[Shaun]

It gets better

Mad Men star Jon Hamm is to star in the Christmas special of Charlie Brooker's dark comedy Black Mirror.

Hamm, whose other credits include 30 Rock and film drama Million Dollar Arm, will be joined by fellow actors Rafe Spall and Oona Chaplin.

"I am beyond thrilled to be a part of the Black Mirror Christmas Special. I have been a massive fan of the show since its inception," Hamm said.

The 90-minute special starts filming in the UK this week.

Hamm added that Black Mirror's "dark humour and intelligent observation of our society and values hooked me deeply as a viewer and I'm honoured that Charlie and the rest of the creative team have asked me to participate in wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas".

The series takes a bleak look at modern society, and is more specifically concerned with how technology affects our lives.

The first episode of Black Mirror back in 2011 won a Golden Rose for best comedy at the Rose d'Or Television Festival.

Journalist and broadcaster Brooker said: "I'm revoltingly happy that Jon, Rafe and Oona are participating in the horrible pageant that is Black Mirror. As far as I'm concerned, their presence is a huge Christmas present that's arrived early."

Black Mirror describes itself as an anthology series which taps into our contemporary unease about the modern world.

Chaplin, who is the granddaughter of silent movie star Charlie Chaplin, has starred in TV series including BBC One war drama The Crimson Field, HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones and BBC Two political thriller The Hour.

Spall's body of work includes the films Prometheus, Life of Pi and Shaun of the Dead.

He is the son of actor Timothy Spall and his wife Shane.

Rafe, Jon and Oona all great

[Smithy]

S4 Titles

"ArkAngel" Directed by: Jodie Foster
"USS Callister" Directed by: Toby Haynes
"Crocodile" Directed by: John Hillcoat
"Hang the Dj" Directed by: Tim Van Patten
"Metalhead" Directed by: David Slade
"Black Museum" Directed by: TBA

I NEED another San Junipero plz

[Marsh.]

I could do without more schmaltz.

I want dark and depressing.

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

I could do without more schmaltz.

I want dark and depressing.

Then go write a biography

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Then go write a biography

CHEEK!

Hated in the Nation was based on my life!

[Marsh.]

Also, have they said when S4 will be released?

[Withano]

Omg, when is s4 out

[T*]

I want a good mix

[Smithy]

September 31st iirc

[Ashley.]

First episode of Season 4 was brilliant

[Smithy]

Yeah I really enjoyed it

[Withano]

I liked E1 too, bit different from the others. E2 seems more black-mirror-esque atm, I'm enjoying this so far too

[Headie]

Kirsten Dunst was an extra in Episode 1

Spoiler:

[Ramsay]

Spoiler:

Also Aaron Paul was the voice of the gamer at the end, so random

[Smithy]

Arkangel was really meh imo

[Ashley.]

Watched the first four this afternoon...

1. USS Callister
2. Hang the DJ
3. Crocodile
4. Arkangel

Hang the DJ had a real San Junipero feel to it, wasn't as good though. Arkangel is the only one so far that fell flat for me. Great concept, just poorly written in my opinion.

[Ashley.]

Now that I've seen all of them...

1. USS Callister
2. Hang the DJ
3. Crocodile
4. Metalhead
5. Black Museum
6. Arkangel

[MB.]

Having watched all the episodes, my ranking is thus:

Spoiler:

USS Callister ("stealing my pussy is a fucking red line" is my favourite quote of the series and Nanette works fantastically as the protagonist. I went into it expecting more-or-less a straightforward Star Trek homage, which didn't interest me much, but by the end I absolutely loved it)
Hang the DJ (the noise that Lenny makes after... ahem, tending to Amy's nether regions is my second favourite quote of the series. Just a cute episode, and I liked how the 99.8% thing was all tied up at the end)
Crocodile (I really, really enjoyed this episode for all its bleakness, up until where she kills Shazia, where it just becomes torture porn [killing the blind baby was waaaay too far], and I felt like the ending itself could have been a lot stronger. But as I said, I thought most of the episode was great, and I liked the whole researching-into-a-collision-with-a-pizza-van-for-insurance-purposes-turns-into-accidental-discovery-of-a-murderer type thing)
Black Museum (Jack's new girlfriend pinning a toy monkey up against the wall and repeatedly swearing at it was joyous [though probably not for the toy monkey, I'm guessing] and I thought the last ten minutes or so were brilliant, if not slightly on-the-nose in its attempt to be woke. However, I hated the first story, and I'm really not sure why they decided to copy the structure of White bloody Christmas of all episodes)
Metalhead (I get what they were going for here and I do think that they did it well, but post-apocalyptic horror just isn't really my cup of tea, and I ended up wishing that the dog had caught her a lot sooner to get the whole thing over and done with)
Arkangel (meh. None of the characters were likeable, the story was bland and predictable, and I was left with a sense of apathy at the end rather than catharsis. Also, Rosemarie Dewitt didn't age a single day and that really freaks me out)

[Ashley.]

