The four-part series tells the true story of the Post Office scandal, in which numerous subpostmasters were wrongly accused of fraud and theft<\/a> over accounting issues caused by a faulty IT system named Horizon.<\/p>\n Detectorists star Jones plays Alan Bates<\/a> in the hard-hitting series, and had the opportunity to meet the man himself prior to filming \u2013 although he was surprised by the extent to which he downplayed his exceptional work and character.<\/p>\n In an interview with BAFTA<\/a>, Jones explained: \u201cAlan is quite an extraordinary man who presents as one of the most ordinary people you can meet. Indeed, that\u2019s true of a lot of the subpostmasters.<\/p> \u201cSo, when you come to play someone like that, I needed to find out who he was, what made him do this extraordinary thing and unite a thousand people in one place and take on the might of the corporate Post Office.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cAnd that was a great shock, because he was quite clear that \u2013 although he was totally up for the drama because it drew attention to the struggle \u2013 he felt that he himself wasn\u2019t worthy of being heroic, because there was nothing unusual about him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t a great source of material \u2013 he was very friendly and warm, but he said, \u2018The thing is, I\u2019m not a very emotional guy.’\u201d<\/p>\n However, while Jones described Mr Bates as \u201cextremely modest\u201d, his associates and fellow campaigners were very quick to sing his praises in the strongest terms.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI went to chat to other people who knew him, and they said Alan Bates is one of the smartest and most inspirational people they\u2019d ever met. There is a paradox about him.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of my dealings with him have been great. They haven\u2019t helped me play him very much, but they\u2019ve been great.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch the full interview with Jones and the rest of the Mr Bates vs The Post Office cast<\/a> below, including Lia Williams (who plays former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells<\/a>) and Monica Dolan (wrongly accused Jo Hamilton<\/a>).<\/p>\n![\"Amit](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/12\/mrbatesvsthepostoffice01-6041f5c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"mr_bates_vs_the_post_office_01\\"\/")
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