Brookers growing TV writing and presenting career had turned him from poacher to gamekeeper.
You couldnt sustain that act while mixing in showbiz circles, he explained.
It wasnt just the awkwardness, it was the guilt.
When people think ofBlack Mirror, the first thought tends to be aaah!
Underneath the horrible stuff, it seems that youre really urging kindness and caution?
Charlie Brooker:I think youre absolutely right.
Im glad you said that.
I like to indulge the more sentimental side I suppose.
Some of the ones weve got this time around are [smacks fist into palm] owww!
Basically theyre a bit owww!
Sorry, probably outside theyll think theres a fight going on!
Annabel Jones:Exactly.
AJ:Theres a human drama at the heart of it, otherwise its so less powerful.
CB:No, but it sounds great!
It has a line We should be careful/of each other, we should be kind/while theres still time.
CB:I suppose.
Im trying to think overall.
Some of our stories, I think youre right in that they dont tend to have a message.
AJ:[Laughing] And if I cry at an episode, thatdelightshim!
CB:Oh, I love it!
If you cry at an episode thats…
AJ:And youre chuckling away!
[Laughs] Thats a victory.
Why was that the first one released to press?
CB:That was the most finished one!
That was the first one we did.
What are people going to expect when they sit down to watch a new episode ofBlack Mirror?
Ive just deleted my own leg!
So I thought well, letsnotdo that.
Do you know what I mean?
However, having said that, if you dont also deliverthatthen youre wussing out.
Youre still going to get given that in some of the stories.
But I think we wanted to expand the show a little.
AJ:You know what I mean, it still feels as if it has thatBlack Mirrorflavour.
That might be a fitting tag line for the entire show?
CB:Pretty much I suppose!
Thats not something that weve gone in thinking Right!
How are we going to examinethatnow?
Its just when you take a step back you see that theyre actually all sort of in that mode.
What the fuck am I talking about?!
AJ:A paperweight weve all willingly embraced!
CB:Yep, and for good reason, often.
Youve been writing the series for six years now.
CB: Have I?
Do you think the way you write it has changed in that time?
Are there things youre now more willing to do, less willing to do…?
CB:Certainly these stories are a bit more expansive than theyve been because weve got different running times.
One of them is nearly feature-length, for instance.
Ive been trying to mix that up a little more.
Obviously, you try not to repeat yourself so that forces you to re-evaluate what youre doing constantly.
because thats usually my starting point, me laughing.
AJ:And me crying.
Youve retreated from ideas in the past because you saw them as too hard or too horrible.
CB:Oh God yeah.
We discussed it and it wastoohorrible.
because thats halfway through the episode and youve got nowhere to go and theres nowhere to go.
AJ:Its also about the arc.
Because thats halfway through the episode and youve got nowhere to go from there.
Are there things in this six that surpass or equal that for horribleness?
I cant really say too much.
There are unsettling moments for different reasons.
Hopefully there are some which are quite seriously powerfully unsettling and others where its more of a romp.
Youve sort of trained your audience to be prepared for twists now.
Theyll be on alert for them in the new episodes.
CB:Its interesting.
I can only show this amount of the room…
I can only show these characters from the waist up because theyve all got robot legs!
its a challenge so it keeps you engaged on some level.
Shut Up And Dance
CB:A grimy, contemporary nightmare?
[Laughs] Set in absolutely present-day London.
Its not sci-fi at all.
Nosedive
CB:A pastel, playful satire about modern insecurity.
What would you describe that as?
AJ:Hard to say.
CB:That is quite hard-hitting that one.
Its a war story / almostThe Walking Dead… Quite a lot of gaming themes coming up in this season actually.
Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, thank you very much!
Black Mirror series 3 comes to Netflix on Friday the 21stof October.
