(Updated after Season 6).

A series of independent stories, all centred around technology. Is it a help or a hindrance?

Brilliant series, created and written by English comedian and social commentator Charlie Brooker. Highly original in its concept - examining possible technological advances, and seeing how these could be used, or abused, and how they can help us, or be the bane of our existence. Set at an everyday person level (mostly), so is highly engaging.

Plots are very intriguing and entertaining, drawing you in and keeping you locked in until the end. Often part of the intrigue is figuring out the innovation depicted in the episode and how it works.

In many of the earlier episodes, Brooker was happy to just make the revelation of the innovation the punchline, and then just let the episode run its course from there. These were not bad episodes - the are no bad episodes (the worst score I gave to an individual episode was 7/10) - but did leave me a bit disappointed. I kept thinking this series was going to be like Alfred Hitchcock in the 21st (or 22nd) century and the lack of a great twist towards the end or powerful conclusion made me wonder what all the fuss was about.

However, with time Brooker's writing got better - grittier, more daring, more profound. He found his formula and pushed the envelope in terms of his creativity. While S2 E2 - White Bear - was the first episode I gave a 10/10 to, it was really only from Season 3 (starting with the brilliant Christmas special between S2 and S3 - White Christmas) where the series consistently delivered a punchiness to its endings. S3 E1 - Nosedive - was one of the scariest and depressing imaginings of future social interaction I've ever seen...and it was 100% plausible.

Things then went from strength to strength. The pinnacle, for me, was S3 E6 - Hated In The Nation. A murder mystery combined with highly plausible technology, engaging, well-developed characters (well portrayed too) and a big swipe at social media and the types of people who inhabit it. You're forced to think about your own moral view on issues, while not being lectured as to what is the "correct" choice. Brilliant episode.

Many aspects of the series give a damning, and quite relevant, view on society, and possibly where it is heading. It's not all doom and gloom though - there are some episodes that are quite upbeat, even romantic (San Junipero, Hang the DJ) and in S4 E1 - USS Callister - Brooker makes use of his considerable comedic talent to deliver an episode that is wonderfully funny yet grippingly thrilling and action-filled.

Season 5 is a bit of a disappointment though. The plots are much more mainstream and less cerebral. There's flashes of the old Black Mirror but Brooker never really rams the point home or provides something profound. Very entertaining and still highly plausible but not of the same quality as the previous seasons.

Season 6 was a surprise in that followed more than four years after Season 5 and most people, including myself, thought the show had finished. It follows largely in the same vein as Season 5. Episode 1 was more like the old Black Mirror but three of the five episodes are more horror-thriller orientated than the clever sci fi stuff of Black Mirror in its prime. All the episodes are still entertaining but, for the most part, the clever futurism of the earlier seasons has gone.

Season ratings: S1-4 9.5/10, S5 8/10, S6 7/10.