Mr Bates vs The Post Office actor Toby Jones heads on a low-key stroll as ITV drama becomes most watched show of the year

Mr Bates vs The Post Office actor Toby Jones was spotted out running errands in London on Wednesday, as the series became the most watched of the year.

Toby, 57, who plays subpostmaster Alan Bates in the four-part series, was seen catching the tube in South London, carrying a bubble-wrapped frame under his arm.

Wrapping up for the wintry weather, Toby sported a pair of jeans, a grey jacket which he layered with a brown blazer, grey boots, black gloves and an earflap hat.

His appearance comes as Mr Bates vs The Post Office was named the network’s most popular drama of the last three years – as well as the most watched overall of 2024 so far.

The ITV show tells the story of a long-running campaign to expose the Horizon IT system scandal, in which hundreds of Post Office staff were wrongfully accused of theft and fraud.

Toby Jones, 57, caught the tube in South London on Wednesday carrying a bubble-wrapped frame under his arm

Mr Bates vs The Post Office, in which Toby plays Alan Bates, was named the network’s most popular drama of the last three years – as well as the most watched overall of 2024 so far

More than 700 Post Office staff were falsely prosecuted based on erroneous data from the firm’s Horizon computer system, which was developed by Fujitsu.

Some of these people were sent to prison after being convicted of false accounting and theft, some had their finances left in tatters and some will never see justice as they have since died. It is considered to be the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history.

On Tuesday, ITV bosses announced the first episode of Mr Bates vs. the Post Office had been watched by 9.2million viewers, with the four episodes being the most watched programmes on any channel so far this year. The series, including the documentary, has reached 14.8million.

On ITVX, the ITV Studios and Little Gem Media series has been streamed 12.3million times in just eight days.

For linear launch alone, Mr Bates vs. The Post Office was the most watched programme across all channels with 3.9m, beating The Tourist on BBC One, which got 2.2million, and retaining its live audience for four consecutive nights.

Speaking on the show’s impact, Toby told Radio 4’s PM that historically ‘drama has been at the centre of political change’.

‘It’s been quite unlike anything else,’ he said. ‘I was out of the country until about three days ago and a couple of the actors on the show rang me to warn me that when I came back things wouldn’t be quite the same. And it has proved to be the case.

‘This drama has reached people in a way that drama rarely does, but that speak volumes of the subject matter and the injustice that is portrayed.

The actor looked in good spirits as he headed out for the day

Wrapping up for the wintry weather on Wednesday morning, Toby sported a pair of jeans, a grey jacket which he layered with a brown blazer, grey boots, black gloves and an earflap hat

Mr Bates vs The Post Office tells the story of a long-running campaign to expose the Horizon IT system scandal, in which hundreds of Post Office staff were wrongfully accused of theft and fraud (L-R: Julie Hesmondhalgh as Suzanne Sercombe, Toby Jones as Alan Bates, Monica Dolan as Jo Hamilton and Asif Khan as Mohammad Sabir)

‘What’s going on at the moment is hugely heartening at the beginning of the year when drama is downgraded as a subject of importance yet it’s historically always been a place where people, even if they don’t believe it, can deliver change.’

Kevin Lygo, Managing Director, Media & Entertainment ITV said: ‘The unwavering success of Mr Bates vs. The Post Office demonstrates the undeniable power of TV, particularly public service broadcasting.

‘Aside from it being a ratings hit, dramatising the story with such a high calibre of British actors has reignited the campaign for justice nearly 25 years on, for a group of ordinary people – and the entire nation is behind them.’

Polly Hill, Head of Drama ITV said: ‘We commissioned this drama because it was a story that demanded to be told.

‘Like everyone watching the show, I couldn’t believe what had happened. We all just wanted the drama to help get that story heard by as many people as we could.

‘We are all proud and overwhelmed by the power our drama has had. Alan, Jo, Lee, Jess and every sub-postmaster and sub-postmistress are being heard now, and it looks like they will finally get the justice they deserve. ITV is proud to have told this story and to support the sub-postmasters.’

The drama has drawn a renewed interest in the scandal after airing last week, prompting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to reconsider ways to finally compensate all wrongly accused postmasters.

