Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker explains 'Red Mirror' label | Radio Times

The episode is one of the more bizarre of the season, following main character Nida (Anjana Vasan) who's told by charismatic demon Gaap (Paapa Essiedu) that she has to murder three people or face the end of the world.

At the start of the episode, and indeed in the trailer for Black Mirror season 6, Demon 79 is described as being presented by "Red Mirror", an apparent new label marking this episode out from others.

Charlie Brooker has explained that this is because of the slight shift in focus - where previous episodes have always centred on tech, this one has no notable technology at its centre-point.

Charlie Brooker — Charlie Brooker attends the "Black Mirror (Season 6). Beyond The Sea" Special Screening at BFI on June 12th, 2023 in London UK. Netflix

Brooker said: "Demon 79 opens with a 'Red Mirror presents' title sequence, marking it out as 'different-from-yet-adjacent-to' Black Mirror. This is because, typically, Black Mirror has focused on tech dystopias or media satire, whereas this story has a stronger supernatural element, harking back to 1970s horror. The episode is almost unclassifiable."

Chatting to RadioTimes.com and other press about the decision, Brooker said we could "possibly" see more episodes under the label.

"It depends what people make of it and how it gets received and this that and the other," he added.

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"It was really really useful as a sort of refresh - a reset. When Black Mirror started, it was 2011 and at the time, there weren’t many shows that looked like it or there weren’t many shows where someone looked at a smartphone frankly, let alone obsessed over one and sat there staring at it until it ruined them. It felt like there’s quite a few shows with dystopian sci-fi technical themes.

"So, partly what I was doing, I was setting myself a task of ‘What if I think of some storylines that aren’t to do with technology and are to do with horror or set in the past?’ It was partly doing that and then through doing that, we got an episode – Demon 79, which is set in 1979 and is almost like a companion piece to Black Mirror.

"Hopefully, psychologically, it still feels like a Black Mirror episode. What that also did was, the process of thinking of things in that way, then unlocked things like Beyond The Sea where when I’d first thought of that idea, I thought of it as a near-future story that would’ve been set in 2045 or whenever. But as soon as you think ‘Well, what if I set it in the past?’, it becomes a different story and the characters in it are behaving differently. So it was just very interesting. Again, it’s a longwinded answer but the answer is maybe.”

As he previously explained, Brooker has embraced more horror in season 6 and is hoping to subvert everyone's expectations.

Anjana Vasan as Nida in Black Mirror — Anjana Vasan as Nida in Black Mirror Nick Wall/Netflix

Speaking at a Q&A and preview of Black Mirror season 6 episode Beyond the Sea at BFI Southbank, the writer said: “This season I started out doing some with a very different take – a Red Mirror film, and almost like a crime and horror-led sister label, so to speak. And in doing that, I thought, ‘I’ll shake up what I think a Black Mirror episode is’.”

When asked whether it's fair to say that this upcoming season has more horror than previously, Brooker said: “This season overall, we’ve also got probably one of our most overtly comic ones that we’ve ever done, which is Joan Is Awful. But certainly, there’s quite a lot of horror."

Caught up on Black Mirror season 6? Read our episode breakdowns below:

Black Mirror season 6 is available to stream on Netflix now.

Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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