Charlie Brooker, the writer of E4's Dead Set, returns with a suspenseful, satirical three-part mini-series that taps into collective unease about our modern world.

A cross between The Twilight Zone and Tales Of The Unexpected, Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror looks at the consequences of the rapid advancement of technology on society. Each of the three episodes is a completely self-contained story, but there is an over-arching theme.

1) The National Anthem: The least sci-fi, in that it's set very much in the present day. Inspired by news events that get whipped up in the social networks and Twitter, and everything feels like it's rattling slightly out of control...

2) Fifteen Million Merits (co-written with Konnie Huq): Set in a dystopian, sarcastic version of the future, in which everyone is compelled to live a life of physical drudgery, and the only real means of escape is by entering a kind of talent show, of a type which may seem familiar to many viewers.

3) The Entire History Of You (written by Jesse Armstrong): You know when you have an argument, and everyone's fantasised about being able to rewind and go, 'Here's what you said earlier,' or 'Look how you embarrassed me' or what have you? Well, this is set in a world where everybody has got the ability to do that--you've got the equivalent of Sky+ for your head, so that you can rewind and replay your visual feed.

First released: Monday 27th February 2012