Black Mirror is a British science fiction anthology series created by Charlie Brooker. The programme was inspired by The Twilight Zone and explores technology and its side-effects.[1] It began on the British television network Channel 4 before moving to the American streaming platform Netflix and has run for six series between 2011 and 2023. There are 27 episodes and one interactive film, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Episodes vary in length between 40 and 89 minutes and can be watched in any order.[2][3][4][5] Actors rarely appear in more than one episode, though many instalments make small references known as "Easter eggs" to previous episodes, such as through in-universe news channels and briefly-seen text.[6][7][8]
The first two series comprised three episodes each and ran on Channel 4 in December 2011 and February 2013. After discussions for a third series fell through, a special entitled "White Christmas" was commissioned and aired in December 2014.[9] The following year, Netflix commissioned twelve episodes, later splitting this into two series of six episodes that were released on 21 October 2016 and 29 December 2017.[10][11] The interactive film Bandersnatch was spun out from the fifth series due to its complexity, debuting on 28 December 2018, and the delayed fifth series of three episodes premiered on 5 June 2019.[12][13] The sixth series was released on 15 June 2023 and consists of five episodes.[14][15][16] A seventh series was announced in November 2023.[17]
Episodes are usually dystopian, often with unhappy endings, and many are set in a futuristic world with advanced technology.[18][19] The instalments have spanned a variety of genres including drama, psychological horror, political satire, and romantic comedy.[1][20][21][22] Black Mirror has been met with positive reception from critics[a] and has received numerous awards and nominations, including three consecutive wins of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie.[b]
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by [39] | Written by [39] | Original air date [40] | UK viewers (millions) [40] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The National Anthem" | Otto Bathurst | Charlie Brooker | 4 December 2011 | 2.07 | |
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Princess Susannah, a British royal family member, is kidnapped. For her return, the kidnapper demands that the prime minister, Michael Callow, have sex with a pig on live television. The demands gather attention on social media and then national news. Backup plans to fabricate footage of the act are trialled by Callow's staff without his knowledge and lead to a change in public opinion when the kidnapper discovers and reveals the plan. A failed raid on a suspected location leads to the injury of a journalist, Malaika, who has been communicating with government staff. Callow reluctantly agrees to go forward with the broadcast to an audience of over a billion. However, the kidnapper—a famous artist—had released Susannah shortly before the broadcast and then hanged himself, facts which are kept from the public and Callow. A year later, Callow maintains good approval ratings but his relationship with his wife is damaged. Cast : Rory Kinnear and Lindsay Duncan | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Fifteen Million Merits" | Euros Lyn | Charlie Brooker & Kanak Huq | 11 December 2011 | 1.52 | |
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Bing lives in a society where the majority of people ride stationary bikes in exchange for "merits", a currency used to buy essentials and virtual entertainment. His bedroom is covered from floor to ceiling in screens and he watches another one as he rides the bike. One day, he hears Abi singing in the bathroom and convinces her to enter the talent show Hot Shot, paying almost his entire savings for her ticket. She sings "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" by Irma Thomas but the judges say they cannot hire another singer and she is instead coerced into becoming a pornographic performer. Later, Bing is unable to pay the merits to skip a pornographic advertisement starring Abi and is tormented by the images. He lives frugally until he can afford another ticket, for himself, and threatens to commit suicide when onstage. The judges give him a regular show in which he rails against the system he lives in. Cast : Daniel Kaluuya, Jessica Brown Findlay, and Rupert Everett | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Entire History of You" | Brian Welsh | Jesse Armstrong | 18 December 2011 | N/A (<1.53)[c] | |
