Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker addresses claims Netflix 'ruined' top show

21 October 2023 , 14:24

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Charlie Brooker has discussed the series which some fans say has 'lost its edge'

Charlie Brooker has opened up about fan criticism of his hit dystopian show, Black Mirror. The writer has discussed the critiques in his new book, Inside Black Mirror.

It comes after some fans were left disappointed with the show when it moved to Netflix. Its original home was on Channel 4 where it stayed for two seasons. But the broadcaster effectively "cancelled" the series, according to Charlie. The show was then picked up by Netflix in 2016 - with some fans saying the leap to Hollywood made the gritty show lose its edge.

Speaking on a Sydney SXSW panel earlier this week, Charlie discussed the change. "One of the criticisms we sometimes get is, ‘I prefer the show when it was British and everyone in it was miserable and everything smelled a little bit of s*** and all the stories were horrible," he said. He continued: "And then it's gone to Netflix and suddenly everything's sunny and happy and everyone has wonderful teeth, and it’s full of Hollywood stars and it’s lost that edge." Stars of the show have included Miley Cyrus, Aaron Paul and Salma Hayek.

Aaron Paul starred in an episode of Black Mirror (Nick Wall/Netflix)

Charlie added that since the move to Netflix, the show has had to become more international. He said that he wanted to "mix it up" and stop doing solely sad tales, which prompted him to write an episode titled San Junipero. The episode is a love story between two women in a simulation for the elderly stars Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Charlie has also expressed interest in writing a musical episode of Black Mirror.

He said that "anything" could happen in season 7 of the show. The writer said he used ChatGPT to write an episode of the show, but that it turned out to be less than optimal. "I said to ChatGPT, ‘Go give me an outline for a Black Mirror story," he said. "And as it’s coming through in the first couple of sentences you feel a cold spike of fear, like animal terror.

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"Like I’m being f*****g replaced. I’m not even gonna see what it does. I’m gonna jump out the f*****g window. Then as it carries on you go, ‘Oh this is boring. I was frightened a sec ago, now I’m bored because this is so derivative.'" He continued: "It's just emulating something. It's hoovered up every description of every Black Mirror episode, presumably from Wikipedia and other things that people have written, and it’s just sort of vomiting that back at me. It's pretending to be something it isn’t capable of being."

Isabelle Bates