Accrington’s Julie Hesmondhalgh said she is ‘over the moon’ after two shows she stars in won Bafta awards on Sunday night (May 11).
ITV's Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and BBC comedy series Alma’s Not Normal both came home victorious at the ceremony.
Julie played Suzanne Sercombe, the wife of Alan Bates in Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which won the Bafta TV Award for limited drama and the special award for societal impact.
Alma’s Not Normal won best scripted comedy. In this show, Julie plays the blunt and eccentric character of Aunty Ange, who appears in two episodes.
In response to their wins, Julie said: “Alma and Mr Bates [won]. I am over the moon. Congratulations, wonderful teams.”
When the show aired last year, the former Coronation Street actress said she already knew about the Post Office scandal before landing the role.
Julie, who also appeared in television shows Broadchurch and Happy Valley, hopes the show can “rattle the powers that be” and bring about positive change in the postal industry.
She said: “Although I really believe in drama’s power to change things, I also believe in dogged process and years and years of application and hard graft - and in this case, that hasn't done anything for the sub-postmasters.
“So what I hope is that it will rattle the powers that be to an extent that somebody does something. Because I think that it's happened over so many years, it's been so protracted the whole issue, and I think that people kind of think, ‘oh, it’s over now,’ because the scandal has come out. And obviously it isn't. There’s still the public inquiry and the compensation.
“I hope that somebody will go, ‘Right, the public are on to this now, and we have to do something about it; we have to make this right.’ Even if it's to make MPs look good to their constituents or whatever, I just hope it happens because that’s all I care about — that there is some justice.”
At the time of writing, not all victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal have received full compensation. While significant progress has been made, thousands of claims remain unresolved.
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