{"id":42946,"date":"2024-01-03T14:16:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T13:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1953594"},"modified":"2024-01-03T15:26:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T14:26:36","slug":"mr-bates-star-will-mellor-recalls-emotional-encounter-with-lee-castleton","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/mr-bates-star-will-mellor-recalls-emotional-encounter-with-lee-castleton\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr Bates star Will Mellor recalls emotional encounter with Lee Castleton"},"content":{"rendered":"

The actor plays one of the real-life subpostmasters who was wrongly accused of theft by the Post Office. <\/p>

By Abby Robinson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 03 January 2024 at 13:16 PM<\/p>

\n\n

ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office<\/a> spotlights the harrowing true story<\/a> of numerous subpostmasters from up and down the UK who were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting following an IT malfunction.<\/p>\n

Will Mellor (Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Coronation Street) plays Lee Castleton in the four-part series, a subpostmaster from Bridlington, Yorkshire, who was taken to court by the Post Office.<\/p>\n

The actor told RadioTimes.com<\/a> that just before he started filming, he asked to meet the man he was portraying.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a bit hesitant coming forward,\u201d he said. \u201cTo go through what they went through, I think it might have been a bit hard for him to go back and revisit it and be a part of it. And I didn\u2019t want to force the issue. The last thing I wanted to do was make things harder for him, so I learned about him as much as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

But eventually, the pair did come face to face during a screening for the drama.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the way in I had a coffee and my suitcase in my hands and somebody opened the door for me and it was Lee Castleton,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he went, \u2018Will, I\u2019m Lee.\u2019 And I put the coffee and my case down and we hugged it out and we both got really emotional, I think because I know, because I played him, what he\u2019s been through, and he knows I know what he went through, and I emotionally went through a bit of it myself doing it for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we both had a moment and it was amazing, it really was. And I just said, \u2018I hope I\u2019ve done you proud mate.\u2019 And he said he was over the moon when he heard I was playing him, and he\u2019s messaged me since saying he\u2019s watched it and he was overwhelmed with how much he enjoyed it, and he thanked me for what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mellor added: \u201cI can\u2019t ask for any more praise. I\u2019m over the moon that he\u2019s happy, because that\u2019s what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n