly but forcefully indignant as Pam Stubbs, a woman who strives to keep her dignity when under fire by bureaucrats. Krupa Pattani is quietly heartbreaking as Saman Kaur, whose mental health crumbles under the false allegations. Ian Hart charms as Bob Rutherford, a forensic accountant who soon becomes one of the staunchest allies of the wrongly accused. It’s a terrific cast, and in many cases, the actors closely resemble the people they portray.
A principal reason why Mr Bates vs. The Post Office works so well is its restraint. Yes, there’s a great deal of outrage throughout the production, but it’s largely internalized and underplayed, which somehow makes it much more meaningful than the many “issue” productions that rely on overwrought speeches and histrionics in order to make blatant, nuance-free political points. Mr Bates vs. The Post Office focuses on the human cost of a faceless government-run organization running amok. Viewers are shown people in distress, listen to real-life horror stories, and every little moment adds up to an emotional wallop that far exceeds the sum of its parts.
Ultimately, Mr Bates vs. The Post Office asks the viewers not only to ask themselves how far they would go to clear their own names, but also how hard they would fight to force powerful forces in the government to admit that they were wrong. The production is a sharp rebuke against those who place reputation over righteousness, and who will sacrifice anyone in their way in order to preserve the “greater good” of a spotless unearned reputation for “good government.”
Furthermore, Mr Bates vs. The Post Office is a shining example of the power of drama to create change for the better. The series has arguably done more to bring this miscarriage of justice to public attention than all of the preceding news coverage. But while most “issue movies” collapse under the weight of their own smug self-importance, Mr Bates vs. The Post Office rises because it never forgets the basic truth that ordinary people matter, and the weight of the Leviathan must not prevail against people who will not lie still and allow themselves to be crushed.
Mr Bates vs. The Post Office is available on MASTERPIECE on PBS and on the PBS Masterpiece channel on Amazon, and on ITV in the UK.
