Charlie Brooker's Black MirrorTV 

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Famine

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Anyone been catching this?

A brief summary of Charlie Brooker. He's a TV critic and writer who is... a bit twisted. Okay, very twisted. He's written for several famous and notorious shows, including Brass Eye's infamous 2001 "special" with Chris Morris - later writing Nathan Barley with Morris - and his own shows Screenwipe and You Have Been Watching.

Black Mirror is... quite dark and each of the three shows - with completely different casts and set in different realities - are about the way we live (technologically) or "the way we might be living in 10 minutes' time if we're clumsy"...


The first episode, "The National Anthem", features a beleaguered Prime Minister forced into making a hard decision when a royal is kidnapped and the only ransom demands are that the PM has sex with a pig on live national television - the themes being Youtube, Twitter and the Turner Prize.

The second, "15 Million Merits" is about a world where people must cycle to earn "merits" and power a society which consists of constant television shows and advertisements (including "adult" shows) which cost merits to skip and which cannot be ignored. Fat or unfit people are considered second class citizens and are the subject of derision. One man spends his merits on giving someone else a chance to escape - the themes being consumerism and talent shows.

The third episode, "The Entire History of You" hasn't aired yet, but the subject is that everyone has access to a device that records everything they do or see and no-one needs to forget anything...


Totally bizarre, very dark and worth catching - available on 4OD...
 
Keep missing this. Watching ep02 now (#1 has already disappeared off catch-up), will add my thoughts when it's over...
 
I just watched #1 on 4OD... like... just now. On the PS3 :D
 
Wow... you're not wrong about it being dark. I mean, I expected that from Brooker, but that was quite special. Really enjoyed it though, and predictably it wasn't so much a "happy ending" as just an "ending". Certainly the complete lack of contact between the two main characters after the first leaves is still a little depressing... like even freedom isn't what it's cracked up to be in that world...

Need to catch episode 1 now...
 
When I kept seeing adverts for it, it seemed like something I'd watch. But after reading your mini synopsis on the first episode, well.. it does
sound bizarre.

Maybe I'll give it a watch, I can't stand Charlie Brooker though. Hopefully his acting skills aren't tested during the episodes :scared:
 
The first episode has been a long time coming, I suspect. I remember Brooker writing about something very similar years ago, so I presume it's been an idea he's had bubbling away for quite some time...
 
Brooker doesn't appear in any of the shows. Oddly his wife Kanak (Konnie) Huq co-wrote the second one...

I think the first is better than the second as a program and possibly marginally more believable - I'm not sure Bing's reaction near the end of the second one is consistent with his character. But it might be :D
 
Famine
Brooker doesn't appear in any of the shows. Oddly his wife Kanak (Konnie) Huq co-wrote the second one...

I think the first is better than the second as a program and possibly marginally more believable - I'm not sure Bing's reaction near the end of the second one is consistent with his character. But it might be :D
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You mean his monologue or his TV slot right at the end? It sounds morbid but I was mildly disappointed he didn't go through with his threat (as it were) knowing what he'd helped do to Abi's life. That certainly would have made it dark...
 
Selling himself out. It seemed odd, given how much effort he'd put into playing - and breaking - the system and how little he enjoyed the system while he was part of it.
 
Famine
The first episode, "The National Anthem", features a beleaguered Prime Minister forced into making a hard decision when a royal is kidnapped and the only ransom demands are that the PM has sex with a pig on live national television - the themes being Youtube, Twitter and the Turner Prize.
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Anthony Burgess - of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (in)fame - wrote a script for a James Bond film (which ultimately became THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) that played on this aspect: various leaders around the world had to commit humiliating acts (ie the Royal family had to parade nakes through the streets of London, the President had to wipe his behind with the Declaration of Independence, the Pope had to paint over the Sistene Chapel, etc.) or else their capital cities would be targeted by a terrorist group that had taken over the remains of SPECTRE.
 
There's a little twist to Brooker's version - which I won't give away - but it's also a play on the role the public play. The initial "ransom" video is posted on Youtube so that it goes public - and viral - immediately, despite best efforts to keep it private, a ruse to fake it is discovered through Twitter and a reporter ends up in the line of fire due to mobile phones.

There's also a little twist on public vs. private relationships. The PM's decisions end up increasing his public approval significantly, while his wife eventually ends up hating him (fuelled by Youtube comments).
 
Famine
Selling himself out. It seemed odd, given how much effort he'd put into playing - and breaking - the system and how little he enjoyed the system while he was part of it.
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Exactly. I was at least hoping he'd use his freedom to try and help her in some way, but I suppose that would have made the ending too happy. As it was, there was definitely a "grass is always greener" spin to it.
 
