Charlie Brooker

Charlie Brooker was a British television writer and producer who was best known for creating the internationally renowned science-fiction anthology series "Black Mirror" (Channel 4/Netflix, 2011- ). Born and raised in England, Brooker always harnessed a bit of a creative side. He began writing and drawing comics when he was a young boy, and by the late 1980s was working as a cartoonist for the British comic book magazine Oink!. When it came time to enter college, Brooker enrolled in the University of Westminster, where he took classes in Media Studies. He completed most of his studies at the University, but dropped out before he could graduate so that he could take a job as a video game reviewer at PC Zone. Brooker wrote for the tech-themed magazine for a number of years and also contributed columns to the British newspaper The Guardian. Then in 1999 he launched a website called TVGoHome, which featured mock television schedules that were surrealistic in nature. The website drew a cult following for is irreverent humor, as well as Brooker's noticeably biting wit, and by the early 2000s Brooker was hired to write for a variety of comedy shows on Channel 4 and the BBC. Brooker landed his first big break in 2006 when he was given the opportunity to write and present his very own TV series called "Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe" (BBC Four, 2006-08). On the show, Brooker offered colorful commentary on current television shows, both mainstream and obscure, with the show being successful enough to run for 27 episodes. In 2008 Brooker wrote and created the horror series "Dead Set" (E4, 2008), which chronicled a zombie apocalypse as it overtook the set of the popular British reality series "Big Brother." "Dead Set" was a critical hit, and when on to earn a BAFTA TV nomination. With his TV career steadily on the rise, Brooker premiered the anthology fantasy series "Black Mirror" on Channel 4 in 2011. The show, which examined the inescapability of new technologies in the modern world, became a smash hit across the pond, and was eventually shown on Netflix in the United States. The show was equally well-received here in America. A third season of "Black Mirror" was released on the streaming service in the fall of 2016, with Brooker either writing or co-writing all six of the new episodes.