Robo dogs, lethal video games and VR time travel: can you tell real life from Black Mirror episodes?

Is reality stranger than fiction? Black Mirror. Composite: AFP/Getty Images/Netflix/REX Shutterstock/ Reuters

‘It’s like something out of Black Mirror”. It’s a measure of the Emmy-winning show’s success that this has become a thing that people say about the latest advances in tech. As the dystopian sci-fi series returns to Netflix with five new episodes, it feels just as spookily prescient as ever. The line between speculative futurism and cutting-edge tech is often a fine one. Can you tell Charlie Brooker’s fiction from actual fact?

1. 

   Britain’s serving Prime Minister has sexual intercourse with a pig.

   1. Black Mirror

   2. Real life

2. 

   A social media CEO goes off-grid on a 10-day silent meditation retreat to "hack and reprogram his mind".

   1. Black Mirror

   2. Real life

3. 

   ​"Helicopter parents​" implant microchips in their children, keeping tabs on what they see and do via an app.

   1. Black Mirror

   2. Real life

4. 

   A talking TV animal becomes the figurehead for a populist political movement.

   1. Black Mirror

   2. Real life

5. 

   A government gives citizens a "social credit" rating, punishing the badly behaved with slow wifi, flight bans and mortgage ineligibility.

   1. Black Mirror

   2. Real life

6. 

   Robotic bees go rogue and kill people.

   1. Real life

   2. Black Mirror

7. 

   Lonely elderly people revisit their childhood homes or wedding venues via "virtual reality reminiscence therapy".

   1. Black Mirror

   2. Real life

8. 

   A dating app tells you exactly when your current relationship will end.

   1. Black Mirror

   2. Real life

9. 

   Music moguls replace troublesome human pop stars with holographs.

   1. Black Mirror

   2. Real life

10. 

    Prisoners get days off their sentence in return for pedalling exercise bikes to generate electricity.

    1. Black Mirror

    2. Real life

11. 

    A virtual reality headset explodes its wearer’s brain if they die inside a video game.

    1. Black Mirror

    2. Real life

12. 

    A pedestrian gets run down by a self-driving pizza delivery van.

    1. Black Mirror

    2. Real life

13. 

    Robot dogs are deployed to maintain public order and use deadly force.

    1. Black Mirror

    2. Real life

14. 

    A singer on a TV talent show is coerced into becoming a porn star instead.

    1. Black Mirror

    2. Real life

15. 

    Amazon Alexa speaks to you in the voices of dead loved ones.

    1. Black Mirror

    2. Real life

16. 

    A streaming service exploits its own subscribers by turning their lives into TV drama.

