Latest news with #CharlieBrooker
Business Upturn
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Upturn
Is ‘Black Mirror' returning for season 8? Everything we know so far
By Aman Shukla Published on May 28, 2025, 18:00 IST Last updated May 28, 2025, 11:46 IST Black Mirror, the critically acclaimed sci-fi anthology series created by Charlie Brooker, has kept audiences on edge with its chilling, thought-provoking tales about technology and society. With Season 7 premiering on Netflix on April 10, 2025, fans are already buzzing with questions about the future. Is Black Mirror returning for Season 8? Here's everything we know so far. Has Black Mirror Been Renewed for Season 8? As of April 2025, Netflix has not officially confirmed Black Mirror Season 8. However, this lack of announcement isn't cause for alarm. The series is known for long gaps between seasons, with Season 6 arriving four years after Season 5 due to production complexities and the COVID-19 pandemic. Season 7 was ordered in November 2023, six months after Season 6's premiere, suggesting Netflix typically takes time before announcing renewals. When Could Season 8 Be Released? Given Black Mirror 's production timeline, Season 7 took approximately 17 months from order to release. If Netflix greenlights Season 8 in late 2025 or early 2026, a release could be expected around mid-2027. However, the anthology format, requiring unique stories and casts, often leads to longer production times. Fans may need to brace for a wait similar to the four-year gap between Seasons 5 and 6. Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at
Irish Daily Star
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Star
I watched three shows to find one 'better than Black Mirror' and there was a clear winner
As an avid Black Mirror fan, I've seen numerous series that have been likened to the Netflix sensation. However, among the various recommendations I found online, one stood out. The much-anticipated seventh season of the hit show was finally unveiled last month. It brought six fresh episodes featuring new twisted narratives, including a sequel to one of the most beloved instalments. Despite limiting myself to one episode per night, I managed to finish the latest season in less than a week. Craving more sci-fi inspired stories, I turned to Reddit for suggestions on what to watch next, specifically looking for shows that viewers deemed even better than Black Mirror. But before settling on any recommendations, it's crucial to first understand and define the series itself. Recent episodes have led some viewers to label it as a show warning about the perils of technology, but that's not entirely accurate. When it first aired on British broadcaster Channel 4, it had a different vibe. Inside No. 9 is a British series that many believe is better than Black Mirror (Image: BBC) The inaugural episode presents the UK Prime Minister with a shocking predicament when a member of the Royal Family is kidnapped. There's no significant technological element integral to the plot. True, most episodes that followed embraced futuristic tech at their core, leading many sci-fi series to be dubbed as 'like Black Mirror'. The German Netflix offering Cassandra is a prime example. Having premiered earlier this year, it transcends the Black Mirror comparison. Netflix's own description is best: The service brands it as "Charlie Brooker's dark, satirical anthology series." So, when perusing for similar content, I seek out an anthology series with a dark and satirical edge. This criteria easily rules out recommendations for X-Files aficionados and fans of Fringe, Altered Carbon or Devs; none match the anthology format due to their continuous story arcs. Many fans seek out the next Black Mirror (Image: Robert Falconer/Netflix) A standout recommendation is Love, Death + Robots. This not-so-shocking suggestion highlights an infinitely watchable animated anthology series on Netflix. Its fourth volume dropped recently, albeit with episodes varying widely in their appeal. Add to the list Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. This Netflix exclusive could be viewed as horror's answer to Black Mirror's science fiction genius. However, what caught me off guard was another recommendation, one not previously on my radar, with numerous viewers touting it as the superior series. That is the series Inside Number 9, brought to life by creators, writers, and frequent stars Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. The duo, known for their work with the comedy troupe The League of Gentlemen, have definitely left their mark with the show ending after its ninth series. For UK fans, it's still up for viewing on the BBC, while US audiences can find it on BritBox. Inside Number 9 is a top pick for those hunting for their next binge-watch fix akin to Black Mirror. The main difference being that episodes are neatly packaged into tight 30-minute runtimes, avoiding drawn-out plotlines, with satisfying conclusions, and leaving viewers wanting more. The latest Black Mirror season included its first episodic sequels (Image: NETFLIX) Every episode of this anthology series is linked by something pertaining to the number 9 – whether it be a location or even a shoe size. Impressively, it boasts a solid 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes throughout its run, outperforming Black Mirror in this metric. The buzz around the show is reason enough to give it a chance. One enthusiast shared online: "One of the best series of the past ten years. Every episode has a Tales of the Unexpected vibe, leavened by humour. Netflix bought Black Mirror but they missed a trick by not getting their hands on this one. Couldn't recommend it more highly." Other fans expressed similar sentiments, with one noting: "It is a very profound series with many messages. It is similar to Black Mirror but much more comedic." Another confessed: "I did not think I would ever find anything that would top Black Mirror, but Inside number 9 definitely does. Absolutely love it and don't want it to ever end. Ever!" Black Mirror is streaming on Netflix. Inside Number 9 is streaming on BritBox.
