‘Black Mirror’s 13 Creepiest, Most Unforgettable Episodes So Far
Since its debut, Black Mirror has captivated and unsettled audiences with chilling stories about the dark side of technology. From malevolent individuals sowing chaos to dystopian corporations exploiting the vulnerable, the series has consistently explored how innovation in the wrong hands can lead to devastating consequences. Thanks to the twisted minds of Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, Black Mirror has haunted our dreams and given us pause when it comes to new tech.
Here are some of the most haunting and tragic episodes that have left a lasting impression on viewers.
Series 1, Episode 1: “The National Anthem”
After a princess is taken, the kidnappers demand a stomach-turning ransom: The British prime minister (Rory Kinnear) must debase himself with a pig on live television. After exhausting all other options, the PM complies, with hundreds of thousands of his constituents watching on. And as Black Mirror viewers learn at the end of the episode, it was all for naught. – Dan Clarendon
Series 2, Episode 1: “Be Right Back”
Martha (Hayley Atwell) mourns the death of her partner, Ash (Domhnall Gleeson), until AI technology reconstructs his personality and offers Martha an android version of Ash. It’s a near carbon copy, so to speak, but Martha becomes increasingly unnerved as she notices ways in which Android Ash is stuck in the uncanny valley. – Dan Clarendon
Series 2, Episode 2: “White Bear”
A woman (Lenora Crichlow) scrambles for answers when she wakes up in an unfamiliar world, where some people are hunting her and others are merely spectating. Only after she gets the upper hand on her attackers does she learn the truth: She aided the murder of a child, and her punishment is to be pursued, tortured, and memory-wiped every day for the public’s entertainment. – Dan Clarendon
Special: “White Christmas”
Matt (Jon Hamm) and Joe (Rafe Spall) open up about their troublesome pasts at a cabin on Christmas morning, but what Joe doesn’t know is that the cabin is a virtual reality and that Matt is getting a reduced sentence for his crimes by getting the virtual Joe to confess to the murder the real Joe committed. Once convicted on the basis of that confession, Joe is relegated to a time-warped purgatory where he’s haunted by his memories. – Dan Clarendon
Series 3, Episode 2: “Playtest”
Cooper (Wyatt Russell) is mourning his father — and ignoring his mother’s calls — when he gets deep into the playtesting of implant-enabled, augmented-reality video games. So deep, in fact, that by the time he wants out, it’s too late. Then comes the real kicker: He only lasted a split-second in the playtest experiment before he was killed by the signal interference from a phone call from his mother. – Dan Clarendon
Series 3, Episode 3: “Shut Up and Dance”
Kenny (Alex Lawther) is recorded in an illicit moment through his webcam and forced by his blackmailers to do criminal acts, including robbing a bank and participating in a fight to the death. Unlike the ransom demand in “The National Anthem,” thoug, this extortion isn’t just an empty threat: Kenny’s blackmailers release the footage even after he wins the deadly duel. – Dan Clarendon
Series 3, Episode 5: “Men Against Fire”
A neural implant called MASS helps a military squad find and kill humanoid monsters called “roaches,” but after the MASS in Stripe’s (Malachi Kirby) head goes haywire, he realizes that the roaches are actually humans. More specifically, they’re an ethic group targeted by the military in a genocide. The ending of this episode, though, suggests that Stripe opted for his MASS to be fixed and his memory to be wiped. – Dan Clarendon
Series 3, Episode 6: “Hated in the Nation”
As London detectives (played by Kelly Macdonald and Faye Marsay) investigate back-to-back deaths, they trace the case to a company producing autonomous drone insects, or ADIs, and to an online game in which ADIs kill the subject of the most #DeathTo posts. The detectives find the tech employee behind the viral phenomenon, but their efforts in deactivating the ADI system results in the drones killing the nearly 400,000 people who used the #DeathTo hashtag. – Dan Clarendon
Series 4, Episode 3: “Crocodile”
After a pedestrian accident, insurance investigator Shazia (Kiran Sonia Sawar) uses a “Recaller” device to delve into bystanders’ memories, inadvertently uncovering one woman’s previous killings: Mia (Andrea Riseborough) murdered her husband after he threatened to expose the time they fatally struck a bicyclist years prior. Mia kills Shazia, Shazia’s husband, and even their baby, but she’s busted when police “recall” the memories of the baby’s pet guinea pig. – Dan Clarendon
Series 4, Episode 6: “Black Museum”
Nish (Letitia Wright) gets a tour of a crime-themed museum by proprietor Rolo (Douglas Hodge), who tells her about some of the items on display: a hairnet that allowed a doctor to feel and become aroused by others’ pain, a toy monkey containing the consciousness of a comatose wife and mother, and a holographic display with which museum visitors can kill a (potentially innocent) death-row inmate via electric chair. But Nish isn’t any old visitor. She’s that inmate’s daughter, and she gets revenge on Rolo by transferring his consciousness to the hologram. – Dan Clarendon
Series 6, Episode 2: "Loch Henry"
Budding filmmaker Davis (Samuel Blenkin) and his girlfriend Pia (Myha’la Herrold) return to his hometown in the Scottish countryside, a quiet village called Loch Henry, to work on a student film and visit his mother, Janet (Monica Dolan). Once a thriving tourist spot, the town has been in steady decline ever since a local man named Iain Adair was revealed to be a serial killer who murdered tourists in the area two decades earlier. While working on their film, Pia discovers a VHS tape showing Davis’ parents participating in the torture of the victims alongside Adair. Fearing her secret has been exposed, Janet chases Pia, ultimately causing her to fall to her death off a cliff. Believing Pia simply ran away, Janet takes her own life, but not before leaving behind damning evidence of her crimes for Davis to find and use as the foundation of his breakout feature. – Erin Maxwell
Series 6, Episode 3: "Beyond the Sea"
In an alternate 1969 timeline, astronauts Cliff and David (Aaron Paul and ) are on a years-long space mission, their presence on Earth maintained through advanced avatars. Seemingly night and day in their personalities, the two bond over the work, which requires two people to complete.
Tragedy strikes when David’s family is brutally murdered and his avatar destroyed by an anti-science cult. Unable to go home and grieve, David becomes a shell of himself. In a gesture of compassion, Cliff offers David access to his own replica and home life in hopes of easing his grief. But as time passes, David develops feelings for Cliff’s wife, Lana (Kate Mara), creating growing tension between the two men.
After Lana rejects his advances and a confrontation with Cliff erupts, David takes a dark turn. During a spacewalk, he traps Cliff outside the station and, in a horrifying act of vengeance, murders Cliff’s family. Knowing the mission requires two people to complete and that Cliff now has no means to retaliate, David offers him a seat, twistedly convinced they are now equals in loss. – Erin Maxwell
Series 7, Episode 1: "Common People"
Mike and Amanda (Chris O’Dowd and Rashida Jones, respectively) aren’t wealthy, but they’re content. A schoolteacher and a welder, the couple is trying for a child when Amanda is diagnosed with a brain tumor. With limited income and inadequate healthcare options, they turn to Rivermind, a tech company that promises to restore Amanda’s brain function for a monthly fee.
As time passes, the financial burden grows. To stay enrolled, Amanda is forced to become a living advertisement, reciting sponsored messages to her students and friends. Desperate to keep up with mounting costs, Mike begins performing degrading tasks online for money. In a final act of mercy, Mike ends Amanda’s suffering, suffocating her with a pillow as she spouts involuntary ad slogans. He then retreats to his computer room for one last, humiliating act involving a box cutter. “Common People” is a devastating look at the failing health care system and the predatory programs in place that hinder instead of help. –Erin Maxwell
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