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Mireille Duhon
Black Mirror is considered by many reviewers to be one of the best television series of the 2010s, while some critics have found the morality of the series obvious or cite declining quality. The programme won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie three times consecutively for "San Junipero", "USS Callister" and Bandersnatch. Black Mirror, along with American Horror Story and Inside No. 9, has been credited with reviving the anthology television format, and a number of episodes have been deemed prescient by the media.
The series was originally commissioned by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and premiered in December 2011. A second series ran during February 2013. In September 2015, Netflix purchased the programme, commissioning a series of 12 episodes later divided into two series of six episodes.[1] The first six episodes were released simultaneously on Netflix worldwide as the overall third series on 21 October 2016. The fourth series of six episodes was released on 29 December 2017.[2] A fifth series consisting of three episodes was released on 5 June 2019.[3] The first four series, as well as the special "White Christmas", have been released on DVD.[4] A sixth series was commissioned in 2022 and was released on 15 June 2023.[5][6][7] A seventh series was announced in November 2023 with filming expected to start by the end of the year.[8]
As Black Mirror is an anthology series, each episode is standalone and can be watched in any order.[9] The programme is an instance of speculative fiction within science fiction: the majority of episodes are set in dystopian near-futures with novel technologies that exaggerate a trait from contemporary culture, often the internet.[10][11][12] An example is "Crocodile", where the Recaller device used to view a person's memories is the main difference from the modern world.[10] Many such technologies involve altering the human body or consciousness, with little in-universe concern for the morality of these actions.[11] They provide convenience or freedom to the user, but exacerbate problematic personality traits.[11][12] Adrian Martin of Screen wrote that many episodes depict "basic human emotions and desires" that "intersect with, and get twisted by, a technological system that invariably spins out of control and into catastrophe".[10] Retrofuturistic designs highlight the theme of each episode, often showing a lack of comfort, emotional connection or personalisation;[13] the settings are generally patriarchal and capitalist.[14] Recurring themes throughout Black Mirror include data privacy and surveillance, virtual reality, individualism and consumerism.[10][11] Many episodes have plot twists.[15][16]
However, individual episodes explore varying genres.[10] Crime fiction episodes include the police procedurals "Hated in the Nation" and "Smithereens" and the Nordic noir "Crocodile".[17][18][19] Horror and psychological horror are features of "Black Museum" and "Playtest", respectively.[20][21] The first episode, "The National Anthem", contains black comedy and political satire.[22][23] Some episodes employ features of lighter-hearted genres, such as romance in "San Junipero" and "Striking Vipers", romantic comedy in "Hang the DJ", or space opera in "USS Callister".[24][25][26][27] Other genres include drama ("Fifteen Million Merits"), psychological thriller (Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), post-apocalyptic fiction ("Metalhead"), and war film ("Men Against Fire").[10][14][28][29]
Black Mirror can be seen to demonstrate a negative view of unending pursuit of scientific and technological advancement.[11] The majority of episodes end unhappily.[12] However, characters who carefully consider the risks of technology with which they engage are met with happy endings, as in "San Junipero".[11] Juliana Lopes of Via Panormica argued that the dystopian settings resemble the French Marxist Guy Debord's concept of the spectacle, wherein mass media create alienation and an unattainable utopia for individuals to pursue. For instance, in "Nosedive", the protagonist Lacie strives for a utopian life through superficiality and performativity, in a society where social media success contributes to high socioeconomic status.[12] Academics writing in Quarterly Review of Film and Video found that Black Mirror episodes fall into a genre of "mind-game films", wherein protagonists are disoriented and narratives are non-linear or fragmented. Films in this genre include Inception (2010) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), and these works often show the unreliability of the state, technology or family.[11]
Some critics believed that episodes produced under Channel 4 had a more British tone or shared aesthetic qualities not found in later series.[10][11] In contrast, Netflix episodes including "Nosedive", "San Junipero", "USS Callister" and "Hang the DJ" evidence pastel aesthetics, use of 1980s or 1990s nostalgia and lighter-hearted tones than Channel 4 episodes.[11] The frequency of happy endings and positive uses of technology increase in later series.[30][31][32] With the use of a werewolf in "Mazey Day" and a demon in "Demon 79", the sixth series introduced supernatural horror elements to Black Mirror, and reduced the role of technology.[33][34][35]
