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Featured Image Credit: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo / Netflix
Topics: TV and Film, Channel 4, Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: TV and Film, Channel 4, Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror
Charlie Brooker has claimed that Channel 4 'effectively cancelled' Black Mirror for a reason he found to be 'outrageous'.
The mastermind behind the famed dystopia series opened up about how the show fared while it aired on Channel 4 before being bought by streaming giant Netflix.
Black Mirror first hit our screens back in 2011 and has since gone on to provide its loyal fanbase with five award-winning seasons with a sixth season on the way after a mammoth four-year wait.
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Since then, Netflix has announced key details on the surprising number of episodes for the upcoming season starring the likes of Aaron Paul, Anjana Vasan, Annie Murphy, Salma Hayek Pinault and many more A-listers.
The upcoming season is set to consist of five episodes with the titles; 'Joan is Awful', 'Loch Henry', 'Beyond the Sea', 'Mazey Day' and 'Demon 79'.
However, Brooker has since revealed how the fan-favourite series moved from Channel 4 to Netflix and why the switch came about in the first place.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Brooker explained the tense dynamic between the network and show - namely revolving around the running cost per series.
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"Channel 4 cancelled us, effectively," the 52-year-old said.
Brooker has previously gone into further detail about the alleged fall-out in Inside Black Mirror, the book he wrote with executive co-producer Annabel Jones.
According to the pair, Channel 4 allegedly believed that Black Mirror was becoming too expensive to produce.
Due to this, the broadcaster asked the show creators for 'detailed synopses' of each short film in advance - something that Brooker thought was absolutely 'outrageous' at the time.
"When feedback came, we were told they weren’t very Black Mirror and they were no longer going to allocate the money for four episodes," he explained.
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Jones added: "We were trying to get a meeting to discuss why these ideas weren’t Black Mirror, so we could attempt to understand what the concern was.
"Given the show had won lots of awards and had been really positively received on the whole, it was strange. I think there wasn’t any clarity from the channel. We also felt unchampioned."
Following the fallout, Netflix began streaming the show's first two seasons on the platform over in the States which massively boosted Black Mirror's popularity but, according to Brooker, Channel 4 was still reluctant to move forward in a creative partnership with the service if it was unable to see the briefs in advance.
"We realised this was not going to happen with Channel 4," Jones wrote.
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"We had to push ahead and do this deal with Netflix."
The latest series of Black Mirror will be available to stream on Netflix next week (6 June).
LADbible has reached out to Channel 4 for comment.