Everything to Know About The True Story of 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office'

Despite sounding exactly like one of those twee English village comedies with ludicrously small stakes and a lot of homegrown British heart, Mr Bates vs The Post Office is about one of the most egregious and calamitous miscarriages of justice seen in the United Kingdom. Masterpiece will run an explainer, The Real Mr Bates vs The Post Office, when the series concludes, but until then, we're here to help.

Between 1999 and 2015, some 900 Post Office workers or partners were convicted of stealing from or defrauding the Post Office because of massive financial discrepancies that appeared suddenly or without reason in their computerized accounts. Post Office Limited, denying that there was any fault in their expensive and widely used computer program “Horizon,” saw to it that hundreds were convicted and more bankrupted themselves, making up the losses that the buggy computer system alleged were their fault.

Decades passed before these workers, known as “subpostmasters,” built momentum enough to challenge the Post Office’s allegations against them, as the company remained obstinate in its stance that Horizon was capable of any faults. This, as Mr Bates vs the Post Office reveals, was a massive lie, and the extensive reach of such a lie makes it extraordinarily difficult for the victims to truly be compensated. But for those who are just now hearing of what went down, here’s a brief explainer.