Famine
There's a little twist to Brooker's version - which I won't give away
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I didn't mean anything by it. I was just commenting on similarities between "Black Mirror" and a rejected draft for THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (which was very nearly made, too, but there was a legal dispute over the rights to SPECTRE that stopped the script dead in its tracks).
 
Anyone else seen episode 3 yet? Was interesting and probably the darkest yet, definitely not a happy ending of any sort in this one...
 
Almost five years later and series three, now comprising of six episodes is available and series four has been given the go-ahead.

I really liked the special White Christmas between series two and three. I've only seen four episodes of S3 so far and they just keep on getting stronger and stronger. The first episode of S3 Nosedive was particularly good and disturbing.
 
MeanElf
Almost five years later and series three, now comprising of six episodes is available and series four has been given the go-ahead.

I really liked the special White Christmas between series two and three. I've only seen four episodes of S3 so far and they just keep on getting stronger and stronger. The first episode of S3 Nosedive was particularly good and disturbing.
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Loved Nosedive, thought Playtest was a good watch and Shut Up and Dance was by far the most uninteresting concept and episode alongside White Bear in S2.

Starting 4-6 tonight.
 
I've watched seasons 1 and 2 A while ago and season 3 showed up on Netflix last month. I'll be moving over to that as soon as Luke Cage is finished.

All in all I do like the series and suggested my wife watch it but she hasn't pulled the trigger on it yet. Hard to watch a show about having sex with a pig when the kids are around. :lol:
 
I watched San Junipero last night, I won't give any spoilers but it's a beautiful story that perhaps drags on a bit much depending on your tolerance for character building.

I've readjusted my ratings as follows:

Nosedive - 8/10
PlayTest - 7/10
Shut Up and Dance - 6.5/10
San Junipero - 7.5/10
 
Seasons 1 & 2 were brilliant. The new season seems to lack the flair that made the first two seasons great. The only one from the new series I enjoyed was PlayTest.
 
Ken
Seasons 1 & 2 were brilliant. The new season seems to lack the flair that made the first two seasons great. The only one from the new series I enjoyed was PlayTest.
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Totally agree, not one of the Season 3 episodes out of the 4 I've seen (watching #5 tonight) have cracked my Top 3.

It's a decent season but to be honest I think everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid a bit since we're lucky to even have a Season 3.
 
I'm quite liking the new season. I think the ending for Playtest was bad compared to the build up throughout the episode. Shut Up and Dance was just so brutal to watch.
 
Completed the remaining two episodes last night and stand by my original statement that they just kept on getting stronger. Charlie has a way of focusing on what we as collective idiots are capable of, especially with such toys at our disposal. Good cautionary tales.

By the way @Brend Season four is already filming.
 
MeanElf
Completed the remaining two episodes last night and stand by my original statement that they just kept on getting stronger. Charlie has a way of focusing on what we as collective idiots are capable of, especially with such toys at our disposal. Good cautionary tales.

By the way @Brend Season four is already filming.
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Well that's good news! :D

I will finish the series tonight with 'Hated in The Nation' which I've heard a mix of unfavorable and favorable reviews, so I'm looking forward to the finale.

I found 'Men Against Fire' the most Black Mirror feeling episode of the lot but it was terribly generic and a story told too many times for me to give a toss about, throw in a slow opening 25 minutes and I found myself dwindling before the reveal. Did anybody else notice they appeared to use Silverstone for the military base? I can't find a good photo of the exterior shot but I'm 75% sure it looks familiar. I'd give MaF a 6/10.
 
True, some of the SF themes such as Men Against Fire and San Junipero are not strictly new, in fact they have been explored by several writers. I still enjoy his take on them though, especially as the originals are now decades old and mainstream SF has become somewhat channelled.
 
So, I watched 'Hated in The Nation'. Absolutely brilliant, the standout of the season for me. I really enjoyed the narrative and the double act of detectives perfectly complimented each other. BM at it's finest and most British.

With that in mind, I've collated a list of all episodes to date in terms of how I score them (1 being the highest):

1. Fifteen Million Merits
2. Entire History of You
3. White Christmas
4. Hated by The Nation
5. Nosedive
6. Be Right Back
7. San Junipero
8. The Waldo Moment
9. Playtest
10. The National Anthem
11. Shut Up and Dance
12. Men Against Fire
13. White Bear
 
...another game related bit of trivia. Blue from 'Hated in The Nation' is Amy from 2015's Need for Speed reboot:
black-mirror-hated-in-the-nation-faye-marsay.jpg


Need-for-Speed%E2%84%A2_20151114174131.jpg


Confirmed here.
 
I watched much of Season 2 the other day to catch up and then started Season 3... Not sure I'm going to keep bothering - I think there's only so many ways that it can be explained to me that social media is a bit fake.
 

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