Top 20 TV Shows You'll Definitely Love If You Love Black Mirror

Another season of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror is out now. Given that four years have passed between the fifth and sixth seasons, it's unclear when we'll see (and if we'll see) the next one. While Brooker's series is by far the most raucous sci-fi anthology of the modern era, it's certainly not the only one. The format has proven itself at least as far back as the 1960s, and dystopian themes, many of which involve the promise and dangers of technology, go back even further. What to watch for fans of the "Black Mirror" and such topics in general, the publication said Lifehacker.

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Mary Shelley warned us about the dangers of artificial life as early as 1818 and suggested that the new forms of life and consciousness are only as bad as we make them out to be. Since then, this complexity has been at the heart of much of the best science fiction, and it's a genre for which television, at least sometimes, is well suited.

Sure, there are anthologies here, but these Black Mirror-style series all share the same ambivalence about modern life and technology, often with dire warnings about which path we're on. And, like Black Mirror, which has a reputation for deep cynicism that isn't always deserved, hints of sympathy can also be found in it. Good science fiction promises not that everything will work out, and not that we are completely doomed. All of these shows suggest that human interaction is more than enough to overcome our dark impulses, if only we would heed the lesson.

"Separation" (Severance, 2022–)

Having trouble finding "work-life balance"? At Severance, biotech giant Lumon Industries, there is a solution: they split your mind between life at work and life away from home. As the series progresses, work and home minds diverge to the point where they become completely different people. Inspired by office dark comedies, as well as films like Brazil and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the series combines both hazy futuristic technology with an immersion in the perils of modern American-style totalitarian capitalism, making it a serial response to "Black mirror".

• Where to look: Apple TV +

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"Ultra Q" (Ultra Q, 1966)

What is Ultra Q, you ask? Don't look for clues in the name, which is mainly due to the popularity of the word "ultra" at the time. Here, pilot and amateur writer Jun teams up with a young newspaper reporter to investigate mysterious incidents involving kaiju—giant monsters like Godzilla. In this vein, however, the show doesn't stop at stories of monsters destroying cities, but uses kaiju in a variety of contexts, including stories of haunted houses, possessed children, and time travel.

Shortly after its end, the series spawned the more memorable "Ulramen," which eschewed the proto-X-Files vibe but retained many of the same monsters.

The show's intended title, "Imbalance," conveys some sense of the show's ideological underpinnings: the episodes often deal with the idea that modern civilization has created a rift between humanity and the natural world - a disorderly state that would naturally lead to devastating kaiju.

• Where to look: Pipes, Shout Factory TV

"Room 104" (Room 104, 2017–2020)

One of the most eclectic series of the last few years, it wasn't afraid to tell a variety of stories throughout its four seasons. Room 104 brings comedy, drama, sci-fi and horror stories to life in a smart, budget-friendly setting. Aside from the setting, the episodes are so different from each other that the series doesn't necessarily have one overarching theme. The atmosphere ranges from sweet to disturbing and apocalyptic. What it shares with Black Mirror is its cynicism about modern American life and the disorienting feeling of never knowing what's going to happen next.

He shares a penchant for quality guest stars: Tony Todd, Michael Shannon, Judy Greer, Brian Tyree Henry, Mahershala Ali, Cobie Smulders, Dave Bautista, and Harvey Guillen are just a few of the names that make the list.

• Where to look: Max

"Inside Number Nine" (Inside No. 9, 2014–)

While series creators Rhys Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton usually star, each episode of Inside No. 9 is a unique beast, and only the theme "9" (usually the room number) ties the stories together.

There is a refreshing, surprising lack of desire to speak condescendingly to the viewer in the series: Shakespeare parody suggests a certain familiarity with the Bard. And the episode that cuts across the art world doesn't slow down to explain its references. It's a joyful and consistently surprising satire of both modern life and pop culture. The series is at least as impressively twisted as Black Mirror.

