ITV Mr Bates vs The Post Office viewers fume over infuriating twist to scandal

03 January 2024 , 08:51

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ITV Mr Bates vs The Post Office viewers fume over shocking twist to the scandal

Mr Bates vs The Post Office viewers were fuming after watching the second episode unfold on their screens.

The ITV drama - which stars Toby Jones as the real-life hero Alan Bates - follows the story of Mr Bates' decades-long fight against the Post Office on behalf of hundreds of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses wrongfully prosecuted. Many of them were wrongly jailed and had to pay back thousands of pounds, leaving them bankrupt.

Mr Bates vs The Post Office documents Mr Bates's struggle to get justice and how it had affected so many people up and down the country. In the second episode of the jaw-dropping drama, viewers find out how computer firm Fujitsu, whom the Post Office hired, were inadvertently able to modify the subpostmaster's inputted financial figures remotely.

Shaun Dooley's character, wrongly-convicted victim Michael Rudkin, is heard saying: "That means they can sneak in behind your backs, change your figures and bugger off and leave without a trace."

Shaun Dooley plays wrongly-convicted victim Michael Rudkin (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Fans were left with their jaws on the floor and rushed to X, formerly known as Twitter, to discuss the suffering the affected had gone through and how justice hadn't been served.

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One viewer questioned: "This is making my blood boil. Post Office must've known that Fujitsu had full remote access but why would they allow it? All in it together? Smelling too many rats tbh!" while another posted: "Extraordinary and gobsmacking information about Fujitsu part in The Post Office Scandal. They should be ashamed, prosecuted and sued."

Mr Bates vs The Post Office documents Mr Bates's struggle to get justice (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

"With a sixth writing: "First part of episode 2 of Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and my jaw is on the floor! Wow... it's actually unbelievable what went on, shocking what they all went through." one shocked viewer posted while another said they were 'gobsmacked' by the revelations.

Alan Bates, who along with his partner Suzanne Sercombe in 1998, used life savings to buy a Post Office branch in Llandudno, North Wales. Alan (played by Detectorists star Toby Jones) didn't accept liability like many other postmasters and postmistresses, and the Post Office terminated their contract with three months’ notice. Alan and his partner lost the £65,000 they invested and went on to set up a campaign for Post Office whistleblowers.

After a lot of time and effort, Alan and five others took the Post Office to the High Court in a Group Litigation Order covering 555 claimants. Judge Mr Justice Fraser ruled computer errors were to blame. Meanwhile, the Mirror revealed last month that Alan turned down the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) honour as the person he and many others blame for the scandal, Paula Vennells, still retains her own to this day.

Zara Woodcock