Jasmine Sahu is well suited with this new American drama exclusive to Dave.
Lois Cameron explains why this series is much more than your average cosy period drama.
The last episode of this series sees Sherlock and Moriarty attempt to solve the final problem with devastating consequences.
With major cast changes afoot, Jacob Martin ponders whether Being Human can live up to its own scarily high standard.
@TheReaderOfThisArticle – Warning: Contains spoilers of a delicate nature. And quite possibly the rantings of a #CharlieBrookerFangirl.
Twitter is an intriguing place. For instance, yesterday I discovered that Fearne Cotton baked a cake. That is how awesome Twitter is. Not so complimentary of social media is Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker’s three-part series, which began with The National Anthem on Sunday. And while I watched the episode alternately swearing to myself, clutching my hair and covering my eyes, I’m now coherent enough to explain why it’s worth watching. Just.
In the first few minutes of the drama, Brooker’s trademark brutal influence becomes evident as Prime Minister Michael Callow (Rory Kinnear) is shown a hostage video of the captured, terrified Princess Susannah (Lydia Wilson). The kidnapper demands that unless the Prime Minister carries out a certain deed at 4pm that day, “the people’s princess” will be executed. “They want us to pay off third world debt?” Callow asks wearily. You wish. Brooker’s nightmarish imagination has deemed that the Prime Minister must have, er, intimate relations on live television… with a certain farmyard animal.
When writing a television script, the “What if?” concept is a dangerous game (see Torchwood: Miracle Day), but Brooker does more here than simply hypothesise a ludicrous schoolboy notion and run with it. The bleak role of social media and networking is explored over a backdrop of panicked politicians worrying about what breed of pig to use: millions share the hostage video online; a journalist takes snaps of herself to bribe information out of a civil servant; and the Government’s actions are ruled by online public opinion polls. Hark, is that the satire alarm going off?
In truth, this idea could have been executed terribly, but the exceptional performances alone allow Black Mirror to provoke every kind of reaction from the viewer. Rory Kinnear’s defeated Prime Minister reverts from being weakly dumbstruck to madly strangling his advisor (Lindsey Duncan) in the space of an hour, yet remains, vitally, a sympathetic character. The final scenes where he slumps against the toilet, vomiting, dribbling, riddled with self-disgust after having saved the princess, is Black Mirror at its blackest, I think: an individual figure of authority destroyed by his own self-loathing. And YouTube.
However, I’d like to contest the notion that this is a “comedy”, as it’s been described; aside from Alex MacQueen’s superb deadpanning, once the initial giggle-worthy, childish idea becomes reality, amusement is thin on the ground. The real-life parallels are just too accurate for comfortable viewing: the emphasised prominence of THE people’s princess, the spontaneous distribution of the latest hostage news, the uncanny resemblance between Julian Hereford (Donald Sumpter) and Vince Cable…
Most worryingly, you can’t help but wonder how plausible it all is. The idea that someone could be manipulated to commit such a horrific act by social pressure and technology alone is a truly terrifying thought that nestles in your brain after watching, like a gruesome, sneering, Brooker-bequiffed parasite.
So The National Anthem isn’t enjoyable, but if it’s compulsive, challenging, sad, horrifying, watch-through-your-fingers television you want, it’s right here. Black Mirror is not for the squeamish. It’s wrong. So wrong. But it’s good. And it certainly beats waiting around for Fearne Cotton to bake another cake.
Black Mirror returns on Sunday, Channel 4, 9.30pm with 15 Million Merits, a twisted take on entertainment shows:
Trailer: Channel 4
I think that Charlie Brooker is perhaps one of the greatest minds of the modern era. He's just a genius, even if he's an evil genius 
I eventually took the time to watch this, and it was pretty good. The whole deal of the masses being collectively misanthropic when fuelled by internet anonymity is pretty accurate; but the idea of that translating so readily into how people behave offline isn't quite how I'd see it. The ending, while I won't spoil it, was weak, and spoiled whatever kind of 'message' it was trying to give.
I disagree about this not being funny, though. The idea is childish, but watching the characters flip between the horrified innocents and snark-fuelled schadenfreude machines was some sweet black comedy.
I don't feel that the ending was weak. What you need to remember is that the artist is Charlie Brooker. That's his "character" within the story. Once you get that you realise how incredibly meta the story is.
Aaaand now I sound like a pretentious over-analytical jerk...
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report