Glitch – The True Story of the Post Office Scandal is heading to Hull Truck Theatre
A powerful play exploring the devastation wreaked by the Post Office scandal is heading to the region. Hull Truck Theatre is set to host Glitch – The True Story of the Post Office Scandal during its tour of the UK next year.
Written by Zannah Kearns and directed by Gareth Taylor, the new play centres on Pam Stubbs, the sub-postmistress of Barkham who was wrongly accused of stealing tens of thousands of pounds. She had been sub-postmistress of Barkham Post Office for more than two decades. But she found herself dragged into the biggest miscarriage of justice in English legal history when unexplained discrepancies start appearing in her accounts.
Pam was one of hundreds of sub-postmasters affected when faulty accounting software made it appear as if hundreds of sub-postmasters had stolen money. The Post Office blamed sub-postmasters for these discrepancies, demanding they repay the missing money.
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This led to more than 900 being wrongfully prosecuted, jailed, bankrupted, and suffer severe personal harm – but a High Court case found the Horizon system unreliable, leading to overturned convictions. Pam worked tirelessly to prove not just her own innocence in the Horizon scandal, but that of thousands of others.
The play stars Joanne Howarth, who is playing the leading role of Pam. She is a ‘Shakespeare’s Globe’ Associate Artist where she worked on five seasons of Shakespeare and The Crucible last year and has been in 11 shows for the RSC, recently as Margaret Thatcher in Falkland Sound. It also stars Naveed Khan, Sabina Netherclift and Laura Penneycard.
Glitch already has a seal of approval from Janet Skinner, sub-postmistress of Bransholme, Hull, who was wrongly imprisoned for nine months. Janet had to sell her home after she was told to pay an £11,500 compensation order during the scandal. She finally had her name cleared in 2021.
Janet said: “You have done Pam, Tracy, myself and others proud. I really hope you have the chance to share it with so many others around the country. Again, thank you.”
Toby Davies, artistic director and founder of RABBLE Theatre, said: “We are proud to be bringing Glitch to Hull, where many people have been affected by the scandal, including Nicolas Clark and Janet Skinner, who supported us throughout the creation of the show. Although tragic, this is an inspiring contemporary story of a courageous fight against deep corruption. We are determined to keep the story in the public eye.”
Glitch, by RABBLE Theatre, will be at Hull Truck Theatre on March 17 and 18 as part of a UK national tour, having been originally commissioned by the University of Reading based on an original idea by Elizabeth Conaghan. It was created in association with legal professionals and victims of the story and first produced in June 2024 at Minghella Studios, University of Reading.
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