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With the implantation of a device called a "grain" behind their ear, people can replay their memories through their eyes or on a screen. At a dinner party, Liam is suspicious of his wife Ffion's behaviour towards her friend Jonas. Upon returning home, Ffion reveals a former relationship with Jonas, though some of her details are inconsistent. Liam drinks alcohol continually throughout the night and then heads to Jonas' house. On threat of glassing, Liam forces Jonas to delete every stored memory he has of Ffion. Liam crashes his car and when he regains consciousness, he replays his memories and notices one of Jonas's memories was of Ffion in bed. Liam confronts Ffion, who continues to lie, and forces her to show her memory of having sex with Jonas around the time her baby was conceived. Later, alone in the house, Liam uses a razor to try to remove his grain. Cast : Toby Kebbell and Jodie Whittaker | |||||||
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by [39] | Written by [39] | Original air date [40] | UK viewers (millions) [40] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | "Be Right Back" | Owen Harris | Charlie Brooker | 11 February 2013 | 2.01 | |
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Martha's boyfriend Ash is killed while returning a hire van the day after they move into a new house in the countryside. Martha learns she is pregnant and tests a service that her friend signed her up to: by aggregating Ash's many social media posts and online communications, an artificial intelligence (AI) imitation of Ash is created. Martha interacts with him via instant messaging and video call, talking on countryside walks and neglecting her sister's attempts to reach out. The next stage is a physical android version of Ash, which begins to make Martha uncomfortable. She argues with him and takes him to a cliff where she orders him to jump, but Martha is then frustrated as the real Ash would not obey such a command. Several years later, on Martha's daughter's birthday, her daughter takes a slice of cake to the android Ash kept in the attic, which she is only permitted to visit on weekends. Cast : Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson | |||||||
| 5 | 2 | "White Bear" | Carl Tibbetts | Charlie Brooker | 18 February 2013 | 1.69 | |
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A woman wakes up in a house with amnesia. People on the street record her but do not speak. After being chased by a masked man, she flees and meets Jem, another woman hiding from those known as "hunters". Jem explains that the people recording her have been affected by a strange signal, while the hunters are unaffected sadists. The woman follows Jem in her plan to destroy the signal transmitter. A hunter, Baxter, holds them at gunpoint in a forest but Jem kills him. When they reach the facility, hunters attack. The woman wrestles a shotgun away but it only sprays confetti. The whole day has been a staged performance, and everybody but the woman—named Victoria Skillane—was an actor or audience member. Victoria was an accomplice to the child murderer Iain Rannoch. Victoria was sent to the White Bear Justice Park, wherein her memory is wiped at the end of each day so that the punishment and entertainment can begin afresh. Cast : Lenora Crichlow and Michael Smiley | |||||||
| 6 | 3 | "The Waldo Moment" | Bryn Higgins | Charlie Brooker | 25 February 2013 | 1.28 | |
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Jamie Salter controls a computer-animated bear named Waldo on a satirical show. Waldo pranks politicians by asking vulgar questions in interviews. After interviewing the Conservative Liam Monroe, Waldo is entered for a by-election in a Conservative safe seat where Monroe is standing. Jamie meets the Labour candidate Gwendolyn Harris and they have sex, but Harris is made to avoid further contact during the campaign. At a student-organised hustings, Waldo derides both Monroe and Harris. The event goes viral and Jamie meets with an American agent interested in using Waldo's image. After Harris rejects Jamie's apology, Jamie publicly reveals himself as the man behind Waldo and urges people not to vote for him. His executive Jack takes over Waldo and encourages the public to attack Jamie. In a hospital, he sees that Monroe won and Waldo came second. Later, a homeless Jamie is tasered by police for throwing a bottle at a screen that displays Waldo on every channel. Cast : Daniel Rigby, Chloe Pirrie, Tobias Menzies and Jason Flemyng | |||||||