    1. Real life

    2. Black Mirror

Solutions

1:A - The debut episode, 2011’s National Anthem, found PM Rory Kinnear blackmailed into getting jiggy with a piggy on live TV. It predated by four years – and possibly inspired –​ ​the sadly unproven claim that as an Oxford undergraduate, David Cameron inserted "a private part of his anatomy" into a dead pig’s mouth #snoutrage #trottersup., 2:B - Five years ago, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey disappeared on a 10-day retreat in Myanmar where he meditated for 16 hours per day, couldn’t talk, read, write or exercise, and even eye contact was discouraged. In 2019 episode “Smithereens”, Topher Grace’s tech guru tries something similar but ends up taking work calls when a crisis kicks off. Lightweight., 3:A - Jodie Foster-directed 2017 episode Arkangel portrayed an anxious single mother who kept an eye on her daughter's vision, hearing and health via an implanted monitoring system. In reality, the closest we’ve come are child-tracking apps like Life360 or attaching Apple AirTags to the little darlings’ clothing., 4:A - In 2013 episode The Waldo Moment, an animated blue bear ends up running for office. At least Boris Johnson and Donald Trump were human. Ish., 5:B - In 2018, China implemented a moral ranking system in several cities, docking points for antisocial behaviour or etiquette breaches. Two years earlier in Nosedive, Black Mirror’s equivalent wasn’t state-led but saw people score their social interactions Uber-style. , 6:B - In the 2016 episode Hated in the Nation, "autonomous drone insects" are hacked and start causing human fatalities. Implausible? Perhaps not. Harvard Microrobotics Lab has spent 12 years developing RoboBee for crop pollination, surveillance and search-and-rescue missions. Pass the flyswatter., 7:B - VR startup Rendever offers older people the chance to "travel" back to locations from their past using Google Street View. It’s like a lo-fi version of 2016’s award-winning San Junipero, where an entire 80s town turns out to be a simulation where people can relive their youth. Stop crying, you’re making my shoulder pads damp., 8:A - In 2017 episode Hang the DJ, a dating device called Coach calculates the "expiry date" of relationships. Thankfully this hasn’t been invented yet in the real world. Forget Tinder. This could be Binned-er., 9:B - Holograms like "Abba-tars" increasingly headline sellout hi-tech tours, although the artists tend to be long dead or have given consent. In 2019 episode Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, it’s forced upon Miley Cyrus when she’s drugged into a coma by her controlling manager and unwittingly replaced by a more compliant digital doppelganger., 10:B - At one Brazilian jail, inmates get reduced sentences for eight-hour shifts on bikes hooked up to generators. Black Mirror’s second ever episode, the Daniel Kaluuya-starring Fifteen Million Merits, saw civilians earn virtual currency this way but it lacked the prison twist., 11:B - Palmer Luckey, creator of the Oculus headset, claims to have invented a VR system called NerveGear which can kill players when it’s game over. Even darker than 2016 episode Playtest, in which a neural network uses players’ darkest memories to terrify them during a horror game. We’ll stick to Mario Kart, thanks., 12:A - Andrea Riseborough witnesses such a collision in the 2017 episode Crocodile. Domino’s are still at the testing stage with autonomous delivery vehicles and there are no reports of accidents. Which is a slice of luck., 13:A - Killer tin pooches pursue Maxine Peake in 2017 episode Metalhead. They're a deadly, more sentient version of Boston Dynamics’ real-life digidog, which was used by Singapore police to patrol parks and encourage social distancing during the pandemic. The NYPD also acquired one but cancelled its contract after a backlash. Bad dog! Go to your charging point!, 14:A - This happens to Jessica Brown Findlay’s character in the second ever episode, Fifteen Million Merits. In our world, it’s happened in reverse: X Factor hopeful Becky Constantinou was kicked off the crooning contest in 2015 when her pornographic past was uncovered., 15:B - “Make the memories last,” says Amazon. It’s developing digital assistants which mimic any voice. Yep, your long-gone granny can read you a bedtime story again. Well, if you’re a bit weird. At least it’s not as macabre as 2013 episode Be Right Back, in which grieving Hayley Atwell bought an AI robot duplicate of her dead boyfriend., 16:B - In new episode Joan Is Awful, Brooker bites the hand that feeds by satirising Netflix itself – and even its boss Bela Bejaria. Just as long as she doesn’t get revenge by cancelling Black Mirror, eh?

Scores

1. 16 and above.

   You’re Charlton actual Brooker, aren’t you? Say hi to Konnie Huq and Barry Shitpeas for us.

2. 15 and above.

   You have an excellent handle on what’s fact and what’s fiction. Award yourself 15m merits. Or at least an ice cream.

3. 13 and above.

   You have an excellent handle on what’s fact and what’s fiction. Award yourself 15m merits. Or at least an ice cream.

4. 12 and above.

   You have an excellent handle on what’s fact and what’s fiction. Award yourself 15m merits. Or at least an ice cream.

5. 11 and above.

   You have an excellent handle on what’s fact and what’s fiction. Award yourself 15m merits. Or at least an ice cream.

6. 10 and above.

   Solid but too much guesswork. Charlie Brooker is shouty and disappointed.

7. 9 and above.

   Solid but too much guesswork. Charlie Brooker is shouty and disappointed.

8. 8 and above.

   Solid but too much guesswork. Charlie Brooker is shouty and disappointed.

9. 7 and above.

   Solid but too much guesswork. Charlie Brooker is shouty and disappointed.

10. 6 and above.

    You can’t distinguish between Black Mirror and reality. Which, in itself, is a bit Black Mirror-y.

11. 5 and above.

    You can’t distinguish between Black Mirror and reality. Which, in itself, is a bit Black Mirror-y.

12. 4 and above.

    You can’t distinguish between Black Mirror and reality. Which, in itself, is a bit Black Mirror-y.

13. 3 and above.

    You can’t distinguish between Black Mirror and reality. Which, in itself, is a bit Black Mirror-y.

14. 2 and above.

    You can’t distinguish between Black Mirror and reality. Which, in itself, is a bit Black Mirror-y.

15. 1 and above.

    You can’t distinguish between Black Mirror and reality. Which, in itself, is a bit Black Mirror-y.

16. 0 and above.

    You can’t distinguish between Black Mirror and reality. Which, in itself, is a bit Black Mirror-y.