Telegraph
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Bandersnatch was Netflix's grandest TV experiment. So why erase it?
It's going on for six and half years since the release of Black Mirror's Bandersnatch – the feature-length interactive episode of Charlie Brooker's futureshock anthology series. But now there is one final twist in Brooker's tale of an emotionally unravelling Eighties video game programmer: the entire thing has just been scrubbed by Netflix in an act of digital disappearing that could have come straight from…yes, a Black Mirror script. The snatching of Bandersnatch is part of a move by Netflix away from the interactive TV model into which it invested millions between 2017 and 2022. In that distant and now long forgotten time-period, the streamer proclaimed its modern take on the old ' choose your own adventure ' format an area of enormous potential. 'We're doubling down on that', Netflix VP of product Todd Yellin had declared in 2019, shortly after Bandersnatch made its debut (Yellin left Netflix in 2022). Fast forward to 2025 and Netflix has embarked on a radically different strategy – having scrubbed not only Bandersnatch but a widely praised May 2020 interactive episode of Tina Fey's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, along with several kids shows that utilised the same technology. True, Bear Grylls's You Vs Wild hobbles on with the decision-making element expunged – meaning viewers can no longer actively choose to make Bear eat poison mushrooms and then loudly throw up all over his shoes. The barbarians are inside the gates. Films and shows leave Netflix all the time – in the majority of cases, because of the licensing deals through which the 'content' was secured in the first place. But Netflix owns Bandersnatch lock stock and dystopian barrel. More than that, it put huge resources into the cutting-edge 'Branch Manager' system that gave Charlie Brooker the freedom to write 150 unique scenes and over 60 decision points – along with the 10 official endings to the story (plus other rare outcomes only a tiny percentage of viewers have ever discovered). Netflix has been trialling the tech in kids shows when it approached Brooker and Black Mirror producer Annabel Jones about an interactive one-off. They had initially declined, fearing the results would smack of novelty. But when Brooker came up with the idea of a love letter to 1980s video games, they decided to give it a go – with Netflix encouraging the pair to think outside the box and push Branch Manager to its limits. 'When Netflix initially told us they had the capability to do this, and they asked us if we'd be interested in making an interactive film, we said no. We were determined, it was not for us. It might have felt gimmicky, so it wasn't something we were interested in,' Jones told Deadline. 'They asked us to push the technology, or to come up with ideas they didn't think they could quite pull off, and they would work out how to do them. We'd say, 'Can we do this?' And they'd never say, 'No.' They'd go, 'Well, we can't currently, but we'll work out if we can find a means of doing that.' Bandersnatch was widely acclaimed – 'like nothing I've ever experienced in a movie, a TV show, on Netflix, or anything else,' gushed Esquire – and Brooker clearly has affection for it, given that the latest series of Black Mirror features a sequel story, Plaything. It was also a dark, gritty love letter to the Eighties UK gaming industry. There really was a game called Bandersnatch – or, at any rate, there almost was. In 1984, Liverpool-based Imagine Software teased a new 'mega-game' of that name, though the plans unravelled when Imagine went out of business (it ultimately finally released as the underwhelming Brataccas). Black Mirror is understood to have furthermore riffed on the unhappy story of Matthew Smith, who designed the groundbreaking ZX Spectrum title Manic Miner only to leave gaming after the intolerable pressure of designing the much anticipated follow-up, Jet Set Willy in 1984 – an experience he described as 'seven shades of hell'. Playing Bandersnatch, the viewer is likewise sent to hell and back again and again. The instalment stars Fionn Whitehead as a young programmer hired to adapt a