RICHARD ORD: If you want justice, get Idris Elba to read the news

Certainly the spouting of actual facts on mainstream news shows appears to have done little to spur people into action.

The desperate plight of sub-postmasters and postmistresses having their lives destroyed by a computer glitch at the Post Office has, over the years, been a regular and distressing feature of news stories and articles in many media outlets.

Justice for the wronged, however, was not being dispensed like an express overnight delivery, rather at the speed of a second class parcel in the bag of a postman with lead weights in his jodhpurs.

That was until the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office hit the screens.

Suddenly this retelling of the story, starring him off The Detectorists, has put a cattle prod up the establishment.

A vexed public watched the sickening story unfold over several hours on ITV, their only respite being the ad breaks featuring those really annoying Domino’s commercials (‘Domin-oh-hoo-hoo’) which could only have inflamed the situation.

Their resultant howls of protest (‘We want Justice-oh-hoo-hoo’) had the powers-that-be flapping like a carrier pigeon in a cattery. Even The Met has launched another police probe following the show. Hope they don’t arrest Toby Jones for impersonating Mr Bates.

Perhaps this is the way forward for news stations.

Instead of BBC news anchor Clive Myrie directing us to a live broadcast from the heart of the Israeli conflict, maybe it’d be better if pointed towards a one-off two-hour special called The Gaza Files starring Idris Elba and Michelle Keegan. Worth a shout.

Dramatising all news shows is the answer. I mean, who wouldn’t tune into Question Time directed by Quentin Tarantino?

Oddly, I am only two episodes into Mr Bates vs The Post Office, so now I have to switch off the actual news to avoid spoilers! I do hope, however, that the awful former Post Office boss Paula Vennells is made to hand back her CBE by the end of the series, ideally by recorded delivery.