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Airdate: Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Smash hit UK drama to screen in double episodes on Seven in February.

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Acclaimed UK drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office will screen in double episodes across two nights in February on Seven.

The ITV series, starring Toby Jones, shocked Britain, was watched by millions and led to unprecedented cultural and social change.

It tells the story of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Hundreds of innocent subpostmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting due to a defective IT system. Many of the wronged workers were prosecuted, some were imprisoned for crimes they never committed, and lives were irreparably damaged.

The cast includes BAFTA award-winning Toby Jones (Empire of Light, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Detectorists) who portrays Alan Bates. Monica Dolan (The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe); Julie Hesmondhalgh (The Pact, The Trouble With Maggie Cole); Alex Jennings (This Is Going to Hurt, The Crown); Ian Hart (The Responder); Lia Williams (The Crown, The Capture); Will Mellor (Coronation Street, No Offence); Clare Calbraith (Grace, Anne); Shaun Dooley (Gentleman Jack, It’s A Sin); Amit Shah (Happy Valley); Lesley Nicol (Downton Abbey); Adam James (The Suspect, Vigil); and Katherine Kelly (Bloods, Gentleman Jack) are also part of the cast.

Mr Bates vs The Post Office is written by acclaimed screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes (Tom Jones, Honour, Vanity Fair) and produced by ITV Studios and Little Gem. The series is directed by James Strong (Broadchurch, Crime, Vigil) and produced by Chris Clough (World On Fire, The Missing). It is executive produced by Patrick Spence (A Spy Among Friends, Adult Material) for ITV Studios, Natasha Bondy, and Ben Gale on behalf of Little Gem (Emily Atack: Asking For It?, Paul Merson: Football, Gambling and Me), James Strong, Gwyneth Hughes and Joe Williams (Litvinenko, Lupin).

Since its debut in the UK on 1 January, 2024, Mr Bates vs The Post Office has been watched by 12.5 million people – ITV’s best new drama in 10 years – but it’s profound cultural and social influence is unprecedented: reigniting the conversation over the Horizon scandal; introducing new hearings and legislations to have convictions quashed; motivating more than 100 potential new victims to come forward; and inspiring a successful online petition to strip Paula Vennells, Post Office CEO at the time, of her CBE.

8.30pm Wednesday, 14 February and Wednesday, 21 February on Seven.

4 Responses

  1. i dont like double episodes its too long to watch, its better when its a single episode or they could put it on two nights in a row as a single episode, better then a double episode

  2. I believe the Independent public statutory inquiry into the Horizon Post Office scandal went on for some time at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds, so it would not be surprising that this iTV Studios drama was a smash hit. I hope the next drama to be made will be the UK Covid pandemic inquiry, that too should pose a few questions, including for the media.

  3. Seven sure know how to botch things. We know that ‘8:30pm’ really means ‘nearly 9pm’, and with double episodes that means it will finished around 11pm.

    At least there is 7plus for those that haven’t watched it already.

  4. I’m looking forward to this, but my god the OTT trailer Ch7 have put out for it. Exposing the biggest scandal of our time. Well no not here in Australia!
    I don’t see this going very well

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