Charlie Brooker responds to criticism that Black Mirror "lost its edge" after Netflix move
Charlie Brooker, the creator of mind-bending dystopian series Black Mirror, has come forward to defend the show's newer seasons on Netflix.
At the recent SXSW event in Sydney (H/T The Guardian), Brooker himself raised the issue that since moving the series from Channel 4 to Netflix, he has been accused of watering down the show’s sinister themes, catering to a more American or commercial audience.
"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 shit and all the stories were horrible,’" the director and writer said, "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."
In the most recent season, Brooker tackles everything from the dangers of modern technology to serial murder and even demons, but with a 49% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, die-hard Black Mirror fans perhaps feel the new season just doesn't measure up to what Brooker produced in the show's Channel 4 heyday. Brooker said he understands the criticism but stated that in his mind the move to Netflix had no effect on the show and the streaming company has had very little role in the show's evolution.
"I was aware we’re going on a global platform now, so we’ve got to make these stories a bit more international, And I wanted to mix it up a bit, as in not just keep doing bleak-a-thons," Brooker explained. He later defended the new season, adding that despite the criticism, he feels one episode, Loch Henry, may be the darkest of them all and, as he describes, was "fucking nasty – nasty as anything we’ve ever done."
Black Mirror was first introduced in 2011 with grisly episodes such as Fifteen Million Merits and National Anthem (with the pig scene that we will unfortunately never forget), but after its second season in 2015, Netflix purchased the program, there Brooker created four more seasons alongside an interactive Black Mirror movie, Bandersnatch. Netflix has yet to make any announcement on a potential seventh Black Mirror season.
The entirety of Black Mirror is available to stream on Netflix right now. For more check out our ranking of the best Black Mirror episodes.
