Hit TV show, tick. Millions for lawyers, tick. Now could we manage some actual justice for the subpostmasters? | Marina Hyde

The ‘big people’ implicated in this disgraceful run of events need to pay their dues. Britain needs it – and demands it

In her closing statement to the Post Office inquiry this week, Paula Vennells once again added the brutal murder of irony to her list of failings. Or as the former CEO’s lawyer put it: “She has no desire to point the finger at others.” Oh, Paula. Great to hear your pointing finger has finally been decommissioned – but it’s many years and many, many prison sentences too late for that. In fact, as we bid farewell to the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry, to give it its full name, it’s clear that the prime takeout should be: let that not be an end to it. Justice has yet to be served.

It’s quite something to think that this time last year, ITV had not even aired Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the drama that finally galvanised public anger about the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history, and led to immediate action from various classes of powerful people who could have done something before, but didn’t. As the year ends, it is possible to say that Mr Bates is now by far and away the most watched drama of 2024 – in fact, the most watched anything bar sport. Pretty sensational for something created so faultlessly and beautifully out of a dauntingly unpromising dramatic premise: a faulty computer system.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

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