fantasy gamebook, Bandersnatch, into a video game. As the stress of completing the game plunges Stefan into burnout, he begins to feel that outside forces are controlling him (i.e. the viewer). Pretty soon, it all descends into chaos, and the walls start coming in. In one pivotal scene, fellow programmer Colin (Will Poulter) spikes Stefan's tea with LSD and rants about alternate timelines. He demands that Stefan choose one of the pair to jump from a balcony. If the player picks Stefan, he dies, and the Bandersnatch game is cobbled together and released to poor reviews. If Colin takes the plunge, the event is revealed as a dream – yet Colin is absent from future sequences. There are multiple endings. One sees Stefan have a breakdown and kill and dismember his father. In another,, the game comes out and flops, and the Imagine-like publisher Tuckersoft goes bust. All told, there are 150 minutes of footage divided into 250 segments – meaning there are one trillion different paths the viewer can take. There are five 'main' conclusions but another five to seven that are harder to reach and depend on making a number of seemingly random decisions. In other words, no two viewers will experience Bandersnatch in the same way – resulting in a meta experience that is both a commentary on the illusion of choice in video games and which recreates the feverish frame of mind of poor Stefan as he is driven around the twist. The result is a unique and fascinating experience. Why, then, would Netflix turn sour on the interactive format – to the point of erasing it from its history? The answer, of course, has to do with money. Scripting hours of additional footage exponentially increases a show's production costs. For instance, the total runtime of the 2022 interactive episode of Jurassic Park cartoon Camp Cretaceous was three times that of a regular instalment – and for what return? Plus, it is understood hosting the Branch Manager system on Netflix servers was expensive – and required constant updating as Netflix upgraded its homepage (the latest version of which rolls out on May 19). Instead of interactive TV, Netflix is betting big on video games – rolling out mobile titles based on hits such as Money Heist and Squid Game. It is also investing in AI-driven feeds on its home page and shorter TikTok-style content. Last year, newly appointed VP of 'GenAI for Games' at Netflix Mike Verdu indicated that the company felt it had pushed the choose your own adventure format as far as it could go. 'We're not building those specific experiences any more,' he said. 'The technology was very limiting and the potential for what we could do in that realm was kind of capped. But we learned a ton from that.' The difference in strategy is illustrated by how Netflix has chosen to market the new series of Black Mirror and that Bandersnatch sequel, Plaything. Netflix subscribers can download a tie-in mobile game, Thronglets, which recreates the empire-building PC simulation that drives the protagonist around the twist. It's great fun and has the same creepy ambience as the episode. But it is nowhere near as gripping as the original Bandersnatch, which started off asking you to pick a breakfast cereal for the lead character and then plunged into a vortex of madness and chaos – a world that has now been sealed shut and cast into the digital void. All told, it is a dark day for dystopias.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
All 34 ‘Black Mirror' episodes ranked, including ‘USS Callister: Into Infinity' and ‘Eulogy'
Every new season of Black Mirror launches a feverish debate over which episode was the best. Emmy voters gave three consecutive Best TV Movie awards to "San Junipero" (2017), "USS Callister" (2018), and "Bandersnatch" (2019), but how does the entire fandom rate the best and worst installments? We've consulted the cumulative IMDb scores for all seasons and have come up with the definitive ranking of Black Mirror episodes. Can you guess the No. 1 choice? Season 7 was released in April 2025 and brought the total number of episodes and specials to 34. Created by Charlie Brooker, the sci-fi anthology series began on the U.K.'s Channel 4 in 2011 before moving to Netflix (and becoming a worldwide phenomenon) in 