Originally Posted by Bah HuMBug

Having watched all the episodes, my ranking is thus:

Spoiler:

USS Callister ("stealing my pussy is a fucking red line" is my favourite quote of the series and Nanette works fantastically as the protagonist. I went into it expecting more-or-less a straightforward Star Trek homage, which didn't interest me much, but by the end I absolutely loved it)
Hang the DJ (the noise that Lenny makes after... ahem, tending to Amy's nether regions is my second favourite quote of the series. Just a cute episode, and I liked how the 99.8% thing was all tied up at the end)
Crocodile (I really, really enjoyed this episode for all its bleakness, up until where she kills Shazia, where it just becomes torture porn [killing the blind baby was waaaay too far], and I felt like the ending itself could have been a lot stronger. But as I said, I thought most of the episode was great, and I liked the whole researching-into-a-collision-with-a-pizza-van-for-insurance-purposes-turns-into-accidental-discovery-of-a-murderer type thing)
Black Museum (Jack's new girlfriend pinning a toy monkey up against the wall and repeatedly swearing at it was joyous [though probably not for the toy monkey, I'm guessing] and I thought the last ten minutes or so were brilliant, if not slightly on-the-nose in its attempt to be woke. However, I hated the first story, and I'm really not sure why they decided to copy the structure of White bloody Christmas of all episodes)
Metalhead (I get what they were going for here and I do think that they did it well, but post-apocalyptic horror just isn't really my cup of tea, and I ended up wishing that the dog had caught her a lot sooner to get the whole thing over and done with)
Arkangel (meh. None of the characters were likeable, the story was bland and predictable, and I was left with a sense of apathy at the end rather than catharsis. Also, Rosemarie Dewitt didn't age a single day and that really freaks me out)

Spoiler:

Yeah, Crocodile went by pretty fast and I wasn't expecting it to end so abruptly. I disagree with it just being "torture porn" though... I thought that the concept of harvesting memories added quite a bit of depth to the woman's killings and helped to make it more believable. As horrific as the ending was, I thought the irony of it was quite clever (she didn't have to kill the baby because it was blind, but in doing so she ended up getting grassed up by a Guinea Pig)

[MB.]

Originally Posted by Ashsleigh

Spoiler:

Yeah, Crocodile went by pretty fast and I wasn't expecting it to end so abruptly. I disagree with it just being "torture porn" though... I thought that the concept of harvesting memories added quite a bit of depth to the woman's killings and helped to make it more believable. As horrific as the ending was, I thought the irony of it was quite clever (she didn't have to kill the baby because it was blind, but in doing so she ended up getting grassed up by a Guinea Pig)

Spoiler:

Yeah, I suppose her actions are given too much logic (well, maybe not logic, but there's definitely a clear progression in Mia's desperation) to be written of as torture porn. I still feel as though the last ten minutes or so were meant mainly to shock a la Shut Up and Dance, and I don't think that's the kind of ending that the story leading up to it deserved. Sure, we need to see in some way how her desperation to avoid being caught has gotten out of control and how she's painted herself into a corner, but "she brutally kills everyone who comes in her way" feels a bit gratuitous, especially the baby/guinea pig scene

[Marsh.]

I might watch t'Black Museum first.

[MB.]

Originally Posted by Mariah_Carey

I might watch t'Black Museum first.

I know that Charlie said that you can watch them in any order, but there's a very brief callback to an earlier episode near the start of Black Museum and I think it'll have more emotional weight if you watch it later

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Bah HuMBug

I know that Charlie said that you can watch them in any order, but there's a very brief callback to an earlier episode near the start of Black Museum and I think it'll have more emotional weight if you watch it later

You're just trying to grab me by the short and curlys and muck me about.

[MB.]

Originally Posted by Mariah_Carey

You're just trying to grab me by the short and curlys and muck me about.

Well ruin it for yourself then, see if I care

(jk)

Spoiler:

but if you do watch Black Museum first, keep an eye out for a lollipop

[Marsh.]

I'm gonna watch in order then because MB has me scurred