This Netflix dark drama with 84% Rotten Tomatoes score is a must-watch show

With a stellar cast including Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul, this is a must-add to your watch list

Aaron Paul in Black Mirror
(Image credit: Netflix)

I do love a good dystopia, and I'm currently hooked on Apple TV's Silo – one of the best streaming shows to watch right now. But when it comes to dystopian dramas, you really can't beat Netflix's Black Mirror: its San Junipero episode in season 3 is an absolute masterpiece, and Bandersnatch did fun things with the medium. Charlie Brooker's bleak vision has already given us 5 seasons of deeply dystopian and unique TV. So I'm really excited about Season 6.

The new season of Black Mirror will start streaming on 15 June 2023, and features a stellar cast including Aaron Paul (pictured), Rob Delaney, Salma Hayek, Michael Cera, John Hannah, Kate Mara and many more. And while Netflix isn't saying much about the episodes, the short synopses sound like must-see TV. 

How many episodes of Black Mirror Season 6 are there?

There are five episodes in all. The first, Joan Is Awful, is about an ordinary woman who discovers that a massive global streaming platform is making a TV drama about her life, and she's being played by Salma Hayek. That's followed by Loch Henry, in which a sleepy Scottish town reveals a shocking history, and Beyond The Sea, which is set in an "alternative 1969" and features Aaron Paul trying to deal with an unimaginable tragedy.

The penultimate episode, Mazy Day, focuses on a troubled starlet trying to escape paparazzi after a hit-and-run, and the closing Demon 79 is the tale of a meek and mild sales assistant who must commit terrible acts in order to prevent disaster.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for Black Mirror tell a story of their own, with the first season getting a mighty 98% but the ratings dropping over time, with the most recent season getting just 67% to bring the average rating down to 84%. It's still one of the most interesting and unusual shows on any of the best streaming services, though, and even an average Black Mirror is usually more fun than many other shows. There's more heart in San Junipero than many shows manage in a lifetime, so I'm always willing to give Black Mirror the benefit of the doubt.

Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series. When she’s not scribbling, she’s the singer in Glaswegian rock band HAVR (havrmusic.com).