Dear Editor,
I was very surprised to hear that the authors of ‘Mr Bates vs the Post Office’ were amazed at the public reaction to their excellent docu-drama,
All around the country people were, like me, shouting at the television with complete indignation and disgust at the awful treatment of innocent folk by an uncaring and dishonest institution… aided by our government’s inaction.
Even those of us who were aware of the issue, I am sure, hadn’t seen it in these real human terms.
Suddenly ministers are seen to go into action, as if they didn’t know about the problem all along. Even our short trousered PM couldn’t hide behind his normal ‘We have to wait for the results of the on-going enquiry’ as an excuse to kick it into the long grass. This because its a cut and dried case. The victims are owed the money, their convictions must be crushed and those in the Post Office who lied must be punished.
ITV recently produced a programme about Partygate which portrayed those goings on in Number 10 during Covid. It seems that mainstream television can reach parts that other media cannot reach. ITV needs to attract mass audiences to sell advertising, unlike the BBC who would not have dared to produce the above programmes because of reliance on the government who decide their revenue.
On a more serious note, the previous President of the United States, Donald Trump became known because of ‘The Apprentice’ in the USA. He has used that platform to appeal to a large section of the public that values celebrity above authenticity. Thus, his mate Nigel Farage, saw baring his bum on ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here’ in a similar vein.
Oh how I wish that the powers within ITV would produce a programme on Brexit, outlining the lies, deceit and the ulterior motives of its main characters.
Some hope.
Ian Jacques