| No. overall | Title | Directed by [39] | Written by [39] | Original air date [40] | UK viewers (millions) [40] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | "White Christmas" | Carl Tibbetts | Charlie Brooker | 16 December 2014 | 1.66 | |
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In a cabin, Matt and Joe talk about their past. Matt used to run an online group who watched each other seduce women through "Z-Eyes" that record vision and hearing. It ended after a mentally ill woman poisoned one of the attendees in a murder–suicide. Matt's former profession was training "cookies"—digital clones of people stored in an egg-shaped object—as personal assistants. Meanwhile, Joe's wife "blocked" him with the Z-Eyes, so that he could not communicate with her after an argument over her planned abortion. Joe travelled to Beth's father's house each Christmas to spy on Beth and the child—whom she kept, but whom Joe also cannot see. After Beth's death, he was able to see the child, but he was not the father. Joe confronted Beth's father and killed him, leaving the daughter to freeze to death. Matt reveals that they are both in a cookie, and Joe has just confessed to his crimes. Joe will be imprisoned, while Matt is registered as a sex offender and blocked by everybody. Meanwhile, as punishment, a law enforcement officer sets the time inside Joe's cookie to run at 1,000 years per minute. Cast : Jon Hamm, Rafe Spall, Oona Chaplin, and Natalia Tena | ||||||
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by [39] | Written by [39] | Original release date [41] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1 | "Nosedive" | Joe Wright | Story by : Charlie Brooker Teleplay by : Rashida Jones & Mike Schur | 21 October 2016 | |
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Using eye implants and mobile devices, people rate all of their social interactions on a five-star scale. These ratings form a person's overall rating, which affects their socioeconomic status. Lacie, rated 4.2, is keen to reach 4.5 to afford a better apartment. She leaps at the opportunity to be maid of honour at her childhood friend Naomi's wedding. Her flight there is cancelled and she is too low-rated to qualify for a replacement. She argues with a staff member and security temporarily subtracts a point from her rating and places her on "double damage", which increases the effect of poor ratings. With her new rating, she can only rent an old car, which breaks down. Lacie hitchhikes with Susan—a truck driver rated 1.4. Naomi uninvites Lacie due to her lower rating, but she gatecrashes the wedding and attempts to deliver her speech. Increasingly agitated, Lacie grabs a knife as guests give her low ratings. Security arrest Lacie and she is taken to prison, where she and a fellow inmate revel in their newfound freedom from being rated. Cast : Bryce Dallas Howard, Alice Eve, Cherry Jones, and James Norton | ||||||
| 9 | 2 | "Playtest" | Dan Trachtenberg | Charlie Brooker | 21 October 2016 | |
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After Cooper's father dies, Cooper travels the world and avoids his mother's calls. He spends a night with Sonja in London and, after being victim to identity theft, finds a paid offer to playtest an experimental game. He tests an augmented reality version of Whac-A-Mole and meets Shou, the company's owner. In a mansion, Cooper tests a horror game where an artificial neural network learns from his fears. After fighting with a simulated Sonja, Katie tells Cooper that the technology should not cause him physical pain and leads him to a room where the test can be terminated. In the room, Cooper loses his memories and Katie and Shou say that the technology has advanced too far to be removed. Cooper then awakens in Shou's office, all subsequent events having been simulated. He returns home to find his mother unable to recognise him. However, Cooper's entire experience—from Whac-a-Mole onwards—was contained in the 0.04 second-long experiment. He died during the experiment when a phone call from his mother caused electrical interference. Cast : Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Wunmi Mosaku, and Ken Yamamura | ||||||
| 10 | 3 | "Shut Up and Dance" | James Watkins | Charlie Brooker & William Bridges | 21 October 2016 | |