• Where to look: britbox

"Mrs. Davis" (Mrs. Davis, 2023 -)

The series is a little sillier and less sinister overall than Black Mirror, but the two series do have a couple of things in common. In Mrs. Davis, sassy nun Sister Simone (Betty Gilpin) becomes involved in a mission to find the Holy Grail and, in doing so, overthrow the title of artificial intelligence that rules almost everything on the show. The thing is, Mrs. Davis seems to be doing her job well...perhaps even better than we do. So, are we ready to give up peace and tranquility for the sake of free will?

The finale of the first season of the show could be considered the end of the series if there is no second season.

• Where to look: Peacock

"Beyond the Possible" (The Outer Limits, 1963–1965)

The original The Outer Limits series is often compared to The Twilight Zone (albeit with more and wilder monsters), but where The Twilight Zone excelled at morality, Beyond the Limits was more often about imperfect and complex but recognizably human characters who face (often technological) existential threats.

In the very first episode, radio station owner and part-time scientist Cliff Robertson comes into contact with an alien from the Andromeda galaxy. Each understands that their interaction will be seen as a threat by their own people, and yet they are still desperate to communicate. It's probably a little less cynical than Black Mirror, but the show still revels in putting its characters to torture.

• Where to look: The Roku Channel

"Stalking in the Night" (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, 1974–1975)

An anthology in every sense, the cult classic Night Stalker features one significant recurring character: Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin. He's a sleazy investigative reporter who manages to track down (but never get conclusive proof of) various supernatural phenomena, including ghosts, vampires and aliens. The show's supernatural focus doesn't match the technological interests of Black Mirror, but they both share (more or less) an anthology format and a strong belief that willful ignorance is one of the biggest threats we face as a species.

• Where to look: Peacock

"The Handmaid's Tale" (The Handmaid's Tale, 2017–)

The Handmaid's Tale, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, is as dystopian as it gets. When religious zealots take over the former United States after the world's demographic collapse, women capable of producing children are valued, and the "fallen" are appointed as servants enslaved for sex in the homes of the ruling elite.

• Where to look: Hulu

"Messages from Elsewhere" (Dispatches from Elsewhere, 2020)

On a slightly more whimsical side to the tech apocalypse, Dispatches From Elsewhere is based on The Jejune Institute, an interactive game that has been running in San Francisco for several years since 2008. Essentially, potential players learned about the game through leaflets on the street. She took them through a series of real-life locations and scenarios. The game was the subject of the documentary The Institute, and this series is something more literal in which Jason Segal, Sally Field, Andre Benjamin and Eva Lindley are immersed in a bizarre and potentially sinister world.

• Where to look: Prime Video, AMC +, The Roku Channel

"Maniac" (Maniac, 2018)

Maniac, starring Emma Stone and Jonois, is a miniseries about a pharmaceutical trial that promises to "fix" almost everything that's wrong with the mind. For her, this is a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder; for him - schizophrenia. The drug trial takes them through a variety of visually stunning and imaginary worlds, but the main theme deals with the dangers of carefully avoiding the real world and human connections. The series follows the same themes as "San Junipero," the best episode of Black Mirror.

• Where to look: Netflix

Alice in Borderland (2020–2022)

Black Mirror has dealt with augmented reality in several episodes, most prominently in Season 3's Game Test (the one where Wyatt Russell is locked in a not-quite-real mansion). The Japanese drama Alice in the Borderlands isn't as philosophically ambitious, but it has some of the same premises thanks to the story of a video game-obsessed Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) who gets stuck in an augmented reality game with his friends.

• Where to look: Netflix

"Red Rose" (Red Rose, 2022)

As Joan is Terrible (an episode of the sixth season of Black Mirror) reminds us, we should read the terms. In the British horror drama Rose Red (from the producers who gave the world Sex Education), a group of high school students try to relax before going to college and download the Red Rose app of the same name. It makes ever more troubling demands, with ever more dire consequences for non-compliance. It's not exactly a groundbreaking concept, but it's really creepy. For now, the show is being treated as a mini-series, although there is some talk of a potential comeback.

