From time to time, while dealing with journalism or a program with concrete facts, there is a ridiculous expression. “As it is said, truth is often stranger than fiction.” It is the only expression that indicates that there are some people whose stories simply cannot fit into the general flow. What’s more, its occasional application disproves the other argument that fiction is most of the time crazier than the real life. In this case, Mr Bates versus the Post Office would be best described as focusing on victims of a colossal corporation that commented on one of Britain’s biggest IT disasters and blamed them for fraud. So, it is one of those stories where you have absolute faith in it before you have even watched it.
Based on the client’s submissions in the last half of the decade, one could mention other such battles – Alien Vs. Predator, Freddy Vs. Jason, or even Kramer Vs. Kramer, for that matter. But somewhere at the back of my head, I know there is Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and Mr Alan Bates, or rather Toby Jones in the movie, tries to unite a range of colleagues who’ve been deemed criminals thanks to a bug in the system meant for reporting transaction activities. And this was real life where negligence paired with spite prevailed. Bringing together evidence and creating material to motivate consumers to go to war takes years but in the end, it’s always worth it. “We will come out if we do get out but will make sure that our heads are high”, Alan Bates told his wife Suzanne, played by Julie Hesmondhalgh.
Among them are Adam James, Shaun Dooley and Monica Dolan as well as Will Mellor and Alex Jennings etc – all lending humanity and dignity even those afflicted by the land of scandal. (But what we don’t know might be lengthy). But for a person like Nadhim Zahawi – who almost just lost his MP role due to claims of financial misconduct and scandals, it is odd for him to play himself.
If Mr Bates against The Post Office also improves things a bit because Krupa Pattani’s Saman laments “They won’t ever put another picture in the paper to say I’m innocent”, then why bring in a discredited politician for PR? So, it, however, is quite awkward that this series decides to do so. Action starts in the middle with Horizon suit creating problems and a life being destroyed. ‘My life savings are already out, my credit cards are already incriminated’ sobs Jo of Dolan’s. Postmasters are having this tech support from the nether that suggests they also do not have these hitches. However it is not and although visual kinetic appeal of such digital accounting is hard to comprehend, the damage is clear and is horrendous. ‘He wants to take me down to silence me’ says Bates to the police. ‘Cos they do not want the people to know what I know.’ The danger with such a show however would be the danger of over exposition and effect of already much exposed panorama series on the plot which are also complementing books and podcasts. Mr Bates against The Post Office should be blamed for being telling rather than showing although it intends to put the names of subpostmasters to clear.
“A past master and liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators” Introducing Bates says am a board member for the chief prosecuting accountant of Inland Revenue. With these comments, each character is introduced explaining his / her position and relation to quickening the happenings in the plot.
Nevertheless, sustaining tension over four episodes of one hour each is a challenge; explaining how an institution’s contrariety can bring about wrong convictions and great tragedies can be a little annoying. There is no explanation of the Horizon system, what went wrong; narrating events that took place within a drama context is awkward. It is doubtful that many will follow Mr Bates – the post office for more than two nights.
ITV will also show one of the documentary films about this affair, And why Mr Bates vs The Post Office does not require much attention. There are such interviews with real life witnesses, As Alan Bates uself recalls it: ‘It was di “abolical” something had to be done about it’, between dramatized images taken from the show which are retelling stories like the ones seen on Crimewatch. This particular documentary gets at least some points back as it is able to focus more than its sibling and grotesquely dramatic moments are not this films goal.
Perhaps however, there is a grave weakness in the usage of oppositional titles as Toby Jones et al have employed in Mr Bates v The Post Office. He may look a very ordinary person, but to a certain extent, Bates embodies the over-generalized notion of poorly treated sub-postmasters. His is a campaign of bureaucracy – his opponent is an institution. On her part, Paula Vennells (Lia Williams) accusing the innocent franchisees closes the ranks when being the CEO of the Post Office at this time is a face, but a rather nasty disappointing one. Due to some baffling decisions in its stylistics and some of its plot’s intricacies, the subject of Mr Bates vs The Post Office has turned into a human play that lacks essential tension.
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