Jones stars as Alan Bates, a real-life man at the centre of the Post Office scandal. <\/p>
The star-studded Mr Bates vs The Post Office<\/a> will be landing on our screens very soon, and features Toby Jones (The Long Shadow<\/a>) as Alan Bates, one of the wronged postal workers who helped bring the matter to the attention of the wider public.<\/p>\n Speaking about his role in the new drama, Jones admits that he wasn\u2019t aware of the severity of the story before doing the drama \u2013 but that it is an \u201cappalling\u201d tale.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI was approached earlier this year by Patrick Spence, the executive producer\u2026 He and James [Strong, director] and Gwyneth [Hughes, writer] talked me through the issues that it addresses, which I am ashamed to say I had a scant knowledge of.<\/p>\n \u201cGwyneth had hewn a drama out of the most extraordinary amount of research. I wanted to do it because it\u2019s an urgent piece of drama; so much TV today is preoccupied with our recent history, rather than what is the actuality.\u201d<\/p> Jones continued: \u201cIn amongst all of the news that we hear daily, it felt like this particular scandal had been hiding in plain sight. I was aware that on occasion, I would hear \u2018postmasters\u2019 mentioned, and truly there is no other explanation for it, to my shame \u2013 I hadn\u2019t understood the full severity of the story.<\/p>\n \u201cI can only assume that it\u2019s partly because when you hear \u2018Post Office\u2019, you take for granted what this institution does.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Bates is a real-life person and is a former subpostmaster who successfully took the Post Office to the High Court after hundreds of his Post Office colleagues had been wrongly accused<\/a> of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Jones added of the role: \u201cIt is shocking, just how appalling this scandal is. When people watch the drama, if we have done our job, it will make them see a senselessness and vindictiveness to this scandal that makes you wonder how on earth it isn\u2019t being spoken about more.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Bates vs The Post Office is written by screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes \u2013 whose previous work includes Tom Jones, Honour and Vanity Fair \u2013 and is helmed by Broadchurch director James Strong.<\/p>\n The four-part series promises to tell \u201cthe story of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history\u201d, and is led by Jones but has a cast full of familiar faces that includes Ian Hart (The Responder<\/a>), Lia Williams (The Capture<\/a>) and Will Mellor (Coronation Street<\/a>).<\/p>\n The line-up also includes Clare Calbraith (Grace<\/a>), Shaun Dooley (It\u2019s a Sin), Amit Shah (Happy Valley<\/a>), Lesley Nicol (Downton Abbey<\/a>), Adam James (Vigil<\/a>) and Katherine Kelly (Gentleman Jack).<\/p> \n