The Post Office Scandal has dominated the news in the last week, following the airing of the blistering ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office. The four parter amplifies the stories of thousands of postmasters and postmistresses who were falsely accused of stealing from the Post Office, when in fact it was financial discrepancies caused by the Horizon IT system. 18 postmasters have since died without seeing justice or full compensation and no current or former post office manager has faced a criminal charge.
It has been rightfully pointed out that the scandal, widely considered to be the widest miscarriage of justice in British history, has been reported and investigated by journalists for a number of years. The Great Post Office Trial podcast, which first came out in 2020, goes into the story in a great level of detail.
Nick Wallis and Rebecca Thomson, who have been reporting extensively on the Post Office for a number of years, also have a podcast called Investigating the Post Office Scandal, where they track the latest developments in great detail.
The Rest is Entertainment, the podcast fronted by Richard Osman and Marina Hyde, had a discussion on how TV dramas can help deliver justice. “It is fantastic for a linear television broadcast drama to light the public consciousness like this,” says Hyde. “Whatever it takes to get it over the line. The way that television has done this is an incredible story.”
Speaking of the Post Office Scandal, Toby Jones was on Prospect Magazine’s Media Confidential and Tortoise’s James Harding talked media reaction on Pod Save the UK too.
