Mr. Bates vs The Post Office (2024)

One of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history where hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system.

This show is all based on a true story and it will make your blood boil and make you very angry at the injustice. This is still ongoing and you will not believe how long it has taken for the innocent postmasters and postmistresses to get this level of coverage. A must watch. If you are not in Britain, it will still be worth watching if you read up a little bit on the 'Horizon Post Office Scandal'. It really is just so wrong what has happened.

Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 4/5/24

Going Postal (CREDIT: ITV/Screenshot) Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out. Movies –The First Omen (Theaters) –Housekeeping for Beginners (Theaters) –Kim’s Video (Theaters) –Monkey Man (Theaters) –The People’s Joker (Theaters) TV –Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office Miniseries Premiere (April 7 on PBS)…

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Started listening to the Great Post Office Scandal book by Nick Wallis after finishing the Mr Bates vs the Post Office show, and I feel Pratchettian rage at the injustices these subpostmasters are suffering. It's all too similar to the way Reacher Gilt sucked the life out of the semaphore, the sheer incompetence & life-ruining technical faults, how whole communities were affected, the audacity of the Post Office, treating people as things and thinking themselves infallible. Yes, OK, there's a lot of scandals & frauds with those hallmarks, and I shouldn't compare real life with fiction, but the fact it's also about the Post Office and the level of trust people had in that brand, and how that trust was flagrantly taken for granted... I just despair at how right Pratchett was.

Steal five dollars and you're a common thief. Steal thousands and you're either the government or a hero.

...

There was no safety. There was no pride. All there was, was money. Everything became money, and money became everything. Money treated us as if we were things, and we died.

MR BATES VS THE POST OFFICE: Episode 01 dir. James Strong, 2024

by the way, i cannot express with human words how strange it is to work on something, quietly chugging away in the background, for literal decades and then have a tv drama made about it and suddenly the entire nation is screaming for blood

Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024)

Directed by: James Strong

Written by: Gwyneth Hughes

Genre: Drama | Based on Real Events

Staring: Toby Jones | Julie Hesmondhalgh | Monica Dolan | Shaun Dooley | Ian Hart | Will Mellor | Lia Williams

Runtime: 200 Mins

Rating: 8.9/10

Watched: 01/01/2024 - 04/01/2024

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I have never been more angry at a woman, person or company as I am at Paula Vennels and The Post Office.

The amount of people who will never get justice from the lies and sentences pushed by the Post Office.

This happened during my lifetime, my 10th birthday being a date directly referenced in the series. And I had no clue this travesty of justice was happening.

Great acting by all in this series omg - so so good.

Toby Jones was incredible. All the actors were. The friendship between Alan and Jo was so well done.

Oh, and the events depicted are still ongoing - Justice for the SubPostmasters.

kinda neat how media can be used as a jumping off point to learn about new things. there are the obvious things like documentaries, but then there are all sorts of other things. when 'hamilton' first got big, you ended up with people learning about aaron burr and the new york water system and various trivia from usa history around that era which wasn't even featured in the musical itself.

when 'mr bates vs the post office' came out recently over here (UK), a whole lot of people were able to appreciate the impact the whole horizon/post office affair had on its victims. sure, the story has been in the news for a few years now, but it's the first time it's been a story actively discussed in daily life. and people learning more about it has actively pushed the government to consider speeding up compensation or mass exonerations.

and even aside from these obvious instances, there are a lot that don't tell you up front and you realise as you're watching. when shows and films and books reference real life events through the veneer of fiction. suzume, referencing the tohoku earthquake of 2011 (something I imagine pretty much every japanese citizen is aware of - suzume's own age is very deliberate in how she lost her mother to the quake. she was very young at the time it happened, but it still had a huge impact on her and many others). link click, referencing the 2008 sichuan earthquake (and deliberately having the arc revolve around school-age children in a run-down old building when irl one of the reasons the casualties were so high was because of poor construction of school buildings). various kdramas referencing generational SK disasters: imf financial crisis (explored in 'reborn rich', but I imagine many other shows), sampoong department store collapse (referenced in 'move to heaven', but again, once I knew the history, it made a lot of sense why so many corrupt villains in kdramas were specifically involved in construction).

it's a mix of how, if you know the events being referenced, they'll impact you more. but if you don't know the events, then it gives you a reason to learn. I personally had very very vague memories of the 2008 earthquake, just in terms of some clips on the news at the time. I had no idea about the various factors that made the disaster so much worse until I realised what was being referenced when watching the show and decided to read up on it.