2016. The show took a four-year break after Season 5, thanks in part to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, but that just gave people even more time to relive their favorite episodes from the beginning. More from GoldDerby 'Abbott Elementary' bosses on subverting finale expectations, 'the season of Ava,' and their dream crossover Bleepin' Seth Rogen joins club of stars who went rogue at award shows Kit Connor, Jake Gyllenhaal, Denzel Washington could make Tonys history for 'Othello' and 'Romeo + Juliet' SEE'Black Mirror' star Jimmi Simpson on the importance of the 'USS Callister' sequel How do the six new episodes from Season 7 — "Common People," "Bête Noire," "Hotel Reverie," "Plaything," "Eulogy," and "USS Callister: Into Infinity" — compare to all of the installments that have come before? Scroll through our gallery below. Here are the Black Mirror episodes ranked, from worst to best: Netflix Season 6, Episode 4 Air date: June 15, 2023 Director: Uta Briesewitz Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Zazie Beetz, Clara Rugaard, Danny Ramirez Plot: A troubled starlet is dogged by invasive paparazzi while dealing with the consequences of a hit-and-run incident. Netflix Season 5, Episode 3 Air date: June 5, 2019 Director: Anne Sewitsky Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Miley Cyrus, Angourie Rice, Madison Davenport Plot: A lonely teenager yearns to connect with her favorite pop star - whose charmed existence isn't quite as rosy as it appears. Netflix Season 2, Episode 3 Air date: Feb. 25, 2013 Director: Bryn Higgins Writer: Charlie Brooker, Christopher Morris Starring: Daniel Rigby, Chloe Pirrie, Jason Flemyng Plot: A failed comedian who voices a popular cartoon bear named Waldo finds himself mixing in politics when TV executives want Waldo to run for office. Netflix Season 4, Episode 5 Air date: Dec. 29, 2017 Director: David Slade Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Maxine Peake, Jake Davies, Clint Dyer Plot: In the post-apocalyptic landscape of the Scottish Moors, a woman attempts to survive the land full of "dogs." Netflix Season 6, Episode 5 Air date: June 15, 2023 Director: Toby Haynes Writer: Charlie Brooker, Bisha K. Ali Starring: Anjana Vasan, Paapa Essiedu, Katherine Rose Morley Plot: Northern England, 1979. A meek sales assistant is told she must commit terrible acts to prevent a disaster. Netflix Season 5, Episode 1 Air date: June 5, 2019 Director: Owen Harris Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Anthony Mackie, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Beharie Plot: Two estranged college friends reunite in later life, triggering a series of events that could alter their lives forever. Netflix Season 7, Episode 3 Air date: April 10, 2025 Director: Haolu Wang Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Issa Rae, Awkwafina, Emma Corrin, Harriet Walter, Enzo Cilenti Plot: A high-tech, unusually immersive remake of a vintage British film sends Hollywood A-list star Brandy Friday into another dimension, where she must stick to the script if she ever wants to make it home. Stuart Hendry/Netflix Special (between Seasons 4 and 5) Air date: Dec. 28, 2018 Director: David Slade Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Craig Parkinson, Alice Lowe, Asim Chaudhry, Will Poulter Plot: A young programmer starts to question reality when he adapts a mad writer's fantasy novel into a video game. Netflix Season 7, Episode 2 Air date: April 10, 2025 Director: Toby Haynes Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Siena Kelly, Rosy McEwen, Michael Workéyè, Ben Bailey Smith, Amber Grappy, Ravi Aujla, Elena Sanz, Hanna Griffiths Plot: Confectionary whizz kid Maria is unnerved when her former schoolmate Verity joins the company she works at - because there's something altogether odd about Verity, something only Maria seems to notice. Netflix Season 7, Episode 4 Air date: April 10, 2025 Director: David Slade Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Peter Capaldi, Lewis Gribben, James Nelson-Joyce, Michele Austin, Asim Chaudhry, Will Poulter Plot: In a near-future London, an eccentric murder suspect is linked to an unusual video game from the 1990s - a game populated by cute, evolving