Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror is to return after a two-year absence, with the new series more than doubling the number of episodes made during its original run. The twist? Where its previous seven shows were broadcast on Channel 4, all 12 episodes of season three will be exclusive to Netflix.
The first two names revealed for season three are Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Canadian Davis played Cameron Howe in '80s tech drama Halt And Catch Fire, while Belle actress Mbatha-Raw is widely tipped for a lead role in Star Wars 8. The truly eagle-eyed among you will recognise her from Doctor Who – she played Martha Jones' sister Tish in four episodes opposite David Tennant's tenth doctor in 2007.
Mbatha-Raw and Davis will appear in the first Netflix episode of Black Mirror, entitled Be Right Back, which is shooting now under the direction of Owen Harris. He too has a Doctor Who connection, having overseen four episodes of Billie 'Rose Tyler' Piper's Secret Diary Of A Call Girl in 2010.
Last year, Brooker described Netflix as “the most fitting platform imaginable” for the new series, continuing: “Netflix connects us with a global audience so that we can create bigger, stranger, more international and diverse stories than before, whilst maintaining that Black Mirror feel."
The show was last seen in December 2014, by way of a shockingly dark Christmas special which featured a snowglobe as a murder weapon, and finished with "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" playing on an endless, infernal loop. Expect the new series to be similarly, uh, cheery.
Images: Relativity Media