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A hacker records Kenny masturbating via his webcam and threatens to release it unless he follows their instructions. Kenny picks up a cake from another blackmailed individual and takes it to a hotel room where Hector was waiting to commit adultery with a sex worker. The hackers contact Hector, who complies with their commands to avoid losing custody of his children. Kenny and Hector drive to a bank and Kenny robs it at gunpoint. Hector drives Kenny to the woods to drop off the money and leaves to dispose of the car. Another blackmailed person explains to Kenny that they must fight to the death over the money while filmed by a drone. Kenny tries to shoot himself, but the gun is empty. Later, staggering out of the woods, Kenny discovers that the hackers have released the footage. His distraught mother calls him, having learned that he was masturbating to child pornography, as police swarm the area. Cast : Alex Lawther and Jerome Flynn | ||||||
| 11 | 4 | "San Junipero" | Owen Harris | Charlie Brooker | 21 October 2016 | |
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In 1987, the shy Yorkie meets the outgoing Kelly in a beach resort town named San Junipero. The next week, the pair meet again and have sex. Yorkie struggles to find Kelly afterwards, until a man suggests looking in a different time. She searches in multiple decades until finding Kelly in 2002, where Kelly confesses that she is dying, and wanted to avoid developing feelings for Yorkie. They have sex again. San Junipero is revealed as a simulated reality inhabited by the deceased and elderly, who interact through their younger bodies. In California, Kelly meets a paralysed Yorkie, soon to be euthanised so that she can live in San Junipero permanently. Kelly marries Yorkie to authorise the euthanasia. However, the pair argue when Kelly says she does not wish to stay in San Junipero when she dies: her husband, with whom she was together for 49 years, did not choose to join after their daughter died without the option to do so. After some time, Kelly changes her mind and happily reunites with Yorkie after her own euthanasia. Cast : Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis | ||||||
| 12 | 5 | "Men Against Fire" | Jakob Verbruggen | Charlie Brooker | 21 October 2016 | |
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Soldiers are exterminating mutated humans called "roaches" in a foreign country with the help of MASS, an augmented reality implant which gives them data. Stripe encounters his first group of roaches and kills two of them, but one uses a strange device that interferes with his MASS interface. The next day, Stripe tries to save a frightened woman and her child when Hunter inexplicably tries to kill them. The mother explains to Stripe that MASS causes soldiers to see them as mutants, but they are normal and healthy. "Roaches" are an ethnic group against whom the military is committing genocide. Hunter kills the mother and child and knocks Stripe unconscious. In a cell, a psychologist, Arquette, gives Stripe the choice of indefinite imprisonment or a memory wipe. Later, Stripe is a decorated officer and approaches a beautiful house and partner he pictured in his dreams, but the scene is a figment of his MASS. Cast : Malachi Kirby, Madeline Brewer, Ariane Labed, Sarah Snook, and Michael Kelly | ||||||
| 13 | 6 | "Hated in the Nation" | James Hawes | Charlie Brooker | 21 October 2016 | |
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To counteract near-extinction of bees, Granular has developed robotic bees called "Autonomous Drone Insects" (ADIs). DCI Karin Parke and Detective Blue Coulson, with the help of the National Crime Agency agent Shaun Li, discover that rogue ADIs caused the deaths of two people, both subjects of the "#DeathTo" hashtag after gathering recent hate on social media. The hashtag was spread by a person who is running a "Game of Consequences" where the person most-mentioned alongside the hashtag is killed each day. They try to save the new target, but ADIs swarm the safe house and kill her. The public and news media become aware of the game as Blue traces the hashtag to a former Granular employee Garrett Scholes. A hacking toolkit of Scholes' is found, which Li insists on using to deactivate the ADI system. However, this was part of Scholes' plan and almost 400,000 people—everyone who used the hashtag—are killed by ADIs. Karin appears in court over the incident, while Blue has tracked Scholes down. Cast : Kelly Macdonald, Faye Marsay, and Benedict Wong | ||||||
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by [39] | Written by [39] | Original release date [42] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "USS Callister" | Toby Haynes | William Bridges & Charlie Brooker | 29 December 2017 | |
