Dark could be considered an understatement, and it is entirely thought-provoking – Charlie Brooker offers disturbingly accurate possible future in the three installments of Black Mirror. From the press release:
Charlie Brooker, BAFTA nominated author of Dead Set, brings bestiality, pornography and mortifying technological advancements to SBS ONE in his new hybrid of ‘The Twilight Zone’ and ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ – Black Mirror.
Black Mirror is a new austere, darkly comic series of three dramas set in various dystopian versions of future reality.
Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of society before anyone has stopped to question it. In every home, on every desk, in every person’s palm is a plasma screen – a monitor, a smartphone – a black mirror of our 21st Century existence. Google and Apple are worshipped and Facebook algorithms know some people more intimately than their parents. People have access to all the information in the world, but no brain space left to absorb anything longer than a 140 character tweet.
Black Mirror taps into the collective unease about the modern world. These three stand-alone dramas are sharp, suspenseful, satirical tales that are equal parts clever shocking and disturbing.
Episode One: The National Anthem
Monday 8 October at, 9.30pm on SBS ONE
A twisted parable for the Twitter age, ‘The National Anthem’ looks at how information is now disseminated so quickly and public opinion now so loud, powerful and quick to change, that life is very much harder for the rich and supposedly powerful. It is a political thriller in which a Kate Middleton style princess and much-loved member of the Royal Family, is held hostage only to be released if fictional Prime Minister Michael Callow has sex with a pig live on television.Episode Two: 15 Million Merits
Monday 15 October at 9.30pm on SBS ONE
Set in a sarcastic version of a future reality, 15 Million Merits is a parody on entertainment shows and societies insatiable thirst for distraction. In this dystopian world people spend all day on exercise bikes to earn credits. They can spend these on food, pornography and, if they really save up, a ticket onto an X Factor-style television show Hot Shot. Impressing the judges on the talent show Hot Shot offers the only escape from a life of strange physical drudgery.Episode Three: The Entire History of You
Monday 22 October at 9.30pm on SBS ONE
The final episode is set in an alternate reality where everyone has access to a memory chip style implant which records everything they do, see or hear – sort of like a TiVo or Foxtel IQ for the brain. In this world no one forgets a face, a holiday, a meeting or a night out but this means nothing goes unnoticed and indiscretions cannot be hidden. Liam and Fi are a young couple who are married with a young child. After a dinner party with friends Liam suspects Fi is having an affair with an old friend Jonas. After watching “re-do’s” from his own “grain” – the memory chip stored behind his ear, Liam’s suspicions are confirmed and he forces the guilty pair to reveal their infidelity.Join in the conversation on Twitter #blackmirror.