Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: black mirror, channel 4, charlie brooker, christmas, jon hamm, netflix, rafe spall, tv, White Christmas

Why Black Mirror White Christmas Could Be The Best Thing You'll Watch On Telly This Christmas. Because You Won't Want To Watch Anything Else Ever Again.

No spoilers. Well, hardly any. If you want to remain virgin pure before watching Black Mirror White Christmas on Channel 4 next week, then stop now. But I think you're probably being a bit silly.

Yesterday I attending a press screening fresh from the edit suite (to the extent that the very final scene still needed a little FX. But I really didn't know what I was getting. I've watched the first two series of Black Mirror now, and apperently they've just hit Netflix in the US too which has caused all sorts of ruckus. Social sciece fiction horror thriller might be a good label. The Twilight Zone of the Twitter age maybe?

But this was a new thing, Black Mirror's Christmas Special starring Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall as two men seemingly enclosed in a snow-encased dingy dwelling on Christmas Day as Hamm insists on celebrating Christmas and cooking the appropriate dinner. Hamm is American, cheery, a grin on his face in the most depressing of circumstances, Spall is dour, down, resigned to his fate and not in the mood for talking.

That changes.

We begin to learn their histories, their hobbies, their jobs, the loves of their life and that's how Black Mirror White Christmas structures its story. We see people's lives, similar to our own, the same desires, needs and foibles, just with a little extra technology to help things along. Mobile phones are small pieces of transparent glass, but we are more likely to use the small thumb control in our pocket to switch between options on our Zed-Eyes, the future of Google Glass, less invasive but far more powerful. Oh and there is the cookie, which can record people's minds and memories to the extent that this bit of code becomes them. Those arguments about the sentience of artificial intelligence? Right here.

Because that this show does, is make these technologies horrifyingly normal, accepted, part of the daily grind and never commented upon unless it's really necessary. It is what it is and we get three tales of exactly how that technology impacts humanity, but never straying from telling tales of humanity, all interweaving and linked, with twist upon twist.

And that's where this feature length Black Mirror excels. Because you can guess the twist, you can see it coming, it gives you all the info and it clicks before the big reveal, but only just. So you have a minute of feeling smug and superior over the stupidest person in the room, but you don't get it half an hour before, leaving you tapping your feet until the reveal. Black Mirror White Christmas flatters your intellect, it is an manipulative and psychologically well balanced as any of the technology shown in the programme. Oh, and always about Christmas, each story works its way around the festive season and the traditions within, from pulling at office parties, to bad karaoke, to the pop songs that are always on a loop, the appeal of Christmas markets, to presents being given and received with unintended consequences to snow. Lots and lots of snow. And the stories are so wonderfully woven together, and dovetail together in such a satisfying way that you might be able to forget the horrifying images it leaves you with. Almost.

Certainly you're not oing to be able to just turn around and watch Miranda now.

Yes, it is dark, yes, it is funny, and it is probably the best thing you'll see on the telly this Christmas. Or on your own black mirror on 4oD, whichever you choose. As writer Charlie Brooker explained in the Q&A afterwards, it may be bleak, but it won't be nearly as bleak as whatever Eastenders does on Christmas Day.

Meeting actors from the show in the pre-show drinks area.

Picking up a Black Mirror Christmas Cracker.

Pulling it open to reveal a silver party hat, a joke and a "black mirror". Here's one of the jokes.

Here's another.

Waiting for the show to begin… there's a Brooker…

There's a Hamm.

And there they all are for the Q&A.

I may be able to run video from that later. But everyone was very pleased to work on the project, as you can imagine, Jon Hamm talked about reading the script, and passing it to his wife who was shocked he do anything so dark, and one audience member revealed that watching the show, and it's implications regarding social media, that he had now decided to unblock his ex on Facebook. Brooker seemed to feel that was a mission accomplished.

Brooker was also happy to take one audience member's suggestion as to how one story could be about all the people who work on technologies that never gets recognised by the user. Brooker stated that it wasn't meant to be about that, but he liked it and that it now probably would be. He confesses that when he writes a story, he doesn't really know what it's about but realises later…

Black Mirror White Christmas airs on Channel 4, 9pm GMT, 16th December. Then at 10pm on Channel 4+1. Then on 4oD. Then eventually on Netflix. Probably.

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