When the story beats the system

In breaking news this morning, Sir Alan Bates finally reached settlement on his compensation claim for the Post Office Horizon scandal – a landmark moment more than two decades after he started banging the drum. Here, Managing Director of Satsuma Ellen Widdup explores how the announcement caps a year where journalism, a television drama and public pressure worked in concert to move an immovable system.

Let’s start from the beginning. Long before Whitehall woke up, Computer Weekly ran an exposé, platforming Bates and other sub-postmasters when almost nobody else would listen.

The 2009 story revealed that Fujitsu’s Horizon accounting system was throwing phantom shortfalls and that staff were being blamed, sacked or prosecuted for money that never went missing.

Those early warnings snowballed into the landmark group litigation in the High Court and in 2019, Mr Justice Fraser’s judgments found Horizon contained “bugs, errors and defects” and that the Post Office’s “extraordinary” stance and investigative culture were fundamentally flawed – a watershed that paved the way for redress.

Before this, hundreds had already been prosecuted but it wasn’t until 2024 that Parliament passed the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act to mass-quash wrongful convictions.

The public mood shift was rocket-boosted by ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which turned a long-running saga into national outrage almost overnight.

And now? The man who led the charge – Sir Alan Bates – has had his own claim settled on a confidential, seven-figure basis.

What finally tipped it

Three forces lined up:

1. Investigative persistence – years of source-led reporting created an unshakeable evidential core.
2. Prestige TV with teeth – a drama that respected facts, centred victims and built mass empathy fast, prompting swift policy moves.
3. Network effects – social feeds amplified clips, survivor testimony and inquiry moments, keeping pressure constant between formal updates.

The lesson for brands

This isn’t just about the power of the media, the perseverance of truth-tellers, or public pressure. It’s about how a story, told properly, creates impact.

Brands can take the same cues when seeking exposure – whether for a product launch, a company milestone, or a sensitive issue that needs careful handling.

When you are telling a story – whatever that story may be – you need a combination of three things to get attention: facts (documents, data, backbone), narrative (a human angle), and distribution (consistent touchpoints where people can connect with the information).

So what are our top tips on getting your story heard?

• Make the human the hero. Data persuades but a protagonist mobilises. If a TV writer can find the spine of your story in 47 minutes, your comms can find it in 500 words.
• Design for serialisation. Good stories have chapters. Plan a cadence so momentum doesn’t rely on a single “launch.”
• Anticipate the dramatist. If you won’t frame your story responsibly, someone else will. Create assets that are drama-ready but also accurate.
• Distribute where attention lives. Mix earned, owned, and social. Turn one proof point into multiple formats (clip, carousel, quote card, op-ed).
• Rehearse the rough moments. Crisis lines, spokespeople, and approvals ready. Speed is a reputation advantage.

In short

This case shows how earned media, format-savvy storytelling and community amplification can force complex systems to move.

But it’s also the playbook we use with all the clients we work with who are seeking attention and validation.

We build the evidential bedrock, craft the human arc, and ship it where attention lives – repeatedly.

Chances are, if you’ve got a story that’s “too complicated for the public,” it probably isn’t. It’s just not being told properly.