Yahoo News Mr Bates vs The Post Office: Which characters are real or fictionalised?
ITV recently dropped the four-part series, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which tells the true story of the Post Office scandal which took place throughout the early 2000s, and saw postmasters all over the country wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting because of faulty accounting software.
But while the story is real, how many of the characters in Mr Bates vs The Post Offiare actually real, and where are they now? Here's what we could dig up on the lead roles, from the cast who play them, to what they look like now.
Alan Bates
Here, actor Toby Jones is photographed with the real Alan Bates, who campaigned tirelessly to bring the Post Office scandal to light after being wrongly accused of fraud.
Suzanne Sercombe
Broadchurch's Julie Hesmondhalgh plays Suzanne Sercombe in the ITV drama, who is Alan Bates' real life wife. Speaking about playing her, Julie said of the show, "[Suzanne] wouldn't thank me for saying this, but I think there is such a deep and abiding love and respect between those two people, one that is quite rare and precious.
"Suzanne has, in lots and lots of ways, put her own life on hold and sacrificed huge amounts to this cause. I don't think she had a choice in that really, in that it happened to them. They didn’t cause it."
Paula Vennells
Played by Lia Williams (who you might recognise from The Capture and The Crown), Paula was the real CEO of Post Office Limited from 2012 to 2019. As portrayed on the show, she insisted Horizon was a "robust" system in real life, but later apologised and stepped down from multiple board positions in 2021 when the Post Office convictions were squashed. There is currently a campaign to strip her of her CBE.
Bob Rutherford
Played by Ian Hart (who played Voldermort in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone), Rutherford is the independent investigator who was hired to look into complaints against the Post Office in the ITV show. It doesn't appear Bob was the real head of investigations.
Jo Hamilton
66-year-old former subpostmistress Jo Hamilton was a real person, photographed here with actor Monica Dolan, who was accused of stealing over £30,000. She appeared in court in February 2008, and accepted a lesser charge of false accounting, with her village rallying round to support her. Her conviction was retracted in 2021, and she still campaigns for fellow victims of the scandal now.
Michael and Susan Rudkin
Michael is a real person (see his picture here), who lost his job and union position when his wife, Susan, was wrongly convicted of stealing money from the Post Office. They eventually had to turn their family home into a B&B, and say they lost their position within the community. Susan's conviction was finally overturned in April 2021.
In Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Michael is played by Shaun Dooley. It's unclear whether his discovery at Horizon headquarters was real or fictionalised.
Pam Stubbs
Pam is a real person, who was a subpostmaster at the Barkham Post Office near Wokingham. She was accused of losing £25,000. You can see her picture here.
Lee Castleton
Lee Castleton, played by Will Mellor in Mr Bates vs The Post Office, is a real person, who was bankrupted by the Post Office when they took him to court over £25,000 worth of discrepancies, which showed up on his Horizon IT system. He eventually was charged with £321,000 of costs.
On what the legal action did to his family, the real Lee said (via The Mirror): "It changed our lives completely. It was absolutely terrible and devastating."
Angela van den Bogerd
Played by Katherine Kelly, Angela is a real business person who worked at the Post Office in various different positions for over 33 years. She was reportedly in charge of handling Horizon complaints in 2010, and was a key figure in Mr Bates vs The Post Office for seemingly misleading the investigation.
In December 2020 during court hearings, judgeRt Hon Justice Fraser, criticised her for failing to give "frank evidence, and sought to obfuscate matters, and mislead me". You can see her picture here.
Saman Kaur
Played by Krupa Pattani from Hollyoaks, Metro say Saman was a real subpostmistress who was accused of stealing from the Post Office. She suffered badly with her mental health as a result, and sadly contemplated suicide, though it's unknown if the scenes from the show were actually real.
Mr Bates v The Post Office is now streaming on ITV X in full
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