Charlie Brooker - Inside Black Mirror

Annabel Jones:We feel positive about Black Mirror ’s long-term prospects. I don’t think there’ll be a shortage of inspiration.

Charlie Brooker:The show has changed quite a bit, actually. If you look at the first series, The Entire History of You is closest to ones we’ve done more recently, with invasive technology in people’s eyes. But it’s morphed. It went very, very VR for a while, and now we’re moving out of that into some other phase. We can revisit old ideas we’ve done, as long as we’re building a new concept on top of it. So, for instance, USS Callister goes into a VR environment à la San Junipero , but we build on the idea of copied people. There’s no shortage of ideas, but it’s more about morphing what the show is.

I’m usually worried that I’ve got no more ideas, or I’ve got ideas but can’t make them work. But Black Mirror is really only limited by the number of dilemmas you can think of. There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of dilemmas, but it’s difficult to know where the next idea is coming from, because they just pop up when you rub various things together. Sorry, that sounded a bit weird.

Barney Reisz (producer):The great privilege of being part of Black Mirror was working with people who think way, way outside the box. In fact, to Charlie, there is no box. It is more like an endlessly squidgy, expanding mass of possibility. If it is absurd, it must be tried. If it is impossible, then fuck it, let’s go for it! His genius is in thinking the unthinkable and carrying people with him on the wave of his unique inventiveness and extraordinary writing talent. If he wasn’t so talented, he’d be fucking annoying!

Shane Allen (Controller of Comedy Commissioning, BBC):It’s been an enormous honour to have been a small part of the incredible journey of this show that started with an idea about live bestiality! Charlie and Annabel are very inspiring people – a rare blend of highly intelligent, deeply perceptive and incredibly emotionally rounded. I’ve been so proud of what they’ve achieved with all the series. They’re more than a little bit mad to tackle what are effectively six feature films each year, when most people would struggle to do one well. I just wish they hadn’t made me read The Road . That’s the one thing I can never erase.

Annabel Jones:We’ll know it’s finally time to bring Black Mirror to a close… when Netflix tell us, perhaps?

Charlie Brooker:Yeah, we’ll be the last ones to know. We’ll be going, “What do you mean? Don’t you know how popular it is? I’m sure I met someone the other week who’d heard of it.” But I think if we ever got fed up with doing it, or each other, we’d either kill the show, or each other.

Annabel Jones:Could that be a Black Mirror episode? No, too predictable.

Charlie Brooker:Actually, it’s more likely that, if we ever got tired of Black Mirror , we’d just put it on hold, do something else, then go back to it. Although the joy of it is, you can reinvent it all the time. We can keep endlessly redefining what Black Mirror is. Which I suppose means we can never stop. We can never leave. We’re trapped here forever. Like a ladybird glued to concrete. Help. Help us. For God’s sake please help us.

That’s probably as good a way as any to end this book isn’t it? Now go away.

A list of influences that have fed Black Mirror , from the worlds of film, TV, books, music, games and photography.

10 Rillington Place(film, 1971)

A London serial killer poses as a doctor in order to ensnare unsuspecting women.

28 Days Later(film, 2002)

Danny Boyle’s movie about survivors navigating a post-epidemic London.

2001: A Space Odyssey(film, 1968)

Stanley Kubrick’s psychedelic space-epic.

A Clockwork Orange(film, 1971)

Stanley Kubrick’s disturbing adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel.

Airplane!(film, 1980)

Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker’s slapstick comedy classic.

All Is Lost(film, 2013)

Virtually silent survival drama starring Robert Redford.

Paul Thomas Anderson(director, 1970-present)

Filmmaker behind the likes of Magnolia (2000) and There Will Be Blood (2007).

An American Werewolf in London(film, 1981)

John Landis’ update of an old horror trope.

Anyone Who Knows What Love Is(music, 1968)

A haunting song of romantic rejection by New Orleans R&B queen Irma Thomas

Battlestar Galactica(TV, 2004–2009)

Shiny and sophisticated remake of the ‘80s sci-fi series.

Being John Malkovich(film, 1999)

Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman’s magical-realist mind-bender.

The Beyond(film, 1981)

Italian horror director Lucio Fulci’s nightmarish gore-fest.

Boy A(film, 2007)

Andrew Garfield plays a child killer who attempts to build a normal life.

Breaking Bad(TV, 2008–2013)

Vince Gilligan and Bryan Cranston’s prestige-TV triumph.

British public information films(TV 1960s–2011)

Effectively mini horror films that scared children witless.

Broen(TV, 2011–present)

Scandinavian crime series about a murder victim found on a bridge connecting two cities.

Catch-22(book, 1961)

Joseph Heller’s satirical protest about a World War II bombardier stuck in varying degrees of hell.

Cannibal Holocaust(film, 1980)

Director Ruggero Deodato’s Italian horror film, with a found footage element.

CivilWarLand In Bad Decline(book, 1996)

George Saunders’ first story collection.

Gregory Crewdson(photographer, 1962–present)

Known for capturing incredible stills of American homes and neighbourhoods.

Adam Curtis(director, 1955–present)

English documentarian, who focuses on power in society.

Cutter And Bone(book, 1976)

Newton Thornburg’s cult-favourite crime-noir novel.

Dead Man’s Shoes(film, 2004)

Shane Meadows’ British psychological thriller.

Dead of Night(film, 1945)

Ealing Studios’ portmanteau horror film framed by a man’s nervous breakdown.

Doctor Who(TV, 1963–present)

The undying British sci-fi show.

Dog Day Afternoon(film, 1975)

Sidney Lumet and Al Pacino’s urban-crime comedy drama.

Doom(video game, 1993)

ID Studios’ groundbreaking first-person shooter.

Duel(film, 1971)

A motorist is stalked by a tanker truck in Steven Spielberg’s full-length debut, originally shown on TV.

Elephant(TV, 1989)

Alan Clarke’s British short film set in Northern Ireland during the ‘Troubles’. Features almost no dialogue.

Elite(video game, 1984)

Programmer David Braben and Ian Bell’s space trading odyssey, initially released for platforms such as the BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.

Engrenages(TV, 2005–present)

French legal drama about the lawyers and judges who work at Paris’s Palais du Justice.

Evil Dead 2(film, 1987)

Sam Raimi’s frenetic and ‘splatstick’ sequel-cum-remake of The Evil Dead .