Back in September we told you about new series Black Mirror, now it’s here!

Black Mirror is a three-part 60 minute mini-series written by Charlie Brooker and Jesse Armstrong and will be airing on Channel 4. The show can be described as a techno-satire drama and has indirectly been inspired by The Twilight Zone.

The title of the show, Black Mirror, comes both from the Arcade Fire song and the visual image of a TV or monitor that has been turned off and just reflects a cold, shiny surface – something that is a metaphor for the emptiness of today’s gadget addiction.

The Nathan Barley co-writer promises that the audience will be “plunged into a slightly different world every week” but also claims that the general tone of the series is consistent. Each of the three episodes, The National Anthem, Fifteen Million Merits and The Entire History of You will have a different cast and take place in a different setting.

Fifteen Million Merits is the second episode of the series and is of particular interest for us at TVO as Julia Davis is amongst the cast. The episode takes place in a sarcastic version of a future reality and as the title suggests it is centred around the entertainment show ‘Hot Shot’. Only by entering the talent show and impressing the judges are the people of this future able to escape a reality that consists of never-ending toil. Davis plays one of the judges alongside MC Bashy and Rupert Everett.

When we asked Charlie Brooker about Julia Davis’ involvement in Black Mirror he remained tight-lipped but said that “She plays a ‘judge’, and she’s very good in it…”. Fifteen Million Merits will air on December 11th.

Tune into Channel 4 on December 4th at 9pm to watch the first episode titled The National Anthem.

Read more about Black Mirror and the individual episodes at the official site and if you are curious to see what Brooker has to say about the dark side of today’s gadget addiction this is the place to go.