artificial lifeforms. Netflix Season 4, Episode 2 Air date: Dec. 29, 2017 Director: Jodie Foster Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Rosemarie DeWitt, Brenna Harding, Owen Teague Plot: After nearly losing her daughter, a mother invests in a new technology that allows her to keep track of her. Netflix Season 4, Episode 3 Air date: Dec. 29, 2017 Director: John Hillcoat Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Andrea Riseborough, Kiran Sonia Sawar, Andrew Gower Plot: An insurance agent investigates a minor traffic incident using a device that manifests peoples' memories, but one of her witnesses has something to hide. Netflix Season 6, Episode 2 Air date: June 15, 2023 Director: Sam Miller Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Samuel Blenkin, Myha'la Herrold, Daniel Portman Plot: A young couple travel to a sleepy Scottish town to start work on a genteel nature documentary - but find themselves drawn to a juicy local story involving shocking events of the past. Netflix Season 6, Episode 1 Air date: June 15, 2023 Director: Ally Pankiw Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Annie Murphy, Salma Hayek, Michael Cera Plot: An average woman is stunned to discover a global streaming platform has launched a prestige TV drama adaptation of her life - in which she is portrayed by Hollywood A-lister Salma Hayek. Netflix Season 6, Episode 3 Air date: June 15, 2023 Director: John Crowley Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Aaron Paul, Josh Hartnett, Kate Mara Plot: In an alternative 1969, two men on a perilous high-tech mission wrestle with the consequences of an unimaginable tragedy. Netflix Season 3, Episode 5 Air date: Oct. 21, 2016 Director: Jakob Verbruggen Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Malachi Kirby, Madeline Brewer, Ariane Labed Plot: Future soldiers Stripe and Raiman must protect frightened villagers from an infestation of vicious feral mutants. Netflix Season 5, Episode 2 Air date: June 5, 2019 Director: James Hawes Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Andrew Scott, Damson Idris, Topher Grace Plot: A cab driver with an agenda becomes the center of attention on a day that rapidly spirals out of control. Netflix Season 1, Episode 1 Air date: Dec. 4, 2011 Director: Otto Bathurst Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Rory Kinnear, Lindsay Duncan, Donald Sumpter Plot: Prime Minister Michael Callow faces a shocking dilemma when Princess Susannah, a much-loved member of the Royal Family, is kidnapped. Netflix Season 2, Episode 1 Air date: Feb. 11, 2013 Director: Owen Harris Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Hayley Atwell, Domhnall Gleeson, Claire Keelan Plot: After learning about a new service that lets people stay in touch with the deceased, a lonely, grieving Martha reconnects with her late lover. Netflix Season 1, Episode 2 Air date: Dec. 11, 2011 Director: Euros Lyn Writers: Charlie Brooker, Konnie Huq Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Jessica Brown Findlay, Rupert Everett Plot: In a world where people's lives consist of riding exercise bikes to gain credits, Bing tries to help a woman get on to a singing competition show. Netflix Season 2, Episode 2 Air date: Feb. 18, 2013 Director: Carl Tibbetts Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Lenora Crichlow, Michael Smiley, Tuppence Middleton Plot: Victoria wakes up and cannot remember anything about her life. Everyone she encounters refuses to communicate with her, and they all seem to know something she doesn't. But what? Netflix Season 3, Episode 2 Air date: Oct. 21, 2016 Director: Dan Trachtenberg Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Wunmi Mosaku Plot: An American traveler short on cash signs up to test a revolutionary new gaming system, but soon can't tell where the hot game ends and reality begins. Netflix Season 7, Episode 1 Air date: April 10, 2025 Director: Ally Pankiw Teleplay by : Charlie Brooker; Story by : Charlie Brooker & Bisha K. Ali Starring: Rashida Jones, Chris O'Dowd, Tracee Ellis Ross Plot: When a medical emergency leaves schoolteacher Amanda fighting for her life, her desperate husband Mike signs her up for Rivermind, a high-tech system that will keep her