Black Mirror (2011)
Black Mirror is a 2011 sci-fi & fantasy series created by Charlie Brooker. It stars Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti and Jimmi Simpson.
Each episode is its own dark fable, usually set a few minutes into a future where some plausible piece of technology has slipped its leash. Charlie Brooker builds standalone stories around social media, memory implants, ratings systems, and the small cruelties they enable, in the tradition of The Twilight Zone but wired to our phones. New cast, new premise, new near-future every time. The tone stays bleak, satirical, and unnervingly close to the present, less about the gadgets than about the people who cannot put them down.
Quick answers
What is Black Mirror about?
Each episode is its own dark fable, usually set a few minutes into a future where some plausible piece of technology has slipped its leash. Charlie Brooker builds standalone stories around social media, memory implants, ratings systems, and the small cruelties they enable, in the tradition of The Twilight Zone but wired to our phones. New cast, new premise, new near-future every time. The tone stays bleak, satirical, and unnervingly close to the present, less about the gadgets than about the people who cannot put them down.
When was Black Mirror released?
Black Mirror was released on 4 December 2011.
How many episodes does Black Mirror have?
Black Mirror has 33 episodes across 7 seasons.
Who made Black Mirror?
Black Mirror was created by Charlie Brooker.
Where can I watch Black Mirror?
Black Mirror is available on Netflix, Amazon and AppleTV.
Where to watch Black Mirror
Stream: Netflix
Official site
Cast
- Jesse Plemons as Robert Daly
- Cristin Milioti as Nanette Cole
- Jimmi Simpson as James Walton
- Milanka Brooks as Elena Tulaska
- Osy Ikhile as Nate Packer
- Paul G. Raymond as Kabir Dudani
- Monica Dolan as Janet McCardle
- Daniel Lapaine as Dawson
- Joshua James as Chris Holligan
- Michaela Coel as Airline Stewardess
- Anjana Vasan as Nida Huq
- Kenneth Collard as Doctor Dmitri Babich
Similar series
Explore Black Mirror guides
Black Mirror in our writing
- Companion guide: Amnesia & Memory
- Companion guide: Anthology Horror: The Complete Guide to Portmanteau Frights
- Companion guide: Artificial Companions
- Companion guide: Creepypasta and Internet Horror: The Complete Guide to Screen-Born Nightmares
A few thoughts on Black Mirror
Try BioShock, a game that turns a utopian dream into a nightmare; Ghost in the Shell for hard questions about identity in a networked world; and Repo! The Genetic Opera for gleefully dystopian near-future satire. Muse's Simulation Theory and Deltron 3030 make fitting soundtracks for its paranoias about screens and control.
Anthology series with a new dark story every episode
Black Mirror gives you a new cast and a new nightmare every episode, in the tradition of The Twilight Zone. These anthologies work the same way, each installment a self-contained fable of horror or the uncanny, so you can drop in anywhere and find a fresh dark premise waiting.
Near-future worlds where technology slips its leash
Charlie Brooker's fear is not the gadget but the person who cannot put it down. These near-future worlds share that unease, imagining memory implants, synthetic minds and controlled societies where technology slips its leash and turns everyday life into something colder and stranger than it should be.
Dystopian sci-fi that satirizes where society is heading
Beyond the tech, Black Mirror is really about people and the systems they build. These speculative stories point the same lens at society, mixing dread and dark satire, whether the threat is an authoritarian state, a small town's buried secret or a reality that will not hold still.