Charlie Brooker - Inside Black Mirror

Euros Lyn:Thanks to all this live content, the whole thing became almost like a theatre piece, which was also much better for the actors, who could see it there in front of them, so that their performance was in the moment. Because, as much as the technical stuff was important in telling the story, I really, really wanted to make the audience care about Bing and Abi, so that there was a love story at the heart of this epic nightmarish future.

We saw lots of really good actors for Bing, but from Daniel Kaluuya’s first audition there was no question about who would play him. He wasn’t particularly known: he’d done Skins and The Fades and he was a face people recognised, but he wasn’t a name. The scene we asked him to do was Bing’s onstage mental breakdown, which was really unfair! But he blew me away.

Shaheen Baig (casting director):Daniel’s audition was extraordinary. That kind of performance means there’s only one person for that part.

Euros Lyn:In rehearsals, Daniel and I worked a lot on his back story. Bing mentions his brother who died, and so we talked about their relationship, and this terrible sadness and grief he carried with him. So all that stuff isn’t explored in talky dialogue scenes, but it’s all there and he’s feeling it all the time. That, in part, is why Daniel’s performance is so fantastic. And his timing is brilliant. He does this thing where a thought drops in his mind, and he does the slightest twitch of his eye. It’s so witty and warm and revealing of what’s going on inside.

Jessica Brown Findlay was utterly charming and brought the part of Abi to life. At the time, she’d just come out of [ITV’s period drama] Downton Abbey .

Charlie Brooker:Bing’s room was shockingly small when you actually saw it. When Daniel was smashing up the room, he put his foot through the screen at one point, by accident, and I think cut his foot quite badly. We left it in.

Annabel Jones:While Bing’s room is a cell and it should feel like one, you want it to be a cell you would love to live in. The design is all about seduction and beauty. Dan and Joel really did a good job of that. From the simplicity of brushing your teeth, to the exact measurement of the toothpaste, it was all highly designed.

Rupert Everett, Julia Davis and Ashley Thomas were cast as Hot Shot ’s Judge Hope, Judge Charity and Judge Wraith respectively.

Shaheen Baig:Rupert’s not afraid to have fun. At the time, he was just really game and wanted to work with interesting stuff. He played up the vanity of his character beautifully.

Euros Lyn:When I talked to Rupert about how to characterise Judge Hope, our touchstone was some of the larger-than-life 70s Radio 1 DJs from my youth. At one point, he wanted to wear a jumpsuit with a pilot’s hat! So we weren’t trying to impersonate Simon Cowell, we just used that as a starting point.

Annabel Jones:We were honoured to get Rupert. No one knew what the show was and Charlie wasn’t well known as a drama writer, but Rupert just engaged with the script and loved it. He came onto set and remained in character for the few days he was with us.

Euros Lyn:Rupert and Julia [Davis, Judge Charity] had a bit of a tussle over who got to use the Australian accent! Julia told me, “Oh, I’ve had a brilliant idea and I’d really like to play her with an Australian accent.” It was around the time that Dannii Minogue was a judge on all those talent shows. But then Rupert Everett came on set and said, “I’ve had this brilliant idea!” It was like, oh God, who gets to use it?

Annabel Jones:We weren’t expecting any accents, because we had gone to great lengths not to define where the world was, what year it was in, or what country it was in. It was all irrelevant, so we didn’t want to feature it or even address it. So then we thought, “Fuck, does this accent destabilise the world?” Maybe we over-think things, but Euros went down to talk to Rupert about it and Rupert was saying, “Hmmm, no, I’ve already developed this accent and this is who I think my character is.”

Charlie Brooker:I thought, “I’m going to talk to Rupert next,” so I went down there, and he said the same thing and I went… oh. What I’m only realising now, weirdly, is that I suppose it does help distance him from Simon Cowell. It’s actually not a bad thing to do.

Annabel Jones:Our next worry was that people might think Rupert looked like George Michael, because he wore those glasses! So we sent someone down to explain our worry that Rupert might look like George Michael. And Rupert, as calmly as you want, just said, “We’ve all got to look like someone.” And that is the classiest line I’ve ever heard.

Barney Reisz:In the end, Rupert agreed to take the glasses off after the beginning of his first scene. Perfect compromise.

Charlie Brooker:And no one has ever said to me, “Is he meant to be George Michael?”

Annabel Jones:But our job is to over-worry. Our job is to question and challenge everything.

Stephen McKeon (composer):Euros and I agreed that the score had to sound natural and be recorded with live musicians to contrast with the artificial world the characters inhabited. I also took a huge stylistic chance by giving Bing a distinctly 60’s western/cowboy theme. I did this for two reasons: he lived in a cell with a western theme projected onto the walls, which presumably he chose, and that dovetailed nicely into the traditional representation of the hero in westerns; it also sets us up emotionally for the huge fall Bing takes when he fails to save Abi and in fact helps her towards her doom.

Composing the music for the porn channel WraithBabes caused embarrassment at home. My daughter Tara Lee, who was 16 at the time and a singer, agreed to provide the voices for the Wraith tracks. If anyone can come up with a way to direct your 16-year-old daughter in voicing music for a futuristic porn channel, please keep that information to yourself.

My favourite part of the score was the sequence where Bing attempts to achieve 15 million merits on the exercise bike. It was a challenge because it’s a five-and-a-half minute cue and had to build throughout. No joke, I actually sampled an exercise bike and used it as part of the rhythm in the track. It sounds like panting, so that was an added bonus.

I had no hand, act or part in the selection of the very wonderful song Anyone Who Knows What Love Is .

Euros Lyn:That song was in the script from the first moment I read it, chosen by Charlie and Konnie. So I don’t know if it’s one of their favourite songs! It’s certainly one of my favourites now.