The scandal is seen as one of the UK’s biggest miscarriages of justice and has gained recent national attention over recent days thanks to Mr Bates Vs The Post Office airing on ITV

The first episode of Mr Bates vs. the Post Office had been watched by 9.2million viewers, with the four episodes being the most watched programmes on any channel so far this year (Alan Bates and his wife Suzanne Sercombe seen on ITV1’s This Morning on Monday)

Victims of the scandal have been sharing their heartbreaking stories of being wrongly branded as thieves.

One of the victims, Jess Kaur, was brought to tears as she told Good Morning Britain viewers she was driven to attempting suicide after being accused of ‘stealing money’ from the branch. She is yet to receive any financial compensation.

Another two of the victims, Tracy Felstead and Janet Skinner, told BBC Breakfast that is Ms Vennells had any decency she hand back the award.

Speaking to Susanna Reid, Jess said: ‘It drove me so mad that I tried to commit suicide.

‘While I was in hospital. The post office didn’t believe that I was there. They sent their own doctors and they examined me as well. Not only was i getting electric shock treatment, i was also getting grief of them.’

The ITV drama of the scandal also led to more than one million signing a petition calling for the former Post Office chief executive officer Paula Vennells to hand back her CBE.

And on Tuesday it emerged former Post Office boss Paula Vennells intends to hand back her CBE with immediate effect amid the fallout of the Horizon IT scandal, which led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters.

Paula said she was ‘truly sorry’ for the ‘devastation’ the scandal had caused to staff falsely accused of fraud when her organisation routinely denied there were problems with its systems. 

Jess Kaur was brought to tears as she told Good Morning Britain viewers she was driven to attempting suicide after being accused of ‘stealing money’ from the branch she worked in

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also weighed in behind efforts to strip her of her CBE. 

The shamed ex-Post Office chief said: ‘I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.

‘I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the sub-postmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.’

Her decision to hand back her honour came after more than a million people signed an online petition to take it off her.

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted after Horizon, a faulty Fujitsu accounting software, made it look like money was missing from their shops.

But incredibly Paula was given a CBE for services to the Post Office in 2019 – the same year the postmasters were awarded £58million for the false prosecutions on her watch.

Despite outrage at the time, it has taken the recent ITV drama to kick ministers into action to overturn hundreds of wrongful convictions that still stand.

No. 10 said it would support ‘further recognition’ of the work by sub-postmaster Alan Bates, who the ITV drama is named after, and others to expose the Horizon scandal.

The PM’s official spokesman said: ‘Both Mr Bates and many others deserve huge amounts of praise for the tenacity and dedication they have shown in exposing this scandal.

‘It’s right that that is recognised and we would support further recognition of that.’

The ITV drama raised the case again and piled pressure on Paula Vennells – Chief Executive of the Post Office

More than 1 million had signed an online petition calling for the former Post Office chief executive officer to hand back her CBE

Former sub-postmistress Jo Hamilton said she was ‘glad’ Paula had handed her CBE back, adding: ‘It’s a shame it took just a million people to cripple her conscience.’

Ms Vennells said: ‘I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect’. File picture

Jo, who was wrongfully convicted in 2008 of stealing thousands of pounds from the village shop in South Warnborough, Hampshire, said: ‘It shows the people have spoken – about everything really.

‘It’s not just about her CBE, it’s about how disgusting the whole thing is.

‘We’re all sick and tired of people taking money, being paid exorbitant amounts of money, and politicians taking absolutely no notice of you whatsoever… I think the people are just sick of it.’

Varchas Patel, whose father Vipin who was wrongfully convicted of fraud in 2011 after being accused of stealing £75,000 from his Post Office branch in Oxford, said: ‘My initial reaction is good, I’m glad. She doesn’t deserve that CBE, she never did deserve that CBE.

‘Now the big question for me is, who gave her that CBE?

‘When she was given that CBE… there were two other things that happened – one, she was given a CBE, two, she was given a seat at the Cabinet Office and three, she was given a job as the chair of the Imperial College (Healthcare NHS Trust).

‘They gave her three golden handshakes for fighting Mr Bates in court.’

Varchas added: ‘It’s not just Paula Vennells, there are others.

‘There are in-house Post Office lawyers, and especially the in-house investigators – the investigators who investigated the likes of my father and others.’