Black Mirror with Charlie Brooker

10 snips

Jul 4, 2025

Join Charlie Brooker, the mastermind behind the chilling anthology series Black Mirror, as he unpacks the show’s evolution and its eerie relevance to today’s tech landscape. He discusses the creative journey behind iconic episodes, like the heartfelt 'San Junipero', showcasing a shift from horror to poignant narratives. Charlie also reflects on how audience feedback has influenced storytelling and the show's commentary on the dark side of technology, making us question if we're already living in a Black Mirror episode.

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ANECDOTE

Crafting 'Common People' Episode

Charlie Brooker used a comedy act idea of a person spouting adverts as part of a brain subscription model to develop the episode 'Common People'.
He layered it with themes of precariousness and the cost of living crisis through the characters' experience.

INSIGHT

Dystopia Draws Audience Interest

Audiences crave dystopian stories as a reflection and exploration of contemporary tech anxieties.
Over time, Brooker has shifted to explore resilience amid darkness rather than only bleakness.

INSIGHT

Tech is Miraculous, Not Evil

Technology in Black Mirror episodes is often portrayed as miraculous and amazing rather than inherently bad.
The critique is usually aimed at corporate greed and late capitalism, not at technology itself.

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Today on Script Apart, we’re taking a long, hard look in the mirror – Charlie Brooker’s dystopian anthology series Black Mirror, to be more precise, with the beloved British writer joining Al for a spoiler-filled breakdown of the show’s brilliant latest season. Yes, this week we’re delving into a show that reflects back at us our darkest fears about the unrelenting march of technology on modern life. Across thirty three acclaimed episodes and one interactive special, Black Mirror has wondered what parts of the human experience might soon be transformed – or worse yet, disfigured – by advances in artificial intelligence. The answer is “a great many parts.” The resulting stories are always gripping.

When Charlie conceived the show in 2011, those advances must have felt still quite abstract – a possibility on the horizon. In today’s time of Chat GPT, little is abstract anymore about the topics and technologies spotlighted in Black Mirror. The internet is constantly ablaze with observations about the collapsing gap between our reality and the reality of the show. Because what may begin as a flight of fantasy in Charlie’s hands has a distressing habit of becoming real years later.

Yes, we’re living in a Black Mirror episode, to quote a common online refrain, and in the spoiler chat you're about to hear, Charlie and Al get into that. You’ll hear how the show has changed across its time on screen, responding to the fact that tech companies are no longer faceless corporations like they were when the show began; they’re now the extension of celebrity CEOs, with cult-like legions of disciples. You’ll get Charlie’s take on Al’s suspicion that episodes like ‘Hotel Reverie’ appear to indicate that something has softened in the writer since he began this journey with Black Mirror. And you’ll hear some truly mind-bending descriptions of the original ideas behind some of the series’ best-loved episodes, including one that was intended to be a Bond movie-esque adventure, one that was originally planned to be a musical and of course, the moving San Junipero.

Script Apart is hosted by Al Horner and produced by Kamil Dymek. Follow us on Instagram, or email us on thescriptapartpodcast@gmail.com.

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