'Mr Bates' Creator Talks Season 2 After BAFTA Win

PBS did something deeply unusual during the 2023-2024 TV season. Normally, schedules are set months in advance, and in the case of something like Masterpiece, where premiere dates are dictated by when the show airs in the U.K., there's a lot of shifting around of series to ensure co-productions arrive in the correct country first. But in February 2024, PBS completely threw the Sunday night spring schedule into chaos with the last-minute addition of Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the Toby Jones starring miniseries that told the true story of the post submasters who were wrongly accused of stealing millions of dollars from the postal service, instead of admitting the computer system the government paid for was crap.

Though the series didn't do the same record-breaking numbers for PBS as it did for ITV, that decision has made it so that Masterpiece can share (at least a little) in the BAFTA win the series landed at the 2025 TV awards, taking home one of the top prizes of the night, Best Limited Series, while ITV won the Special Award for commissioning the series. The other significant wins in the top categories were Blue Lights Season 2 for Best Drama Series and Alma's Not Normal for Best Comedy. However, unlike those series, Mr Bates will not be back for a second season... or at least creator Patrick Spencer hopes not.

"I think that's your job," he told the assembled press after his win. "We've done our bit, we've carried the baton for a bit, we need you guys to spread the message that they haven't been paid yet, it's not over, and they are being bamboozled with bureaucracy. Please, we beg you, don't make us make another drama, get the message out. There are still people in abject poverty waiting for their compensation."