FUTURE PAST

AS CHARLIE BROOKER’S SCI-FI ANTHOLOGY SERIES BLACK MIRROR RETURNS, WE GO ON SET OF ONE OF THE SHOW’S MOST EPIC EPISODES YET TO WITNESS THE WORLD-BUILDING FROM THE INSIDE…

ELLEN E JONES

IF YOU WERE LOOKING FOR a visual metaphor to describe the inside of Charlie Brooker’s brain, Stage 8 of Shepperton Studios on a blustery day in May 2024 does the job. Here, all is abustle with a new season of his eerily prescient, darkly satirical sci-fi-horror anthology Black Mirror, and Brooker is mentally juggling a hefty workload. “We’re doing the final mix for Episode 1…” says Brooker, as he leads us through a sound-proofed outer door and into the massive, aircraft-hangar-like space, where an entire to-scale replica of a 1940s Cairo hotel lobby has been constructed. “We’ve locked Episode 2, but we’re doing VFX…” he continues, picking his way through the leather armchairs and tables, artfully set with half-drunk cocktails and, on one, a 1949-dated copy of ‘The Cairo Clarion’. “With…

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Empire (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2025

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