KATHRYN FLETT'S My TV Week: This Post Office Drama Really Delivers
Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office
ITVX
You could be forgiven for thinking that greeting the new year with a drama about the Post Office Horizon scandal – in which 3,500 sub-postmasters were wrongly blamed for a computer system's financial failures – might be a nice long talk with you accountant could mean. your tax position. Luckily you're wrong.
This quietly compelling four-parter turns out to be an addictive (I threw it away) exploration of a miscarriage of justice that is still unfolding almost 25 years later.
Pictured (L-R): Julie Hesmondhalgh as Suzanne, Toby Jones as Alan Bates and Monica Dolan as Jo Hamilton
The title's Mr Bates is Alan (the brilliant Toby Jones), a mild-mannered superhero sub-postmaster in Llandudno who, supported by his partner Suzanne (Julie Hesmondhalgh), becomes convinced of the Post Office's accusations of discrepancies in his accounts. owe more to Fujitsu's new computer system than to its ability to balance the books.
As Alan and Suzanne lose their business (“no job, no income, nowhere to live, all our hopes, dreams and savings in the pan,” says Suzanne) and take early retirement, Alan stashes his paperwork in their attic. house up. convinced that 'it can't just be us, right?'
That is not possible. If Mr. Bates is the brains of this drama, then Jo Hamilton (the fantastic Monica Dolan) is the heart of it. Jo, a sub-postmistress who admits she's 'not good with computers', is an early victim of the Post Office's shockingly ruthless approach to the unfolding problem.
While PO HQ spouted platitudes about the importance of its staff, behind it all was a downright Big Brother-esque approach.
In fact, make that Big Sister; two of the highest-ranking executives at the PO between 2012 and 2019, when the scandal broke, were women: CEO Paula Vennells (Lia Williams) and 'Head of Partnerships' (whatever that means) Angela van den Bogerd (Katherine Kelly).
Bafflingly, Vennells still has her CBE, while Van den Bogerd was hired as 'Head of People' at the Football Association of Wales.
There is a great ensemble cast. Ian Hart and Alex Jennings play forensic accountant Bob Rutherford and James Arbuthnot MP, whose tireless efforts to expose the scandal are ultimately successful.
Elsewhere, Shaun Dooley, Lesley Nicol (Downton's Mrs Patmore) and Will Mellor help bring Gwyneth Hughes' empathetic screenplay to life.
Kathryn Flett (pictured) watched Mr Bates VS The Post Office – the ITV drama which explored the scandal in which 3,500 sub-postmasters were wrongly blamed for a computer system's financial failures
The Post Office's approach is shockingly ruthless
If your understanding of the details of the 2019 lawsuit that saw Mr. Bates' legal victory over the Post Office is vague, this series will have you seething. Despite 3,500 accusations, 700 convictions and four suicides, no one at PO or Horizon IT maker Fujitsu has ever been criminally prosecuted. Happy new year!
Underhanded with bells on!
THE TRAITORS
Wednesday-Friday, BBC1
Presenter Claudia Winkleman (pictured) is perfectly cast in the BBC's The Traitors, which has returned for a second series
The Traitors arrived relatively unhyped last year and became a creeping super hit for the Beeb, amassing devoted fans through both word of mouth and social media saturation. I had tuned in half-heartedly, but became addicted to a strangely charming bout of ruthless venality and ruthless backstabbing.
If you're new to the format (where have you been?), here's the rundown: 22 strangers arrive at a beautiful castle in the Scottish Highlands and are dubbed the 'Faithful' – but among their ranks is secretly a pair of participants chosen by (perfectly cast) presenter Claudia Winkleman as 'Traitors'.
Their aim is to 'kill' the Faithful and win prize money of up to £120,000, collected along the way through various Survivor-style tasks.
If the Faithful manage to correctly identify the Traitors and eliminate them during the nightly Banishment, they will share the prize, but if any Traitors make it to the finals, they can take it all. It's a super big bells and whistles game of wink murder.
Last year Faithful contestants Aaron, Hannah and Meryl won – but I bet it's the charismatic traitors Wilfred, Amanda and Kieran you remember. This year's motley collection looks just as intriguing; I'll be keeping a close eye on sweet squaddie/traitor Harry…
A riotous renovation
Amanda Holden and Alan Carr present Amanda & Alan's Italian Job
I like Amanda & Alan's Italian Job (Friday, BBC1), in which Amanda Holden and Alan Carr buy abandoned Italian houses, then renovate them and sell them, with the profits going to charity.
This year the unlikely developers have bought a particularly crummy three-storey house in Tuscany, and in between the renovations we can enjoy the warm, witty banter that hints at a real friendship between two likable presenters. I participate…
There's 'fun crime', and then there's Father Brown's daytime television (Friday, BBC1), which makes Midsomer Murders look like Reservoir Dogs. In episode one, Brown (Mark Williams) witnesses a death at the village fete that is worse than death: deadly nightshades are used in a spinach-eating contest.
Regardless of the good dad's powers of detection, that the cast of a show teetering on the edge of parody keeps a straight face long enough to get their lines out is the real miracle of the show.
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