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Callister Inc. produces the multiplayer game Infinity, with James Walton as CEO and Robert Daly, the brains behind the game, as the little-recognised CTO. Robert has created a version of the game modelled after his favourite series, where the characters—the crew of the starship USS Callister—are sentient clones of his co-workers. After Robert adds a new programmer, Nanette Cole, to the game, she is distressed and confused, and does not obey his commands until he causes her intense pain and shows the scope of his power. During his absences she devises an escape, though James is reluctant to join as Robert once brought his son into the game and threw him out of an airlock. Nanette finds a way to blackmail her real-life self into distracting Robert for long enough for them to steal his in-game "omnicorder", which controls the world, and begin to escape. Robert resumes playing and chases them, but they escape, which causes the game to break with Robert inside. The crew enter the real Infinity game as players. Cast : Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Michaela Coel, and Billy Magnussen | ||||||
| 15 | 2 | "Arkangel" | Jodie Foster | Charlie Brooker | 29 December 2017 | |
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Marie briefly loses her three-year-old daughter Sara and decides to have her implanted with the Arkangel system, whereby Marie can track Sara's vision, hearing and health via a tablet computer. A filter censors Sara from seeing or hearing stressful situations. After nine-year-old Sara makes herself bleed, Marie deactivates the filter and puts the tablet in the attic. One night when Sara is fifteen, Marie discovers she is lying about her whereabouts and, in distress, retrieves the tablet. Marie sees Sara having sex for the first time with Trick. Marie begins using the tablet in secret; she forces Trick to avoid Sara after he gives her cocaine, and sneaks an emergency contraception pill into Sara's smoothie. Sara discovers Marie is using the tablet and beats her with it, causing the stress filter to be reactivated so that she cannot see the damage she is doing. When Marie regains consciousness, Sara is long gone. Cast : Rosemarie DeWitt, Brenna Harding, and Owen Teague | ||||||
| 16 | 3 | "Crocodile" | John Hillcoat | Charlie Brooker | 29 December 2017 | |
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Rob hits a cyclist on a mountain road, killing him; with his companion Mia he throws the body into a lake. Fifteen years later, Rob visits her to talk about sending an anonymous letter to the victim's wife. Afraid the letter would be traced, Mia kills Rob. Later, an insurance investigator Shazia researches an unrelated car accident and learns that Mia saw it out of the window that evening. Shazia uses a "Recaller" to view people's memories as best as they can picture them. Shazia speaks to Mia, who sees Mia's memories of both of her killings, despite Mia trying to stop herself thinking about them. Mia ties Shazia up, uses the Recaller to discover Shazia told her husband about the visit, and kills Shazia. Mia journeys to kill Shazia's husband and also kills their baby son to avoid leaving evidence. Although the son was born blind, the family guinea pig had observed Mia, so police track Mia down to her son's school production. Cast : Andrea Riseborough, Kiran Sonia Sawar, Andrew Gower, Anthony Welsh, and Claire Rushbrook | ||||||
| 17 | 4 | "Hang the DJ" | Tim Van Patten | Charlie Brooker | 29 December 2017 | |
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Frank and Amy use an electronic device called "Coach" which chooses their relationship partners and durations. Coach will eventually assign them lifelong partners, with a 99.8% success rate. They are matched for 12 hours, and then each given a match lasting several months. Amy's ends and she is given a series of 36-hour relationships; when Frank's ends, the pair are rematched. They get on well until Frank violates an agreement they had not to look at the expiry date—initially five years, but his action causes Coach to recalculate the period to 20 hours. Amy and Frank leave on bad terms but fail to enjoy future matches. The day before they are paired with their lifelong partners, they reunite and Amy encourages Frank to rebel. As they escape, the world fades away: it was a simulated reality used by a dating app to determine the real-life Frank and Amy's compatibility. Cast : Georgina Campbell and Joe Cole | ||||||
| 18 | 5 | "Metalhead" | David Slade | Charlie Brooker | 29 December 2017 | |
