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‘Mr Bates vs The Post Office’: The U.K. Drama That Changed British Legal History Comes to Masterpiece on PBS
After 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office' premiered in the U.K. in January, the scandal dominated headlines and changed the law — now it's coming to PBS.
“When I heard that for the first time, I thought ‘this cannot be true,'” says screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes, who spoke to Hamilton and used her story for “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” a four-part series premiering on PBS’ Masterpiece on April 7. Paula Vennells, a former CEO of the Post Office who is a character in the drama, was stripped of her CBE award by King Charles for “bringing the honors system into disrepute.” And Alan Bates, a former subpostmaster who spearheaded a campaign for justice and is the primary focus of the series, portrayed by Toby Jones, became an immediate household name. Hughes, a documentary director and former news journalist, was in close, frequent contact with those affected to capture the nuances of the legal case and the arduous efforts to clear victim’s names, whilst making the series accessible to those who had not followed the scandal beforehand.
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