Charlie Brooker on Doctor Who, SNL UK and ‘terrifying tech’

Charlie Brooker reveals to The News Agents that he was asked to write for Doctor Who, shares why he thinks the UK version of SNL might work and ponders what new technology he finds ‘terrifying’…

The screenwriter and creator of Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker, has told The News Agents podcast that he was asked to write for the popular BBC Drama Doctor Who but ultimately had to turn down the job due to time commitments.

Speaking to podcast hosts Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall, Charlie also told The News Agents that he believes the new UK version of the comedy sketch show SNL could be a success if ‘done in a very British way’ as he stated there is a ‘hunger’ in UK audiences for ‘things that make you feel a little bit more sane because there are funny people out there also saying things that you are.’

In the wide-rangeing interview Charlie also revealed to Emily and Lewis that AI and deep fake videos are technology he finds ‘terrifying’ but defended the use of video games as ‘really good for the brain.’

 Asked whether he believes the British audience will find the new UK version of SNL funny, Charlie replied:

‘I think if it is done in a very British way, because there has not been very much sketch comedy of late in Britain… [It is] not at [because we are passed it] it is because it is expensive, and it is very difficult to do. It is expensive and it often fails and it often does not catch fire. And again, now a lot of people who would have been doing sketch comedy are now on TikTok or YouTube. So, I could see it could absolutely work, because I do think there is a hunger for things that make you feel a little bit more sane because there are funny people out there also saying things that you are.’

Would ever like to write a new series of Star Trek, Charlie told The News Agents:

‘That would be an interesting one wouldn’t it? I’ve never seen the Next Generation… I’ve only seen the original series when I was a kid… I was sort of asked about Doctor Who once… I wasn’t asked to run it, I was asked to write for it, and it felt a bit like the Home Office asking you to do something, like it was my national duty, but I just didn’t have time because I was busy. So, if a big behemouth like Star Trek asked me to write for them, you’d at least take that call, wouldn’t you. You’d consider it. But with doing Black Mirror, you’ve got control and when you wander into somebody else’s show you’re trying to please them.’

Asked if Black Mirror has changed as a show since it’s first series in 2011, Charlie replied:

‘It is and it isn’t [a different show], it hasn’t changed in my head. Rather than intending to go into it thinking, ‘This is a warning. I must go out onto the street and wave a flag and warn people.’ It was more just me worrying, because I’m a natural worrier. So, it was partly born of my general anxieties about were we where then. At the time technology was being portrayed in a very positive light. We had the Arab Spring.

‘The worst thing anybody said about Twitter was, ‘Oh, it’s all people posting photos of what they had a for breakfast and it’s quite bland.’ And now it’s a terrifying echo chamber full of people screaming. And I tend to get anxious when I think everyone else is very calm about something. So, I think I was slightly chanelling that. But promdominantly, it was my attempt to do a show that was a bit Twilight Zone, a bit Tales of the Unexpected, but drawing upon what was happening then, so technology felt like a natural focus.’

 Sharing when the worries and anxiety that inspires his work hits him, Charlie told Emily and Lewis:

‘Worries can hit me pretty much any hour of the day. I can pretty much worry about anything. You know those little wooden ice cream spoons you get? I could probably worry about that… they could take your eye out. So, I could worry about anything and worries come at any time. But my reaction is to try and come up with a dark joke, and again often the ideas for Black Mirror come from something I think is funny, even if we play the episode straight.’

On whether he could make Black Mirror now with a traditional UK broadcaster like the BBC or Channel 4, Charlie said:

‘I would like to think so… Often some of our most effective episodes are designed to be smaller, something like Common People you could absolutely do… You’d probably end up having to do it as a co-production. We’ve done an episode this series on a scale I don’t think the BBC has ever done because it is almost a movie. Although arguably the new season of Doctor Who is there, but again that is a co-production. So, it would definitely be a challenge because everything costs so much money.

‘The thing that worries me about AI is that I can see the opportunity. Because you can see that you could make things more cheaply and therefore does it mean the BBC and ITV will embrace that. Will it level that playing field?’

On how long he thinks Black Mirror will continue for, Charlie said:

 ‘I don’t know. I’d love to continue doing it so it slightly depends on whether people want to keep watching it. That is probably what it boils down to…. You don’t find any of these things out [if a new series has been commissioned] until the dust settles… There is one idea I’ve wanted to do for a couple of years and now I’m worried it will look old fashioned.’

Pondering tech, AI and video games:

‘As a former video games journalist and a die hard nerd in that regard, I do think people worry too much about video games certainly in general. I don’t let my kids play Call Of Duty On because I think they are too young to start blowing people’s heads off and some of the discourse on there is quite scathing… But I think video games generally are really good for brains. And being online, now that’s a slightly different matter.

‘And again, I think that it does slightly feel like that is an untested experiment… I think a bigger problem is we are worried about what our kids are being exposed to but half the time they are staring at that because we are staring at our phones while they are tugging on our sleeves.’

 Asked if there is any technology he is scared of, Charlie told The News Agents:

 ‘AI video, deep fake stuff, already the waves of that tsnumani are starting to lap up on the beach. And where that goes in the next few years is potentially terrifying. When there is no concencus on what reality is – that is terrifying. And I don’t know what we do to navigate that because we’ve never been faced with that before.’

Listen to the full interview on The News Agents podcast on Global Player later today.