ITV drama blew interest in Post Office scandal 'out of the water', says reporter who helped uncover it
Nick Wallis is speaking ahead of a new tour with sub-postmasters, which begins in Lyme Regis in March
One of the first reporters to cover the Post Office scandal has told Greatest Hits Radio that last month's ITV drama has blown interest out of the water.
Nick Wallis, whose work includes the BBC Panorama documentary 'Scandal at the Post Office,' and his latest book, 'The Great Post Office Scandal', has been covering the scandal for over fourteen years.
The scandal saw a faulty IT accounting system, Horizon, produce inaccurate cash shortfalls, sometimes as much as thousands of pounds.
This was later used to wrongly convict over 700 former sub-postmasters for charges including theft and false accounting, with some being imprisoned.
The High Court later ruled in 2019 that Horizon contained numerous defects, and that there was a "material risk" that these caused shortfalls.
The Post Office later settled and agreed to provide compensation to those affected.
The scandal was recently serialised by ITV in the four-part drama, 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office.'
The drama has been seen to boost interest in the scandal, with public outrage contributing towards ex-Post Office chief Paula Vennells offering to hand in her CBE.
It also led to the government announcing plans to quash the convictions of sub-postmasters.
And Mr Wallis agrees the drama has "bought the scandal to mainstream audiences."
"A week after the drama, it was leading the 10 O'clock News, with the top three pieces," he said, saying that's only recently happened during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, and in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
He said the scandal has "announced itself on the public consciousness in such a way that every little development and new line that comes up will get attention."
Mr Wallis will now host a series of talks at venues across the UK, where he will be joined by nearby sub-postmasters who will share their stories.
The first talk is taking place at the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis on 23 March.
Another in Dorset is scheduled at the Tivoli Theatre in Wimborne on 14 May.
Mr Wallis said he hopes to build on the "sheer horror" of the scandal that the drama captured, adding that the public inquiry is uncovering information that was unavailable to the dramatists.