With all this talk of global pandemics, government-enforced lockdowns, and mass surveillance apps, even Charlie Brooker is keen to take a break from the dystopia.
In an interview with The Radio Times, the showrunner announced that he’s not currently working on a sixth season of Black Mirror, suggesting that the coronavirus pandemic has paused any plans to return to the dystopian series, which aired its fifth season in May last year.
“At the moment, I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on one of those,” he said in reference to Black Mirror. “I’ve been busy, doing things. I don’t know what I can say about what I’m doing and not doing.”
He added: “I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh.”
Speaking about the pandemic, Brooker admitted that nearly a decade writing dystopian plots for TV has prepared him for the crisis more than most, saying: “I’ve not been going through quite the level of psychological adjustment as some other people because I’ve really always expected something like this to come along.”
“If you’ve spent years anticipating the worst, oddly, when the worst happens, you can stop worrying about that possibly happening because it has,” he said. “So I’m dealing with this on a personal level far better than I would have anticipated.”
Last month, Brooker announced that he’d be reviving his Bafta-winning Screenwipe for a coronavirus special, Antiviral Wipe, which will air May 14 on BBC Two.