7 'Black Mirror' Episodes You Won't Believe Actually Happened In Real Life

9 January 2018, 14:01

By James Wilson-Taylor

From mechanical bees to Prime Ministers and pigs, the Netflix hit has been very good at predicting the future.

Charlie Brooker's terrifyingly prescient sci-fi series Black Mirror returned to Netflix recently with a fourth season that has been a huge hit with fans and critics alike.

Black Mirror - Season 4 | Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix

But, the one question we keep asking ourselves is "could any of this actually come true?"

Well, given how many of the previous episodes have already been replicated in reality, it's only a matter of time before we are all aboard the USS Callister.

Here are a few of the Black Mirror episodes that have already become reality:

1) The Prime Minister and the pig.

The first ever episode, 'The National Anthem', focused on the UK Prime Minister being blackmailed into having sex with a pig on live TV in order to save the life of a royal princess (side note - what the f*ck Charlie Brooker? That is quite the story pitch!). But, weirdly, in 2015, it was reported that then IRL Prime Minister David Cameron had once allegedly been dared to perform a weird sex act with a dead pig's head while at a university dinner. Cameron denied it ever happened but the coincidence was still enough to freak out TV fans everywhere.

2) An offensive cartoon enters an election.

Yes, there is an obvious Donald Trump joke here but, beyond that, season 2's 'The Waldo Moment' could easily be compared to the adoption of Pepe the sad frog by the Alt-right. The friendly cartoon became a symbol of Trump supporters despite protests from its creator, cartoonist Matt Furie, much in the same way that Daniel Rigby's character of Jamie let's his Waldo bear character enter a by-election and take on a whole new meaning.

3) Giving people ratings out of 5.

In season 3's 'Nosedive' ep, Bryce Dallas Howard's character is obsessed with a system where people can rate each other from 1-5 based on their social interactions. Sounds pretty wild but apparently, in China, a similar system known as 'Social Credit' has been proposed to rate the trustworthiness of citizens as well as their eligibilty for things like mortgages.

4) Living on digitally after death.

In 'Be Right Back', a woman is able to replicate elements of her dead boyfriend's personality digitally and, according to BBC Three, a social robot known as Bina48 is taking things one step further, using "video interview transcripts, laser-scanning life mask technology, face recognition, artificial intelligence and voice-recognition technologies." Basically, you can live on thanks to a robot...if that's what you are into.

5) People being watched through their webcams.

Yep, it is technically possible for people to hack into your webcam and watch your every move, just like in 'Shut Up And Dance'. That's why the likes of Mark Zuckerberg have been spotted covering their cam up with tape in some recent photos. Obviously, hackers are more likely to target the head of Facebook rather than you but, hey, ya never know.

6) Um...mechanical bees exist.

Remember those slightly terrifying robot insects from 'Hated In The Nation'? Well apparently the smart people at Harvard are developing models that do the same thing - 60 of them in fact. Yikes.

7) Pizza delivery doesn't need drivers anymore.

'Crocodile' from the latest season features a driverless pizza delivery van at the centre of the plot. Well, Pizza Hut are already hard at work on a similar transport system which they say will be ready to go in 2020. However, unlike in the show, the vans should have somebody inside to deliver the pizza to your door, even if they aren't doing any actual driving.

So what else will the future bring? Weird space travel? Heartwarming timed tinder dates? We'll have to wait and see...

Black Mirror is streaming now on Netflix.