Will Mellor is making a documentary series based on the Post Office scandal.
Will Mellor is making a documentary about the Post Office scandal
The 47-year-old actor played sub-postmaster Lee Castleton in the ITV drama 'Mr Bates vs the Post Office' - which told the true story of several sub-postmasters across the UK wrongly accused of theft and fraud because of the faulty Horizon system that was put in place - and is now planning to delve into the stories of the real-life counterparts of the people portrayed in the drama as they seek justice.
Speaking on his 'Two Pints With Will and Ralf Little' podcast, the 'Coronation Street' star said: “I’m making a documentary about what’s going on because changes are being made.
“Now there’s been about 700 people that have come forward.
“'Mr Bates vs The Post Office' is making history — we couldn’t have imagined how big it has gone. The victims just wanted to be heard and have a voice, but nobody was listening, and now they have been given that voice, and more people are coming out to talk about it.
“It’s amazing because it shows you what you can do in this country when we come together and say, ‘This is wrong, we need to get justice for these people’.”
'Mr Bates vs The Post Office' has proven to be a major success, with the drama averaging 9.8 million viewers an episode, and had a larger viewership than the likes of 'Downtown Abbey' and 'Line Of Duty's final series
Previously, the show's writer Gwyneth Hughes admitted that she believed the programme would be a flop, and was warned to not expect a high viewership.
Speaking with Sky News, she said: "We’ve all been blown away by it [the reception].
“On the eve of transmission, our boss sent us all a comforting email warning us that it probably wouldn’t do that well, and probably not many would watch it.
“So we woke up [the] next morning and he literally thought he had misheard the ratings, and it just has got bigger and bigger.
“The whole thing is unbelievable, the story of the postmasters, and what happened to them was completely unbelievable from beginning to end and this is just the latest unbelievable chapter in the unfolding, ongoing story.”
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