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Airdate: Black Mirror

Finally a Drama synopsis to get excited about.... an UK anthology series from writer Charlie Brooker.

Finally a Drama synopsis to get excited about.

SBS will screen the UK anthology series Black Mirror from writer Charlie Brooker (Dead Set), a new austere, darkly comic set of three dramas set in various dystopian versions of future reality.

According to a Press Release it brings “bestiality, pornography and mortifying technological advancements to SBS ONE in his new hybrid of The Twilight Zone and Tales of the Unexpected.”

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

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.

Monday 8 October at, 9.30pm on SBS ONE.

15 Responses

  1. That synopsis sounds disgusting. Some writers try so hard to be ‘edgy’ they fall on their ass. What kind of sick person would think a prime minister being forced to have sex with an animal on television is entertaining? Trying to pass it off as some kind of weird comment on society doesn’t work either, it only goes to show how twisted these writers are and how far removed they are from the rest of us.

    This is extremely “niche” BS that will be axed after one season, and will fail to draw an audience, just like most of the castoffs SBS acquires

  2. @nicks…One last light-hearted comment re cooking (not pork necessarily). If you’ve never seen Posh Nosh..look it up on You Tube. I so enjoy it but I’m a big Richard E. Grant fan. I had hoped that a network would run with something like this when all the cooking shows were full on. I sometimes think such humour actually re-energises the serious shows.

  3. @nicks…Well, I think my reaction arose because the beginning sentence is:

    “Finally a Drama synopsis to get excited about.”
    which ends…
    “if fictional Prime Minister Michael Callow has sex with a pig live on television.”

    That juxtaposition is a look into David’s psyche I’m sure. Yes, close of topic. 🙂

  4. @SusanP..Yeah i was just being stupid..so what else is new?But last mention of the pig thing…to which David is probably thinking..thank goodness for that.It reminded me of that classic scene in Gourmet Farmer.You know the one..Andrew is sitting outside with his mother,having a coffee and she asks…will you breed with the pig?He thinks for a second then replies..no i’ll have a boar do that. 🙂

  5. @nicks…I did laugh. 🙂 I’m not close-minded..heck if you read the original Val McDermid books for Wire In the Blood this is nothing…but I just meant gratuitous vs deep contextual meaning. @TM recommends it!

  6. Yes, definitely a must-see if you want a (typically Brooker) very black & slyly sardonic view of the relationship between “traditional” media, “social” media, fame, advertising – and you.

    Or, if you just like the idea of the PM being blackmailed into having sex with a pig. Pickering fans, take note!

    If you don’t, you might want to skip the first one and watch the remaining two – they’re completely self-contained

  7. Hmmm..my jury is out on this asbtract. Sex with a pig live? Fair enough but if that is simply for shock value not sure that always works. It that fits the psych profile of the criminal mind…maybe great! It does remind me slightly of the new Sherlock take with technology but certainly intriguing.

  8. Thanks for the alert here,David.Sure sounds good,and I’ll definitely have a look.You gave The Bridge a pretty positive preview,and 2 episodes in,I’m hooked.Hope Black Mirror delivers.

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