The writer of ITV’s show about the Post Office scandal has said she’s “astounded” by the response to what she considered “quite a niche story”.
Gwyneth Hughes spent three years developing the four-part series Mr Bates vs the Post Office that was released on ITV1 on New Year’s day.
The hit drama, inspired by real-life Post Office hero Alan Bates, maps the long road to justice after over 700 workers were prosecuted for theft, fraud, and false accounting.
In 1999, a glitch in the Post Office’s IT system, a software called Horizon that was developed by Japanese firm Fujitsu, reported cash missing from branches across the country, as thousands of workers came under scrutiny.
The accusations devastated the lives and families of hundreds of subpostmasters and subpostmistresses, many of whom lost their jobs and homes. At least four people died by suicide in the aftermath of what has been called the greatest miscarriage of justice in Britain’s history.
Hughes, whose credits include the Golden Globe-nominated Five Days, told The Guardianthat none of the show’s creators imagined Mr Bates would become a landmark moment in the scandal’s history after it triggered a widespread, renewed interest in the case.
Over a million people have signed a petition demanding former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells be stripped of her CBE in the wake of the show’s release. Vennells oversaw the corporation while it maintained there were no problems with Horizon.
In a new interview on 9 January, Hughes said the postmasters, whose stories were depicted in the “blood-boiling” show, were “ecstatic” by the public’s response to the show.
Toby Jones, as Alan Bates, reveals what he is really fighting for in emotional final episode of Mr Bates vs the Post Office— (ITV/Mr Bates vs the Post Office)
“None of us expected this,” she told the newspaper. “I thought it was quite a niche story which would get respectable viewing figures but I was completely wrong.”
Hughes credited the team behind the show, adding: “I’m thrilled about it on every level, but it’s been a massive team effort, a team that includes hundreds of postmasters.”
British actor Toby Jones portrayed Bates, a former subpostmaster who has tirelessly led a 20-year fight against the Post Office, on the show.
In a separate interview with Deadline, Hughes said she was worried the length, breadth and complexity of the story can be off-putting”, noting the team was prepared to get “flattened by The Tourist“ – the BBC’s smash-hit thriller starring Jamie Dornan that was released on the same day as Mr Bates.
The British screenwriter explained: “Before transmission our boss was trying to comfort us saying it probably wouldn’t do that well and asking us not to get upset when we get flattened by The Tourist.
“And it’s just built and built and built. The politics of the moment is frustrating everyone and, to our surprise, I think that is what we have tapped into.”
According to overnight ratings, 3.5 million people tuned into watch Mr Bates, over a million more than the viewing figures for The Tourist.
Mr Bates vs the Post Office is currently streaming on ITVX.
