Before “Black Mirror” became overblown and eventually turned into a gimmick-heavy franchise after the show went to Netflix, Charlie Brooker was just a very good satirist that poked fun at several topics, not just our relationship with technology. Indeed, some people may forget that the very first episode of “Black Mirror” didn’t have a sci-fi premise, but was pure political satire about the British Prime Minister having sex with a pig on live TV.
This is to say, when Brooker is allowed to focus less on high concepts and wild premises and more on satire, as in something like “Cunk on Earth,” there’s cause to be very excited. Now, we’re getting another Charlie Brooker joint, as Netflix just announced a four-part limited TV series from Brooker that sounds like it will poke fun at detective mysteries.
The show’s working title is “Untitled Charlie Brooker Project,” which Netflix describes as a “profoundly serious, stunningly original crime thriller in which a tormented detective from the Northern city of Bleakford ventures down to London on a mission to catch a ritualistic serial killer before they run out of people to kill. Contains blood and frowning.”
This is exciting for many reasons. Detective shows are an essential part of British TV culture (if you haven’t gone down that rabbit hole yet, here are the best ones to watch), but they are also ripe for parody and satire, especially in 2025 when the U.S. has also gone deep into the detective thriller genre over the past decade with shows like “True Detective” and “Mare of Easttown.” The best way to satirize something is when everyone is aware of that thing’s tropes and formulas, and the time of the overly dour detective mystery is now.
The Untitled Charlie Brooker Project has a terrific cast
The “Untitled Charlie Brooker Project” is set to star Paddy Considine (“House of the Dragon”), Georgina Campbell (“Barbarian”), and Lena Headey (“Game of Thrones”). We don’t have more details about the plot, but Netflix announced that Brooker part of the writers’ room, alongside Ben Caudell, Jason Hazeley, Emer Kenny, Daniel Maier and Joel Morris, while Al Campbell directs.
This is exciting because most of those names either worked with Brooker’s on “Cunk on Life” or earlier shows of his like “How TV Ruined Your Life,” or otherwise have experience with BBC dramas. There is no connection to “Black Mirror,” but rather the very kind of very British TV that this upcoming untitled show is meant to satirize.
The popularization of international detective dramas in the U.S., with British shows like the fantastic “Broadchurch” or Nordic noir shows that have been adapted over and over (like “The Bridge,” and “The Killing”), has made it so audiences worldwide are quite familiar with the good and the bad within this genre. Having Brooker satirize the grim seriousness of this kind of story, as well as character tropes like the tormented detective, promises to be one hell of a clever and funny show.
We don’t know when “Untitled Charlie Brooker Project” will be released, but it already has the best premise of 2025.
