C4 orders more from Charlie Brooker

Channel 4 has commissioned a second series of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror plays.

The Screenwipe presenter is writing another three hour-long episodes, which will be filmed next month.

Channel 4 head of comedy Shane Allen compared Brooker to Dennis Potter and Chris Morris in his ‘pioneering spirit’ and ‘daring, complex, compelling originality’.

He said:’British drama seems particularly obsessed with murder and the past, often together. Black Mirror is a rare modern look at where society and individuals could be headed, given the all-pervasive deluge of social media and technology.’

The first series prompted 322 complaints over a story in which a Prime Minister was blackmailed into having sex with a pig live on TV.

Brooker said: ‘Half of the things in the first run of Black Mirror seem to be on the verge of coming true. They've got prisoners in Brazilian prisons pedalling on exercise bikes to reduce their sentences (not entirely dissimilar to the episode 15 Million Merits) and Google Glass looks like copyright infringement as far as The Entire History of You is concerned.

‘Thankfully no-one carried out a hideous form of blackmail involving a pig. Anyway, if the stories from the second run start coming true then we're REALLY in trouble.’

The first series won Golden Rose Award, and averaged 1.5million viewers on transmission – but was especially popular on demand, where it attracted 2.1million views over the series.

Published: 12 Jul 2012