Mr Bates star Will Mellor details "emotional" meeting with real Lee Castleton
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Mr Bates vs The Post Office star Will Mellor has detailed his meeting with the real-life figure behind his character.
The ITV drama follows several characters at the heart of the British Post Office scandal, which saw several sub-postmasters falsely prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting in one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.
Mellor plays Lee Castleton, a Yorkshire subpostmaster who was subsequently taken to court by the Post Office, in the four-part series, and revealed to the RadioTimes that he met with the real-life figure before filming commenced.
Related: Mr Bates Vs Post Office: Alan Bates and Paula Vennells true story
“He was a bit hesitant coming forward,” recalled Mellor. “I think it might have been a bit hard for him to go back and revisit it. I didn't want to force the issue. The last thing I wanted to do was make things harder for him, so I learned about him as much as I could.
“On the way in I had a coffee, my suitcase [was] in my hands and somebody opened the door for me and it was Lee. He went, ‘Will, I'm Lee.' I put the coffee and my case down and we hugged it out and we both got really emotional.
“I know, because I played him, what he's been through, and he knows I know what he went through, and I emotionally went through a bit of it myself doing it for him. So we both had a moment and it was amazing, it really was.
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“I just said, 'I hope I've done you proud mate.' And he said he was over the moon when he heard I was playing him – he's messaged me since saying he's watched it and he was overwhelmed with how much he enjoyed it, and he thanked me for what I did.”
The four-part series boasts an ensemble cast including Toby Jones, Monica Dolan, Alex Jennings, Ian Hart, Julie Hesmondhalgh and Lia Williams, with the script being penned by Gwyneth Hughes.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office airs on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
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