Over a fourteen year period, the Post Office accused hundreds of workers of theft when accounting errors created by dodgy IT (a notoriously unreliable system called ‘Horizon’) led to them being accused of theft and fraud.
Some of the postmasters were sent to prison, over 700 were given criminal convictions. Livelihoods were lost and reputations destroyed.
The sub post masters suffered financial ruin, severe mental and physical health problems and at least one took their own life.
Reporter and broadcaster Nick Wallis (BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Great Post Office Trial’, Private Eye’s ‘Justice Lost in the Post’, BBC1’s Panorama ‘Scandal at the Post Office’, The One Show and Channel 5’s ‘Criminals Caught on Camera’) has been following the Post Office Horizon story for more than a decade.
He is widely acknowledged as one of the leading journalistic authorities on the scandal and has witnessed first-hand many of the dramatic events which brought it to light.
Over the course of approximately one hundred minutes, Nick will expertly chronicle the twists and turns of the scandal, the shambolic commissioning of the disastrous Horizon IT system, the
punitive methods employed by the Post Office to ruin peoples’ lives and the eventual cover-up, maintained at the highest levels of government.
Nick has drawn on the story to write a best-selling book – ‘The Great Post Office Scandal’ – (serialised by the Daily Mail and featured in the Sunday Times), and it is this book which forms
the basis of his new show.
Nick will give context to the scandal, narrow in on some of the key personalities involved (and what they knew), and relate the staggering legal battles fought and won by campaigning Subpostmasters. As 2022’s public inquiry into the scandal reveals yet more horrors, Nick will be able to explain the latest developments and their significance.
Nick will be talking about his experiences, using audio visual excerpts and reading from his best-selling book. This will be followed by a Q&A session, giving the audience an opportunity to
explore areas in more detail.
On each date there may also be a special guest or two affected by or involved in exposing the scandal who will appear with Nick on stage to answer questions and provide powerful first-hand testimony.
About the upcoming shows Nick says: “There is a real public appetite to hear more about the scandal – telling this story to a live audience, answering questions and highlighting the true scale of what went wrong is a privilege to be a part of.”
Nick adds “I also want to pay tribute to the incredibly brave people who were been ruined by the Post Office and risked everything to get the truth into the public domain”
10% of the profits from each performance will be donated to the Horizon Scandal Fund, a charity set up to help Subpostmasters, Post Office managers, assistants and their families who have had their lives affected by this scandal. For more, please see www.horizonscandalfund.org
THE GREAT POST OFFICE SCANDAL is at SWINDON ARTS CENTRE on MONDAY 4th JULY 2022. Book tickets today at
swindontheatres.co.uk
