Where Alan Bates is now and his thoughts on Mr Bates vs The Post Office

dailyrecord.co.uk:

ITV's Mr Bates vs The Post Office has had viewers hooked with its new four-part series.The series highlights Alan Bates and his role in the scandal which destroyed many people's lives at the hands of a faulty computer system called Horizon.Alan famously steered a class action suit in the noughties after the Post Office scandal saw thousands of postmasters being incorrectly accused of fraud following the introduction of the new system.Shortly after the new IT system was put into play postmasters started reporting unexplained discrepancies and losses and despite complaints it continued to be used by up to 11,500 branches as of 2013, according to reports in the Mirror.In the new series, Alan is played by British actor Toby Jones famed for his role as Dobby in the Harry Potter films.

However viewers didn’t know much about Alan prior to the critically-acclaimed mini series launching.The real-life Alan Bates is a former sub-postmaster himself and worked himself into the ground to try and expose the Horizon scandal, which is considered one of the UK’s biggest miscarriages of justice.Alan, 68, and his partner Suzanne Sercombe purchased a Post Office branch in Llandudno, North Wales using up life savings to try and shine a light on the scandal.

When Alan refused to accept liability using Horizon the Post Office terminated their contract with three months' notice.Alan's partner Suzanne stuck by his side for his passion to declare the truth, losing tens of thousands of pounds in the scandal.

In Mr Bates vs The Post Office Suzanne is played by Julie Hesmondhalgh, with the actress aware of the backstory before agreeing to the role. Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your