Post Office scandal, the musical? In the UK, news and entertainment blur.
| Marsden, England
It was a stage show that defied the norm, re-creating one of the United Kingdom鈥檚 most devastating miscarriages of justice.
And 鈥淢ake Good: The Post Office Scandal鈥� did it as a musical. There were choreographed dance numbers, power ballads, and pounding rock riffs.
But as this show toured sleepy village halls across England, it also told the story of 983 British Post Office managers falsely accused of theft: allegations that destroyed their reputations, livelihoods, and, for some, landed them in jail. Later, it was revealed that accounting discrepancies due to errors in the Post Office鈥檚 Horizon computer system were to blame 鈥� a fact that the 364-year-old institution repeatedly tried to cover up.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onIs entertainment a better way to inform about news events than actual reported stories? Sometimes it seems that way, as suggested by public response to recent dramatizations about the British Post Office scandal.
鈥淢ake Good,鈥� which wrapped up in early December after six weeks on the road, highlights how news stories can sometimes be told 鈥� and better told 鈥� in an entertainment format. Like the drama series about the Post Office scandal aired a year ago, 鈥淢r Bates vs The Post Office,鈥� dramatizations of the news can often draw more attention to an event. They can also build public pressure for injustices to be addressed. And that can happen even when the media did due diligence in covering the news when it happened. Entertainment just seems to hit differently.
鈥淭heater is the best empathy machine we鈥檝e ever built. You start to think about someone else鈥檚 worldview, start to stand in their shoes,鈥� says Jeanie O鈥橦are, writer of 鈥淢ake Good.鈥� 鈥淚 do think it makes stories cut through.鈥�
Seeing the drama, missing the news
Watching the musical on a winter鈥檚 night in Marsden, a village tucked among the hills of northern England, many in the audience are visibly moved. There are four actors on stage, but also live musicians and a community choir; the room is crowded. As the show builds to a finale, the sound pushes in from all sides.
For Ms. O鈥橦are, a former chair of playwriting at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, it was the scandal鈥檚 emotional punch that spurred her imagination. She created the show alongside composer Jim Fortune and theater companies New Perspectives and Pentabus, troupes that specialize in reaching the kinds of rural locations where local Post Offices act as cornerstones of the community.
She was not alone in seeing the scandal鈥檚 storytelling potential. In December 2023, ITV, one of the U.K.鈥檚 major TV channels, released 鈥淢r Bates vs The Post Office.鈥� It received widespread acclaim from audiences and critics alike.
But the series also revealed an uneasy disconnect between the British public and the media. Many viewers were outraged that they had not previously heard of the scandal and blamed the U.K.鈥檚 mainstream media for failing in their work. Journalists in turn protested that they had indeed followed the case; specialist publications such as Computer Weekly and the political magazine Private Eye had reported doggedly for more than a decade. Audiences, they said, had simply not been listening.
The spat mirrors a deepening social mistrust: According to the Reuters Institute鈥檚 聽just 36% of Britons say they trust the news 鈥渕ost of the time.鈥�
That trend pushes productions such as 鈥淢ake Good鈥� and 鈥淢r Bates vs The Post Office鈥� into the spotlight. And that encourages traditional media 鈥� searching for ways to survive in a digital landscape dominated by social media 鈥� to seek ways of delivering the same emotional punch as their dramatized counterparts. In the Reuters Institute鈥檚 , 43% of news publishers said they hoped to offer 鈥渕ore inspirational human stories鈥� to re-engage increasingly news-avoiding audiences.
But pitting journalism against an artistic medium such as theater or television does not necessarily make for a fair fight. Even painstakingly researched shows such as 鈥淢ake Good鈥� can combine characters鈥� stories to create greater poignancy. They also have the advantage of looking at a story as a whole. The musical spans more than two decades and compresses them into a show that lasts little more than two hours.
鈥淎 complete story taken in one sitting has an impact on you in the way that 3,000 snippets of news through your social media or radio or television just can鈥檛,鈥� says Ms. O鈥橦are. 鈥淵ou have to exist in the world of complete narratives. I think that鈥檚 the way our imaginations work.鈥�
Setting an example for the future
More hope lies in the idea that journalism and more modern, story-driven projects can complement, rather than contend with, each other.
While 鈥淢ake Good鈥� tells the story of the Post Office scandal, it also acts as a starting point for the audience to explore larger, more far-reaching issues, deliberately pushing people to reflect on the growing role of technology in their lives.
Former Post Office employee Chris Trousdale was wrongly prosecuted for false accounting, and shared his experiences with both the producers of 鈥淢ake Good鈥� and 鈥淢r Bates vs The Post Office.鈥�
He hopes that the scandal will leave a lasting legacy by prompting businesses and people to be more critical of technology. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not, 鈥極h look, the little British Post Office had a problem.鈥� This is a warning shot across the bow,鈥� Mr. Trousdale says.
鈥淭he risk is that something like AI will cause this to happen again,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I want everybody in the world to think of the U.K. Post Office. I want them to think, 鈥楲et鈥檚 not prosecute that person. Let鈥檚 not fire them. Let鈥檚 just investigate a bit further before we act.鈥欌��
In the meantime, news coverage of the Post Office scandal continues. A yearslong official inquiry into the affair is still ongoing, while those wrongly accused are still waiting for authorities to return the assets of which they were stripped during court proceedings. The battle for compensation is set to be an even longer fight.
But for those who felt its devastating effects firsthand, continued public engagement is key. The form it takes is secondary.
鈥淭he best thing about the musical is you can feel that voice hitting you; it hits a raw nerve,鈥� says Mr. Trousdale. 鈥淎ll of this is about making sure it doesn鈥檛 happen again. And if the best way for someone to digest this story and that information is by watching a musical 鈥� so be it.鈥�
