Charlie Brooker (Dead Set) returns to Channel 4 this December with Black Mirror, a new three-part mini-series of suspenseful, satirical stand-alone dramas with a techno-paranoia bent.
Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of our lives before we’ve had time to stop and question it. In every home; on every desk; in every palm – a plasma screen; a monitor; a smartphone – a black mirror of our 21st Century existence.
Our grip on reality is shifting. We worship at the altars of Google and Apple. Facebook algorithms know us more intimately than our own parents. We have access to all the information in the world, but no brain space left to absorb anything longer than a 140-character tweet.
Black Mirror taps into the collective unease about our modern world.
Episode 1: The National Anthem
Sunday 4th December 2011, 9pm
A twisted parable for the Twitter age, The National Anthem looks at how information is now disseminated so quickly and public opinion now so loud, powerful and quick to change, that life is very much harder for the rich and supposedly powerful. It’s a political thriller in which the fictional Prime Minister Michael Callow (Rory Kinnear) faces a huge and shocking dilemma when Princess Susannah, a much-loved member of the Royal Family, is kidnapped.
Written by Charlie Brooker, directed by Otto Bathurst (Criminal Justice, Five Days) and starring Rory Kinnear, Lindsay Duncan, Tom Goodman-Hill, Donald Sumpter and Anna Wilson-Jones.
Episode 2: 15 Million Merits
Sunday 11th December 2011, 9pm
Set in a sarcastic version of a future reality, 15 Million Merits is a satire on entertainment shows and our insatiable thirst for distraction. In this world, everyone is confined to a life of strange physical drudgery. The only way to escape this life is to enter the ‘Hot Shot’ talent show and just pray you can impress the judges.
Written by Charlie Brooker and Kanak Huq, directed by Euros Lyn and starring Daniel Kayluuya, Jessica Brown Findlay, Rupert Everett, Julia Davis and Ashley Thomas.
Episode 3: The Entire History of You (aka In Memorium)
Sunday 18th December 2011, 9pm
We find ourselves in an alternate reality where everyone has access to a memory chip style implant which records everything they do, see or hear – a sort of Sky Plus for the brain. You need never forget a face, a holiday, a meeting or a night out again … but is that always such a good thing?
Written by Jesse Armstrong, directed by Brian Welsh and starring Toby Kebbell, Jodie Whittaker and Tom Cullen.
Are you looking forward to Black Mirror? Let us know below…