The Black Mirror stories
Charlie Brooker is an interesting chap. Having come to prominence as a sort of 21st century Clive James, he has latterly reinvented himself as a computer-age Roald Dahl.
His series of one-hour plays, Black Mirror, which begins its second season on Channel 4 this week, is a Tales Of The Unexpected for the digital era, with perhaps a little bit of The Twilight Zone thrown in for good measure. Most of the stories are notionally science fiction but there’s very little of that infatuation with the technology that we might generally associate with sci-fi. The Black Mirror stories extrapolate some of the possibilities and situations that we know today and speculate how we might react when they become just a shade more powerful.
This first one, called Be Right Back (10pm on Monday), plays with the huge digital legacy of Facebook posts, Tweets and YouTube videos we are creating. What happens to them when we die? Well, given that it comes from the giddy, fecund mind of Charlie Brooker, the answer is ‘they spawn a strange sort of pseudo-life of their own’.
The ubiquitous, and always rather marvellous, Hayley Atwell stars in this tale of digital spiritualism. Domhnall Gleeson, probably best known for a small turn in the Harry Potter films, is subtly brilliant as her partner. Claire Keelan makes excellent casting for Atwell’s sister, but this hour-long drama is essentially a two-hander. I must say I really enjoyed it.
By turns funny and macabre Be Right Back, directed with quiet flair by Owen Harris, is the best so far of a consistently enjoyable series.
Something else I’ve been following in the past few weeks is Ripper Street, approaching the end of its run on BBC One this week (9pm on Sunday). This penultimate episode finally lifts the lid off the back story of the mysterious American doctor Homer Jackson.
Ripper Street, set in Whitechapel just after Jack the Ripper’s notorious crimes, always ran the risk of being Hamlet without the Prince. But it’s a lot more exciting than Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Largely because the central character, Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen), seems to have no regard for due process or methodical police work and just runs to whichever bit of Whitechapel will make for the most exciting TV action sequence.
Ripper Street really is the most awful nonsense, but it’s the kind of awful nonsense that we can’t resist watching because it’s so breathlessly entertaining. It’s an East-End Western with the characters simultaneously inventing modern forensic science and taking part in duels. And all the actors seem to be in a competition to wear the loudest check suit.
If you want subtle and thoughtful drama, Black Mirror might be a good choice. But if your tastes run to loud, silly fun where everyone dresses as a cartoon bookmaker and shouts a lot, it’s Ripper Street for you.
His series of one-hour plays, Black Mirror, which begins its second season on Channel 4 this week, is a Tales Of The Unexpected for the digital era, with perhaps a little bit of The Twilight Zone thrown in for good measure. Most of the stories are notionally science fiction but there’s very little of that infatuation with the technology that we might generally associate with sci-fi. The Black Mirror stories extrapolate some of the possibilities and situations that we know today and speculate how we might react when they become just a shade more powerful.
This first one, called Be Right Back (10pm on Monday), plays with the huge digital legacy of Facebook posts, Tweets and YouTube videos we are creating. What happens to them when we die? Well, given that it comes from the giddy, fecund mind of Charlie Brooker, the answer is ‘they spawn a strange sort of pseudo-life of their own’.
The ubiquitous, and always rather marvellous, Hayley Atwell stars in this tale of digital spiritualism. Domhnall Gleeson, probably best known for a small turn in the Harry Potter films, is subtly brilliant as her partner. Claire Keelan makes excellent casting for Atwell’s sister, but this hour-long drama is essentially a two-hander. I must say I really enjoyed it.
By turns funny and macabre Be Right Back, directed with quiet flair by Owen Harris, is the best so far of a consistently enjoyable series.
Something else I’ve been following in the past few weeks is Ripper Street, approaching the end of its run on BBC One this week (9pm on Sunday). This penultimate episode finally lifts the lid off the back story of the mysterious American doctor Homer Jackson.
Ripper Street, set in Whitechapel just after Jack the Ripper’s notorious crimes, always ran the risk of being Hamlet without the Prince. But it’s a lot more exciting than Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Largely because the central character, Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen), seems to have no regard for due process or methodical police work and just runs to whichever bit of Whitechapel will make for the most exciting TV action sequence.
Ripper Street really is the most awful nonsense, but it’s the kind of awful nonsense that we can’t resist watching because it’s so breathlessly entertaining. It’s an East-End Western with the characters simultaneously inventing modern forensic science and taking part in duels. And all the actors seem to be in a competition to wear the loudest check suit.
If you want subtle and thoughtful drama, Black Mirror might be a good choice. But if your tastes run to loud, silly fun where everyone dresses as a cartoon bookmaker and shouts a lot, it’s Ripper Street for you.