alive. Netflix Season 7, Episode 5 Air date: April 10, 2025 Director: Chris Barrett & Luke Taylor Writer: Charlie Brooker & Ella Road Starring: Paul Giamatti, Patsy Ferran Plot: An isolated man is introduced to a groundbreaking system that allows its users to literally step inside old photographs - stirring powerful emotions in the process. Netflix Season 3, Episode 1 Air date: Oct. 21, 2016 Director: Joe Wright Writer: Rashida Jones, Michael Schur, Charlie Booker Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Alice Eve, Cherry Jones Plot: A woman desperate to boost her social media score hits the jackpot when she's invited to a swanky wedding, but the trip doesn't go as planned. Netflix Season 4, Episode 1 Air date: Dec. 29, 2017 Director: Toby Haynes Writer: Charlie Brooker, William Bridges Starring: Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson Plot: Capt. Robert Daly presides over his crew with wisdom and courage. But a new recruit will soon discover nothing on this spaceship is what it seems. Netflix Season 7, Episode 6 Air date: April 10, 2025 Director: Toby Haynes Writer: Charlie Brooker, Bisha K. Ali, William Bridges & Bekka Bowling Starring: Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Billy Magnussen, Milanka Brooks, Osy Ikhile, Paul G. Raymond Plot: Robert Daly is dead, but now the crew of the USS Callister - led by Captain Nanette Cole - are stranded in an infinite virtual universe, fighting for survival against 30 million players. Netflix Season 3, Episode 3 Air date: Oct. 21, 2016 Director: James Watkins Writer: William Bridges, Charlie Brooker Starring: Alex Lawther, Jerome Flynn, Susannah Doyle Plot: When withdrawn Kenny stumbles headlong into an online trap, he is quickly forced into an uneasy alliance with shifty Hector, both at the mercy of persons unknown. Netflix Season 3, Episode 6 Air date: Oct. 21, 2016 Director: James Hawes Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Faye Marsay, Benedict Wong Plot: In near-future London, police detective Karin Parke and her tech-savvy sidekick Blue investigate a string of mysterious deaths with a sinister link to social media. Netflix Season 1, Episode 3 Air date: Dec. 18, 2011 Director: Brian Welsh Writers: Jesse Armstrong, Charlie Brooker Starring: Toby Kebbell, Jodie Whittaker, Tom Cullen Plot: In the near future, everyone has access to a memory implant that records everything they do, see and hear. You need never forget a face again - but is that always a good thing? Netflix Season 3, Episode 4 Air date: Oct. 21, 2016 Director: Owen Harris Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mackenzie Davis, Denise Burse Plot: When Yorkie and Kelly visit San Junipero, a fun-loving beach town full of surf, sun and sex, their lives are changed totally. Netflix Season 4, Episode 6 Air date: Dec. 29, 2017 Director: Colm McCarthy Writer: Charlie Brooker, Penn Jillette Starring: Douglas Hodge, Letitia Wright, Daniel Lapaine Plot: A woman enters the Black Museum, where the proprietor tells his stories relating to the artifacts. Netflix Season 4, Episode 4 Air date: Dec. 29, 2017 Director: Timothy Van Patten Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Georgina Campbell, Joe Cole, Gina Bramhill Plot: Paired up by a dating program that puts an expiration date on all relationships, Frank and Amy soon begin to question the system's logic. Netflix Special (between Seasons 2 and 3) Air date: Dec. 16, 2014 Director: Carl Tibbetts Writer: Charlie Brooker Starring: Jon Hamm, Rafe Spall, Oona Chaplin Plot: Three interconnected tales of technology run amok during the Christmas season are told by two men at a remote outpost in a frozen wilderness. SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Launch Gallery: 'Black Mirror' episodes ranked by fans (updated) Best of GoldDerby 'Paradise' star Julianne Nicholson on the ruthless Sinatra: 'I love that she's an evil genius, but she's not just an evil genius' 'I felt so proud of myself': 'Monsters' star Cooper Koch on awards buzz, filming 'The Hurt Man' episode, and advocating for the Menendez brothers 'Say Nothing' star Lola Petticrew on the 'gray areas' of playing an IRA member: 'I had to leave all moral judgment at the door' Click here to read the full article.