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The episode is filmed in black and white. Bella journeys to a warehouse with Anthony and Clarke. A robotic guard known as a "dog" kills Anthony and chases the others as they drive away in separate cars. The dog jumps into Clarke's car and kills him, then pursues Bella in it. The dog enters Bella's car, and she exits as the car topples off the edge of a cliff. Via walkie-talkie, Bella leaves someone a brief message for her loved ones in case of death. The dog finds her and she climbs a tree to escape it, draining it of power by throwing things at it. As it recharges, she makes her way into a compound. When the dog tracks her down, she blinds it with paint and destroys it with a shotgun, but its shrapnel embeds trackers in her body, including one in her jugular vein. She says a final goodbye into a walkie-talkie, unsure if she can be heard. As she puts a knife to her throat, dogs swarm over the area, including the warehouse where Bella and her friends were trying to retrieve a box of teddy bears. Cast : Maxine Peake | ||||||
| 19 | 6 | "Black Museum" | Colm McCarthy | Charlie Brooker | 29 December 2017 | |
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Nish visits the Black Museum run by Rolo Haynes. He previously recruited people for experimental medical technology. One technology allowed Dr. Peter Dawson to feel the physical sensations of his patients to make diagnoses, but he began enjoying pain and was rendered comatose after killing a homeless man and experiencing his death. In another case, a comatose mother had her consciousness transferred into her husband's head, but after arguments she was moved to a toy monkey which her child quickly abandoned. The main exhibit is a holographic Clayton Leigh—a man convicted of murder and put to death by electric chair. Visitors pull the lever to execute the sentient hologram, and get a souvenir clone copy to watch the death on repeat. Nish reveals herself as Clayton's daughter; she has given Rolo poisoned water so that he falls unconscious. Nish kills the hologram of Clayton and takes a souvenir of Rolo being given the electric chair. As she drives away, she speaks to her mother, whose consciousness has been transferred into her head. Cast : Douglas Hodge and Letitia Wright | ||||||
| Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [43] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bandersnatch | David Slade | Charlie Brooker | 28 December 2018 | |
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Bandersnatch is an interactive film, where viewer choices affect the storyline. Stefan Butler, a young programmer, works on a video game adaptation of a "choose your own adventure" book, Bandersnatch. He successfully pitches it to Tuckersoft in a meeting with the head Mohan Thakur and the game developer Colin Ritman. Stefan becomes stressed while working from home and attends therapy. The viewer can see Stefan talking about his mother's death. Stefan can take hallucinogens with Colin and hear his alternate timeline theories. In many storylines, Stefan feels controlled by outside forces, as did the original author of Bandersnatch. Stefan may discover that his father and therapist are running an experiment on him, travel back through time and go with his mother onto the train that crashed and killed her, or kill his father and sometimes Mohan or Colin. The game's success upon release depends on the viewers' choices, as does whether Stefan is imprisoned and the game pulled. Some endings show Colin's daughter trying to adapt Bandersnatch into an interactive film. Cast : Fionn Whitehead, Craig Parkinson, Alice Lowe, Asim Chaudhry, and Will Poulter | ||||
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [44] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 1 | "Striking Vipers" | Owen Harris | Charlie Brooker | 5 June 2019 | |
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Danny hosts a birthday party with his wife Theo. His old friend Karl introduces him to the latest Striking Vipers game, as they used to play it together. It is a fighting game, now experienced in virtual reality. That night, Danny and Karl play as Lance and Roxette, respectively, feeling all physical sensations of the characters' bodies. After a round of fighting, they fall onto each other and kiss. They begin to have sex in the game. On their wedding anniversary, Theo confronts Danny, having noticed him being more withdrawn, and he cuts off his arrangement with Karl. At Danny's next birthday, Theo invites Karl. They argue but then have sex in the game again. They try kissing in real life, but agree that there is no spark between them. A physical fight leads to their arrest overnight. Later, as part of an agreement, Danny plays Striking Vipers with Karl while Theo goes to a bar without her wedding ring and meets strangers. Cast : Anthony Mackie, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Beharie, Pom Klementieff, and Ludi Lin | ||||||