I have somewhat conflicted feelings on how fictional (or dramatised in the case of mr bates) media approaches specifically *disasters*, as opposed to other historical events, but I think the shows I've mentioned here at least take a victim-first approach.

To everyone overseas who's going to be watching 'Mr Bates Versus The Post Office' - from a Brit who's seen it.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE TISSUES HANDY, before the start! You will cry- and you may also swear occasionally.

@paulinedorchester @kivrin (?)

Do you believe the arts (visual, written, music, film and TV, etc) can change the world…?

I think I’m seeing it happen right in front of me… and it’s awe-inspiring!

I think the writers, producers, directors and actors of the ITV true drama “Mr Bates v The Post Office” are making just this happen as they provoke public outrage at a story all about balancing ledgers and financial systems… As a qualified accountant, I know this is an outstanding creative achievement!

Sometimes artists do try to change the society they live in. Pablo Picasso’s 1937 painting “Guernica” – which represents the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians - is one example. At about 16:30 on Monday, 26 April 1937, warplanes of the German Condor Legion, commanded by Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, bombed Guernica for about two hours. On completion, Picasso’s response to the atrocity was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed. This tour helped bring the Spanish Civil War to the world's attention.

Many of the others I’ve looked at - bearing the description of “art that literally changed the world” - changed the arts rather than fundamentally benefitting large numbers of people’s lives, something that makes those involved in the “The Bates” program’s achievement all the greater. That team have called out in a compelling way a collapse of justice, and so a collapse of part of our society. They have changed the welfare and life chances of more than 700 sub-postmasters, convicted of theft after the faulty accounting system Horizon showed money was going missing around the UK.

I may be an idealist, but I believe visual artists can change the lives of other individuals, giving them images that are special to them, that can lift their spirits and give them comfort in difficult times. That’s what I aim to do.

In the UK, we’re nations who are good at the arts: taking a blank piece of paper, silence or an unknown character and injecting life into it. Our creativity is one way we’ve created wealth. Just think of Harry Potter…!

I believe great art finds a way to tell the deeper truths within its creativity. So maybe now it’s time for some of us to think bigger, like the “Mr Bates” team, to change society for the better with our art…

What do you think…?

Thanks!

Sam aka LymphomaLass xx

Entertainment To-Do List: Week of 4/26/24

Daaaaaa Bates (CREDIT: PBS/Screenshot) Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out. Movies –Boy Kills World (Theaters) –Challengers (Theaters) – I’ve enjoyed “S&M” in the trailer. TV -White House Correspondents’ Dinner (April 27 on C-SPAN) – Colin Jost hosts. –The Real Story of Mr. Bates vs. the Post…

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MR BATES VS THE POST OFFICE: Episode 01 dir. James Strong, 2024

Miniserie, vier Episoden in einem Rutsch; Menschen mit Rückgrat und Arsch in der Hose, welche Ungerechtigkeit Paroli bieten, dem Gegenwind trotzen und nicht einknicken, chapeau; hatte ich von gelesen, surreal, dass die Geschichte aus der Gegenwart stammt, gleichwohl absolut authentisch, genauso läuft's, genauso: Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

In Short: Post Office Pledges Give Tories Lead in Polls by 100%

A recent poll shows that pledges made by the Conservative party and leader Rish! Sunak to ensure justice for those effected by the Post Office Horizon scandal now sees them with an unassailable lead of 100% over Labour.

This comes in stark contrast to their declining popularity and public outrage in the party after numerous scandals and shortcomings since being returned to office in 2019.

These numbers show newfound overwhelming public approval in the current government and the Conservatives now look to retain and even improve their majority in this year's general election.