Metro
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Netflix fans rush to save 'groundbreaking' TV episode as 5,000 sign petition
Thousands of Netflix fans are in uproar after the streamer removed live-action interactive movie, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. The 2018 movie was a landmark moment for the streaming giant in the realm of interactive storytelling through the lens of Charlie Brooker's hit sci-fi dystopia. The episode follows a programmer named Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) who is developing a Goosebumps-style choose-your-own adventure game for a tech company run by video game genius Colin Ritman (portrayed by Will Poulter). But his attempts to create a bestselling interactive game turn meta when the viewer is put in control of how Stefan's story will pan out, with potentially deadly consequences. However, it has now been removed from Netflix globally, alongside other interactive specials, including Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend. Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro's TV Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we'll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you. According to Variety, the move marks Netflix's creative decision to pursue interactive storytelling as it leans into beefing up its gaming content instead. But, at the time of writing, more than 5,000 people have signed a petition on calling on the streaming platform to reverse its Bandersnatch decision to 'preserve this cultural and interactive landmark.' 'This isn't just the removal of a film. It's the deletion of a groundbreaking moment in storytelling and innovation—a format-defining experience that cannot be replicated once it's gone,' it said. Bandersnatch's unique concept seemed to divide viewers at the time, ultimately landing a shaky but comfortable 67% on Rotten Tomatoes from audience reviews. Some have praised it for its 'unique twists' with user Louis P calling it 'brilliant and forward thinking'. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Daniel W agreed the feature-length episode was 'ambitious, trailblazing, and well-executed at times'. On the other hand, some reviews like one from Donald D described it as 'frustrating and unfulfilling' with a story that 'dragged out'. And the divisive legacy of the innovative episode was reflected in critic reviews as well, with GQ calling it 'actually quite underwhelming as a standalone story' where it landed in 25th place. Meanwhile, Vulture echoed issues with the storyline but ultimately placed it at 14th place for its 'ambitious effort'. Metro TV reporter Asyia Iftikhar reviewed the latest season of Black Mirror and ranked all six episodes from best to worst: USS Callister: Into Infinity Plaything Common People Bête Noir Hotel Reverie Eulogy Read Asiya's review in full. But for many, it remains one of the creepiest episodes they've watched. 'I can't begin to explain how unsettling yet amazing this was I have never had goosebumps but been so creeped out at the same time,' Rachel Damelio wrote on Google reviews. One user, Johann D. M, called it a 'very interesting, creepy and clever idea'. 'I just played/watched black mirror Bandersnatch and my mind is not the same AT ALL, that was so creepy,' bubbleswho shared on X. 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Probably the creepiest!!' Grasya echoed. But whether you side with viewers praising the trailblazing episode or those who think it fell flat, it's now no longer available on Netflix. This move is even more shocking considering season seven of the show, which came out in April, features a follow-up with Colin Ritman, who is behind yet another video game that has destructive consequences in Plaything. Although his feature in the episode does not rely on having watched the interactive movie, his and co-star Asim Chaudhry's cameos in the episode are heightened for anyone who has seen it and knows these characters already. Discussing his decision to bring back Will's character, creator Charlie told Metro: 'Plaything isn't really a sequel to Bandersnatch. More Trending 'While I was writing it, it was a separately conceived story. I just got to the point of, 'oh, well, now we're going to go and meet the creator of this game'. 'One of my favourite characters ever in the series was Colin Ritman. What if it could be him? And could we get Asim [Chaudhry] as well to play Mo, the owner of Tuckersoft? Could we do that? 'But I guess we could. Why not? Who decides these rules? It's not like the government is going to step in and shut us down. So that was why.' View More » A version of this article was published on May 8. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Netflix viewers rush to watch 'exceptional' drama based on Judy Blume novel MORE: Netflix's latest 'charming' film with 'giant heart' is your ultimate weekend watch MORE: Brutal horror film with 'diabolical gore' finally arrives on Netflix
