Black Mirror’s Charlie Brooker: I feel like an impostor ... who doesn’t?

Brooker said he would be a “f****** psychopath to not have impostor syndrome”
Nerve wracking: Charlie Brooker at the RTS Programme Awards
Tristan Fewings/Getty
Emma Powell23 March 2018
The Weekender

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Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker says he still has “impostor syndrome” — even after four series, two Emmys and a Bafta.

But Brooker, the acerbic comic behind the critically acclaimed science fiction anthology series, believes his fear of being “found out” powers his writing.

He told the Standard: “Who isn’t worried? You’ve basically got to be a f****** psychopath to not have impostor syndrome so of course I think, ‘I’m going to get found out next time and everyone will think it’s s***’. That’s what keeps you going.”

The show, which moved from Channel 4 to Netflix for its third series, has featured Domhnall Gleeson, Hayley Atwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jon Hamm and Daniel Kaluuya. Plotlines have included artificial intelligence to bring back the deceased, a cartoon bear running in a parliamentary by-election, and the British prime minister being forced to have sex with a pig.

Black Mirror series four trailer

Brooker confirmed filming has begun on series five, but remained tight-lipped about details. Asked what fans can expect he said: “More weird stuff. We’re doing it at the moment so it’s more of the same, but different.”

This week he and fellow executive producer Annabel Jones received the Judges’ Award at the Royal Television Society. Brooker, 47, was ambivalent about the honour, joking: “I’m more about raw basic survival on a day to day basis so really the things that happen [at these events] mean nothing to me.”

He added: “No, it’s nice to get awards. It is a bit weird the notion that things are in competition and that one creative thing is better than another creative thing. I’d be a real p**** to be complaining about it. What sort of f****** monster moans about that? It’s good, of course it is, but it’s meaningless.”

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