Lesley nicol

● I didn’t know that much about the case about hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses who were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system before I took on a part in the four-part ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office. It’s been an appalling miscarriage of justice. They were led to believe they each owed thousands and thousands of pounds. It’s been a nightmare for them, although thankfully now there is an official inquiry being carried out as to what really happened. One of the things that’s so good about the drama is that you get a very good picture of the implications on these good, decent, ordinary people.

● There is a bit of an extra sense of responsibility playing a real-life person. In Mr Bates vs the Post Office, I play a sub post mistress called Pam Stubbs. I’ve never played a real-life person before. It was a little strange. As an actor you’ve got to honour the script but the story was very well researched and written.

I met Pam and she was great – really helpful, honest and generous with her time. I know she was happy with my interpretation of her and what she went through. That means a lot to me. All I wanted to do was give as honest a picture as I possibly could.

OnTheJob

As an actor, Lesley says there is no job security. “But I’ve never known anything else. I don’t love it when there seems to be nothing on the horizon, workwise, but I know it won’t be forever.”

Always Learning

● It’s a taken me a while but