ITV to follow Mr Bates Vs The Post Office success with infected blood scandal drama

The Independent can confirm Peter Moffat will write the drama, which will explore how thousands were given blood infected with HIV and hepatitis C

ITV is to follow the success of Mr Bates Vs The Post Office with a drama exploring the contaminated blood scandal – widely recognised as among the darkest episodes in NHS history.

The Independent can confirm double-BAFTA winner Peter Moffat will write the new drama, which will show how patients suffering from haemophilia and other blood disorders were contaminated with infected blood.

Between 1970 and the early 1990s, an estimated 30,000 people in the UK were given blood transfusions infected with hepatitis C or HIV. At least 2,400 people died as a result, while more than 4,000 survivors continue to suffer the effects of the catastrophic error.

The show will examine what doctors, politicians and pharmaceutical companies knew about the risk, and the scandal that has endured for more than 50 years.

In 2022 the Infected Blood Inquiry was established to investigate how the transfusions were allowed to take place. At the same time, the government announced that victims would receive £100,000 in compensation. However, Rishi Sunak has since been criticised for the speed of the government’s response and delays in payments.

ITV bosses will be hoping to replicate the impact of Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which explored the hundreds of subpostmasters who were wrongly in one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

Infected blood campaigners gather in Westminster calling for compensation for victims (July 2023) (PA)

The scandal began when Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon accounting software made it appear as though money was missing from Post Office branches. Subpostmasters were forced to pay back many thousands of pounds, while hundreds were convicted based on the faults.

The ITV drama prompted a public outcry, placing Rishi Sunak’s government is under increasing pressure to speed up compensation payments to victims and to get their wrongful convictions quashed.

Show writer Peter Moffat said: “It’s been a great privilege to meet those infected and affected and to learn about what they have been through. I’m ashamed to say that when I started researching this story I knew next to nothing about it.

“I’m even more ashamed that this ignorance is shared by nearly everyone I mention it to. The victims of this scandal have been let down again and again by the state - I hope in some small way this drama can help their voices be heard.” 

Toby Jones as hero Alan Bates in the ITV drama about the Post Office Scandal (ITV)

Polly Hill, ITV’s Head of Drama said: “Peter’s scripts are brilliant and do justice to this important story, while bringing it to screen with real clarity and compassion.”