'Mr Bates vs The Post Office' series gives British postal scandal victims a face

The 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office' series is making a stir in the UK. The big and complicated Post Office scandal is clearly explained in the drama series. But sometimes the creators rely a little too much on explanation dialogues.Authors Thijs SchrikPublished on January 23, 2024Reading time2 minutes

The cast of Mr Bates vs The Post Office, centered on Toby Jones as Alan Bates. They were dismissed as fraudsters and criminals. It was the British post office managers who were responsible for the unexplained cash shortages that appeared on their screens. It really couldn't be because of the computers. At the start of the drama series Mr Bates vs The Post Office, we see it happen: a woman, Jo Hamilton, calls the help desk about the problems at her store and sees the debt on her computer screen double during the conversation. “You have to pay losses yourself,” says the voice on the other end of the line. The panic in Jo's eyes is visible: she (wrongly) thinks it's her one.Mr Bates vs The Post OfficeFrom: Gwyneth Hughes, James Strong.Featuring: Toby Jones, Monica Dolan, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Alex Jennings.npo Start, from Thursday, January 25. 4 episodes of 50 min.Jo was always told she was only the one with these kinds of problems, but in reality there there were many just like them. The Post Office, the umbrella post office company in Britain, accused hundreds of people and ruined their lives. There were convictions, and some even went to jail unfairly. But the fault did not lie with the post office administrators, the problem was caused by malfunctioning software.In Mr Bates vs The Post Office, victims like Jo (played by Monica Dolan) get a face and things get complicated Post Office scandal explained in a clear way. The series made a stir among the British at the beginning of January and the government now wants to work urgently on solutions. An impressive result that shows how much impact a series can have.Don't give upThe thread running through the series is the struggle of former post office administrator Alan Bates, a man who spent many years trying to get reparations for all unjustly convicted people. Actor Toby Jones portrays him as a sober man who simply refuses to give up. With his wife at his side, he manages to get more and more victims together, including Jo Hamilton.Read alSOA drama series turned out to be needed to exonerate British 'positions'A post office in London earlier this month. There is nothing wrong with the intentions of writer Gwyneth Hughes and director James Strong: the series was made with integrity, with respect for the victims. If you look purely at the quality of the series, there are some drawbacks. It is not surprising that the series sometimes takes the viewer by the hand, after all, it is about complicated matter. But the dialogues sometimes feel very unnatural. Some texts simply contain a load of information that needs to be conveyed. It sometimes gets stuck in “you're a good person, the Post Office people are evil”. There is little room for subtlety: Jo, for example, is constantly on the verge of crying; she doesn't become a three-dimensional character because of that. Other characters, such as Alan's wife, seem mainly there to tell the viewer how to do it. voelen.Dat the series remains entertaining is due to the strong actors who, despite the explanatory texts, still give their characters authenticity. Jones, in particular, continues to play at the top level throughout the series as the stubborn Mr. Bates. Mr Bates vs The Post Office is therefore still a mandatory cost. The Post Office scandal has clear similarities with the Allowance scandal in the Netherlands. Maybe the Netherlands also needs a drama series to the recovery operation to improve and accelerate.