Actors rarely appear in more than one episode; those who do have unrelated roles. Aaron Paul starred in "Beyond the Sea", a space-themed episode, after agreeing to a cameo in "USS Callister" if it did not bar him from appearing in other episodes.[46][47] Hannah John-Kamen played the singer Selma ("Fifteen Million Merits") and the journalist Sonja ("Playtest"); Michaela Coel was an airline check-in worker ("Nosedive") and the space crew member Shania ("USS Callister"); Monica Dolan acted as a police officer ("Smithereens") and a protagonist's mother ("Loch Henry"); Daniel Lapaine played the minor character Max ("The Entire History of You") and the doctor Daniel ("Black Museum").[48][49][50][51]
Some writers believe that Black Mirror episodes are set in a shared universe, due to the abundance of Easter eggs, or tonal and thematic connections across the programme as a whole.[11] Fans and journalists have attempted to establish concrete chronologies between episodes.[52][53] The series creator Charlie Brooker's comments on this topic changed over time. He initially described the programme's setting as an "artistic universe" or "psychologically shared universe".[39][52] After the release of the third series, he said that a line in "Hated in the Nation" that references the central crime in "White Bear" established a "canonical" connection between them.[38] Brooker said of "Black Museum" that it "does actually now seem to imply that it is all a shared universe".[52]
Brooker recognised that Rod Serling had based The Twilight Zone on contemporary issues, often controversial ones such as racism, but placed them in fictional settings to get around television censors at the time. Brooker realised he could comment similarly on modern issues, specifically focusing on technology, a topic he explored in producing the series How TV Ruined Your Life (2011). He aimed to explore "the way we might be living in 10 minutes' time".[54]
Brooker wanted to keep the anthology approach, using new stories, settings, characters, and actors for each episode, as he felt this was a key element of enjoying series like The Twilight Zone. This approach would allow Black Mirror to contrast with current dramas and serials that had a standard recurring cast.[54] According to Brooker, the production team considered giving the series a linking theme or presenter, but ultimately decided not to.[58]
Most episodes are credited solely to Brooker. Many originate with him talking to the executive producer Annabel Jones or others about a "what-if idea", and considering if it could be the consequence of some new technology.[59] Brooker said that like his previous comedy writing, the premise is a "worst case scenario compounded"; the ideas often make him laugh.[59][60] Episodes generally have only one aspect at a time that requires suspension of disbelief, and characters' actions are designed to feel authentic even if their predicaments are unusual.[55] Brooker avoided reacting to news events or topical subjects, as there was no guarantee of their continued relevance by the release date.[61]
A trailer for the second series was made by Moving Picture Company and featured a dream sequence, a factory and a large dust cloud, but no extracts of series two episodes.[69] The series aired weekly from 11 February 2013. "Be Right Back" follows Martha (Hayley Atwell) turning to artificial intelligence for emotional support while grieving over the death of her partner Ash (Domhnall Gleeson). Lenora Crichlow stars as Victoria Skillane, a woman in an apocalypse who has lost her memory, in "White Bear". "The Waldo Moment" is a political satire starring Daniel Rigby as Jamie Salter, a man who contests a by-election as an animated bear. Black Mirror was first made available in the US from November 2013 via DirecTV, where episodes aired on Audience and were available online.[70]
In September 2015, Netflix commissioned 12 episodes of Black Mirror.[73] By this point, the series was available in around 80 territories.[56] In March 2016, it outbid Channel 4 for the rights to distributing the third series in the UK, with a bid of US$40 million.[74] Endemol released a statement saying that Channel 4 had "had the opportunity to recommission [Black Mirror] since 2013 and passed on this and subsequent co-production offers put to them. [...] Further efforts were made to try to reach a settlement regarding a UK window for Channel 4, but these were also sadly to no avail". In a press release, Channel 4 stated that they "offered to recommission Black Mirror". This marked the first time that an online streaming service had gained the rights to a series when the original network had wished to renew it.[75]
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