• Where to look: Netflix

Matryoshka Life (Russian Doll, 2019–)

While Black Mirror usually tells tech-related stories, Matryoshka Lives includes an absolutely fantastic premise: software developer Nadya Vulvokova (Natasha Lyonne) is caught in a time loop on the night of her 36th birthday, reliving her party endlessly. (and dying) until she is willing to confront her past trauma. Black Mirror's 2018 interactive episode "Bandersnatch" similarly dealt with a time loop with the potential for both disaster and self-fulfillment.

• Where to look: Netflix

"Prisoner" (The Prison, 1967-1968)

Prisoner follows Patrick McGoohan as Number Six, who finds himself taken to an idyllic coastal village after he quits his high-ranking government job. While the city is colorful and lively, designed to offer everything any of its residents could possibly need, it feels a lot like a prison for the show's protagonist, who has even been stripped of his name. The psychedelic show explores the themes of individualism and the needs of the collective, cleverly arguing the need to find a balance.

• Where to look: Pipes, The Roku Channel, Crackle, Shout Factory TV, freevee

"Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams" (Electric Dreams, 2017–2018)

If Black Mirror often draws inspiration from Philip K. Dick (the author whose work inspired Blade Runner, Minority Report, and Total Recall), Electric Dreams goes straight to the source by adapting ten of his short stories. "Safe and Safe" explores the looming convenience of the surveillance state, "Real Life" explores augmented reality as a means to deal with survivor's guilt, and several episodes explore the pros and cons of artificial intelligence and synthetic consciousness. These ideas will definitely resonate with Black Mirror fans.

• Where to look: Prime Video

"People" (Humans, 2015–2018)

Thematically, Humans deals with how we find excuses to dehumanize beings with the same thoughts and feelings as we do. In the near future, highly advanced "synthetics" have become commonplace doing jobs that ordinary people don't want to bother with. And, of course, these creatures are seen as sources of cheap labor, despite their seeming and growing humanity. This is the type of sci-fi analogy best suited for a Black Mirror fan.

• Where to look: Digital rental

"Kunk on Earth" (Cunk on Earth, 2022)

The deadpan mockumentary Kank on Earth may seem like planets other than Black Mirror's dark sci-fi, but they share writer/creator Charlie Brooker, and there's a lot of satirical overlap. Philomena Kank (Diane Morgan) travels the world interviewing (usually polite) real experts on a variety of topics. Given the state of much of today's journalism, Kank's deadpan delivery of impossibly stupid questions is both hilarious and aimed at the modern media.

• Where to look: Netflix

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SF8 (2020)

Different directors bring different styles to the eight episodes of the South Korean series SF8, with the sci-fi scenarios having as much depth as those of Black Mirror. In the first episode, "The Prayer", a robotic nurse is forced to choose between a comatose elderly person and his insolvent caregiver, raising questions not only about artificial consciousness, but also about the mechanization of elderly care. Other episodes feature a frighteningly accurate artificial intelligence fortune teller, a near future in which the rich can survive in Earth's degraded climate at the cost of the lives of the poor, and a virtual reality dating app that matches identities but shows you the face you are. are likely to find attractive. The show is often referred to as "South Korea's black mirror," which is a bit of a snub given its unique style, but the two shows are really approaching the same dystopian territory.

• Where to look: The Roku Channel

"Dimension 404" (Dimension 404, 2017)

With just six episodes, Dimension 404 is a slightly lighter take on some of Black Mirror's darkest themes and is a smart and digestible science fiction anthology narrated by Mark Hamill featuring actors like Patton Oswalt, Constance Wu and Megan Mullally.

The first episode is about online dating through an app that will match a partner according to your requirements, while other episodes are about corporate movies (in the story of a brain-sucking monster), our nostalgic obsession, and even energy drinks. The show has great design and a tendency to go crazy in the final acts.

• Where to look: Hulu

Tales from the Loop (2020)

The great-looking anthology Tales from the Loop takes place in small Mercer, Ohio, a town that sits on the Loop, a physics lab that explores mysteries that science has no answers to. Each episode offers the story of a person or family in the city who was influenced by Loop's work. The stories intersect technology and human existence. The series is based on a concept art book by artist Simon Stålenhag and successfully carries over the book's striking appearance. The show often feels very much like meditation and some of his sci-fi paintings.

• Where to look: Prime Video

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