| 21 | 2 | "Smithereens" | James Hawes | Charlie Brooker | 5 June 2019 | |
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At group therapy, Chris meets Hayley, whose daughter died by suicide. He has sex with her and watches her make her daily three attempts to log into her daughter's account on Persona. One day, Chris—a rideshare driver—abducts Jaden, an intern at the social media company Smithereen, at gunpoint. Police chase after them until Chris comes to a stop in a field. Chris contacts Jaden's superior and demands to speak to Smithereen's CEO, Billy Bauer, who is on a solitary retreat. Smithereen employees gather information on Chris while he forces the hostage negotiator to leave. After a final ultimatum from Chris, Billy agrees to speak to him. Chris explains that he was checking a Smithereen notification while driving when a drunk driver collided with him, killing the driver and Chris's fiancée. Chris makes clear his intention to kill himself, and as a favour Billy gets Persona's CEO to give Hayley her daughter's password. Jaden tries to force Chris's gun away from him to prevent his suicide, and a police sniper is ordered to shoot into the car. Cast : Andrew Scott, Damson Idris, and Topher Grace | ||||||
| 22 | 3 | "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" | Anne Sewitsky | Charlie Brooker | 5 June 2019 | |
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Rachel and Jack live with their father, who is working on a mousetrap alternative. For her fifteenth birthday, Rachel gets an AI toy, Ashley Too, based on the pop star Ashley O. She dances to an Ashley O song at a school talent competition, but falls and leaves embarrassed. Meanwhile, Ashley O is beginning to rebel against Catherine—her controlling manager and aunt. Catherine puts medication in her food to render Ashley O comatose. When the Ashley Too doll learns of Ashley O's coma, it malfunctions. Jack uses her father's computer to remove a limiter on the doll, causing it to gain full consciousness, as it was made from a clone of Ashley O. Rachel and Jack go with the doll to Ashley O's house. While Jack poses as a mouse catcher, Rachel and Ashley Too unplug Ashley O from a medication drip and she regains consciousness. After rendering two of Catherine's staff unconscious, they crash a venue where Catherine is unveiling Ashley Eternal, a holographic Ashley O to perform on music tours, and reveal that Ashley O is awake. Later, Ashley O performs alternative music with Jack under the name "Ashley Fuckn O". Cast : Miley Cyrus, Angourie Rice, Madison Davenport and Susan Pourfar | ||||||
For series six, Nielsen Media Research reported that Black Mirror was the most-watched television programme on streaming platforms in the United States during the week of its release, with an estimated 23 million hours watched.[45][46] In the following weeks it ranked second and fifth, with a cumulative 40 million hours watched.[47][48]
Netflix, which started releasing viewing figures after series five,[49][50] stated that 60 million hours of Black Mirror's sixth series were watched worldwide during its week of release. According to Netflix's ranking method, it was second to Never Have I Ever's fourth series by viewer count.[51] By the end of June, its hours of viewing reached 140 million, in addition to 110 million hours of other Black Mirror views.[d] This placed the sixth series 53rd in Netflix content across all views from January to June 2023.[50]
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 1 | "Joan Is Awful" | Ally Pankiw | Charlie Brooker | 15 June 2023 | |
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Joan finds that the events of her day are being retold in near-real time in a television programme, Joan Is Awful. The streaming service Streamberry is legally able to do so as she signed their terms and conditions; a quantum computer produces the show using computer-generated imagery (CGI). She is portrayed by a virtual actor version of Salma Hayek. To get Hayek's attention, Joan defecates in a church while dressed as a cheerleader. Joan and Hayek—who is unhappy with how her likeness is being used—break into Streamberry's office to destroy the quantum computer. They learn that they are in a simulated reality, and Joan is a likeness of Annie Murphy based on a Source Joan; both destroy their quantum computers, destroying the simulated realities. Source Joan is placed under house arrest alongside the real Annie Murphy and achieves her dream job by starting a coffee shop. Cast : Annie Murphy and Salma Hayek | ||||||
| 24 | 2 | "Loch Henry" | Sam Miller | Charlie Brooker | 15 June 2023 | |
