A TV director from Sandbach has received the greatest honour any broadcaster can receive - a BAFTA award for his work.

Gareth Knowles, who has lived in the town since 2010 and has worked in broadcasting for 26 years, received a BAFTA TV award for the BBC Breakfast Post Office special broadcast.

The distinguished director said it was a "real privilege" to be nominated ad he was delighted to receive the award at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday (May 11th) on behalf of his "incredibly" talented team.

And he has described how he walked up the red carpet and took part in a champagne reception surrounded by celebrities and big names in the business and could "hardly believe his ears" when it was announced they had won.

The Post Office scandal, also called the Horizon IT scandal, involved the Post Office pursuing thousands of innocent subpostmasters for apparent financial shortfalls caused by faults in Horizon, an accounting software system developed by Fujitsu. (Image via Post Office)

Gareth, who works at MediaCity in Salford for BBC Breakfast and the News at One as a lead director, told Sandbach Nub News: "What a moment! The walk to the stage seemed to take an eternity.

"I was bursting with pride for our team, for everyone who works so hard on the programme and delighted that a show made in the North West had received such recognition."

(Image: BBC Breakfast)

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He added: "Most important of all are the sub-postmasters who were willing to share their stories so openly, creating emotive, moving and powerful TV.

 "BBC Breakfast has been on air for some 40 years and it has never been nominated for a BAFTA before.

"Receiving the prestigious award was just astonishing, and I feel very honoured to have been nominated. The award fills us all with an immense sense of pride. Thank you BAFTA." 

The BBC Breakfast Post Office special was broadcast on BBC1 last January. The Post Office scandal, also called the Horizon IT scandal, involved the Post Office pursuing thousands of innocent subpostmasters for apparent financial shortfalls caused by faults in Horizon, an accounting software system developed by Fujitsu.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 subpostmasters were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting based on faulty Horizon data, with about 700 of these prosecutions carried out by the Post Office.

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