Recap of Episode 3 of ‘Mr Bates vs. the Post Office’

If you thought Sam (Krupa Pattani) stabbing himself in episode 2 was the darkest moment of all time Mr. Bates versus the Post Office Saga episode 3 was here to prove you wrong. In the latest installment of the series, based on the true story of Alan Bates and the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance in England, Martin Griffiths (Colin Tierney) is the latest victim of the Post Office Horizon machine scandal. The post office holds Martin responsible for robbing his post office, in addition to the windfall from the machine.

The pressure and lack of justice becomes so great for Martin, who we suspect was suffering from depression even before the robbery, and he walks in front of a bus to get away from it all. This is a true account of what happened in 2013. His injuries are too severe to overcome, and eventually his wife has to take him off life support.

Martin’s death ripples through the group. It encourages Alan to light a fire under the post office’s feet, while Jo (Monica Dolan) and Lee (Will Mellor) are emotionally shaken by Martin’s suicide, and realize how close they came to giving up everything. However, if you were looking for Martin’s death to bring out the humanity in The Post Office, you were sadly sorely mistaken. Not even a stirring performance Lesley Nicol (who will always be our Mrs. Patmore) as the determined Pam Stubbs was able to convince The Post Office to do the right thing.

As we suspected last week, Paula Vennells (Lia Williams) didn’t come to Alan (Toby Jones) in good faith last week. She convinced Alan, who then formed the alliance and Bob (Ian Hart) to trust The Post Office in a new mediation scheme that would help everyone get their money back, including people like Jo, who had already pleaded guilty to crimes they didn’t commit. The mediation lasted more than a year before The Post Office revealed that they had absolutely no intention of helping people like Jo or solving the cases.