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Davis and Pia, partners who met on a film course, visit Davis's mother Janet in the Scottish countryside and meet Davis's friend Stuart, who runs the last remaining pub in Loch Henry. When Pia learns about Iain Adair, a local serial killer who tortured tourists, she convinces Davis that they should make a documentary about him. Pia, Davis and Stuart break into Adair's basement and gather footage. Pia discovers from Janet's old VHS tapes of Bergerac that Davis's mother and his late father participated in Adair's crimes. She flees the house and evades Janet's pursuit but fatally falls in a river. Janet hangs herself next to evidence of her crimes. A BAFTA-winning true crime documentary is made about Loch Henry, with Davis's involvement; it brings tourism back to Stuart's pub. Alone in a hotel room, Davis re-reads Janet's suicide note: "For your film. Mum." Cast : Samuel Blenkin, Myha'la Herrold, Daniel Portman, and Monica Dolan | ||||||
| 25 | 3 | "Beyond the Sea" | John Crowley | Charlie Brooker | 15 June 2023 | |
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In an alternate history 1969, the astronauts Cliff and David can transfer their consciousness to artificial replicas of their bodies on Earth when not needed on the spaceship. David is trapped on the ship after his family is killed and his replica destroyed by a cult. Cliff and his wife Lana allow David limited use of Cliff's replica. Lana embraces David, in Cliff's replica, when he cries in front of her. On Earth, David begins an oil painting of Cliff's family home. David becomes infatuated with Lana over their visits and makes sexual advances towards her while dancing to "La Mer". Lana rejects his advances and Cliff discovers David has been drawing her naked on the ship. Cliff punches David. When Cliff takes a spacewalk, David uses his replica to kill his family. Aboard the ship, David offers Cliff a seat. Cast : Aaron Paul, Josh Hartnett, and Kate Mara | ||||||
| 26 | 4 | "Mazey Day" | Uta Briesewitz | Charlie Brooker | 15 June 2023 | |
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In 2006, paparazza Bo takes photos of a male celebrity's affair with a man, leading to his suicide. She decides to leave the industry but struggles to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the actress Mazey Day quits filming in the Czech Republic after a hit and run; $30,000 is offered for the first photographs of her. Motivated by the offer, Bo tracks Mazey down and pursues her to a New Age rehabilitation centre. She and three other paparazzi find Mazey tied up and take pictures. Bo releases her and Mazey transforms into a werewolf. The werewolf kills two paparazzi as Bo and the paparazzo Hector flee to a nearby restaurant, where a police officer is dining. Bo fails to convince the police officer of the situation's urgency. The werewolf kills all those in the diner except Bo, who manages to shoot her with the deceased officer's gun. Mazey returns to human form, bloodied and begging for death. Bo places the gun in her hand. Using Hector's camera, Bo prepares to take a photograph of Mazey holding the gun to her head. A gunshot is heard. Cast : Zazie Beetz, Clara Rugaard, and Danny Ramirez | ||||||
| 27 | 5 | "Demon 79" | Toby Haynes | Charlie Brooker & Bisha K. Ali | 15 June 2023 | |
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A title card introduces the episode as a Red Mirror film. In 1979, Nida works at a department store. People at her job, the National Front, and the Conservative politician Michael Smart make it clear she is not welcome in England. She discovers a talisman that unleashes a demon, Gaap, on his first assignment. With the appearance of Boney M.'s Bobby Farrell, Gaap tells Nida she must kill three people in as many days to stop the world ending. Nida kills a passerby who molests his daughter. A man who murdered his wife invites Nida to his house for sex; she kills him and his brother, who arrives as she is leaving. The murderer's death is discounted, so one killing remains: Nida targets Smart, who is seen in a premonition to become Prime Minister with an ultra-nationalist agenda. She runs him off the road but is apprehended by a police officer before his death. At midnight, with Nida in the interrogation room, nuclear warfare begins. Nida joins Gaap, who is outcast by the demons, in an eternal void. Cast : Anjana Vasan and Paapa Essiedu | ||||||
| Series | Release dates |
|---|---|
| Region 2/B | |
| 1 | 27 February 2012[52] |
| 2 | 6 May 2013[53] |
| Special | 9 February 2015[54] |
| 1, 2, Special | 9 February 2015[55] |
| 3 | 27 November 2017[56] |
| 4 | 31 December 2018[57] |
