Brockenspectre
The program suggested that the Captain was being checked by his boss, who was in in the right hand seat, ie, a more senior pilot acting as examiner AND first officer (possible nightmare scenario there).
The captain, it seems, wanted to obey the TCAS, which is what we are all trained to do, but he was overuled by the examiner.
Like your other writer, I feel for the poor ATCO, there can be no way he carries any of the blame. He was just the last link in a very flawed chain.