There seems to be a bit of a Charlie Brooker backlash at the moment, as the former poacher of irreverent TV criticism turns gamekeeper of satirical TV drama. Tonight's series finale of Black Mirror, however, plays to his surprising covert strength - writing a deeply twisted romance. Jamie, the voice of an Ali G-style cartoon bear called Waldo, is put in a tricky situation when Waldo turns on his would-be new girlfriend in a Network-style meltdown. Good stuff, but Brooker is probably still funnier mocking media "players" than political expediency.

Would anybody really vote for a TV cartoon character in a by-election? As imagined in the final, chillingly plausible satire in Charlie Brooker's technocentric trilogy, the worrying answer is, quite possibly, yes.

After ill-advised tweets lead to the downfall of a regional politician, there's a void to be filled. In the absence of any candidates the voters can believe in, TV PR spin fans social media into a frenzy, catapulting Waldo - a foul-mouthed animated bear - into the political arena.

Daniel Rigby (Eric Morecambe in BBC2's excellent Eric & Ernie) stars as the disillusioned comedian whose voice and movements animate the bitter Waldo.

Could it happen? A cartoon bear mocking politicians

The finale from Charlie Brooker's Channel 4 series could spark a new line in insults.

The last of Charlie Brooker's dystopian dramas is the sharpest and lightest on its feet. It's also the most nakedly political. Daniel Rigby plays a depressed comedian, Jamie, who has found success on TV as the voice of Waldo, a foul-mouthed cartoon bear. Waldo's slot taking the mickey out of politicians on a weekly satire show is so popular that his media masters dream up a new stunt: Waldo will stand at a real by-election! (The producer figure, played by Jason Flemyng, who approves this idea is a priceless media twonk of the kind Brooker has been satirising since Nathan Barley.)

But things get complicated in the course of the by-election and the drama evolves into a story of why reviling politicians gets us nowhere. The system may be rotten but, as one character observes, "It built these roads."

Black Mirror: 'The Waldo Moment' review

It's a shame that Black Mirror had to end on such a grey note, but overall the series managed to produce some stunning observations conjured up through eerily plausible alternate realities and hopefully will have done enough to pave the way for a third series.

Black Mirror: The Waldo Moment, Channel 4, review

Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror (Channel 4) satirical dramas are fast gaining a cult status. Not all succeed, and some are unwatchable, notably the opener of his first series, where the prime minister had sex with a pig. But this follow-up series has, generally, shown more nuance than the first.

Black Mirror played like twisted Tales of the Unexpecte

It's hard to known which would have been the less traumatic of the two: watching last week's Black Mirror on Channel 4 or waking up in a house on some eerily deserted, dystopian sink estate with no knowledge of who I was, where I was or how I got there.

Another blisteringly dark satire from Charlie Brooker, this time tackling a very serious subject: rising public disenchantment with mainstream politics. In The Waldo Moment, a lonely comedian (Daniel Rigby) is propelled into the limelight when the provocative little interactive cartoon bear he voices on TV tangles with a politician (Tobias Menzies) live on air. When the incident goes viral, the entire political process begins to look dangerously absurd. It's not a bad stab at dystopian drama, although it's not quite Orwell.

Video: The Making of The Waldo Moment

A look at how The Waldo Moment episode was made.

White Bear played out like a waking nightmare

Given that my paranoia levels are pretty high at the worst of times, it wasn't surprising "White Bear" (C4), the latest in Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror adventures in psychological techno terror, had me checking the cat for secret microchips. Actually, those big green eyes look a bit like tiny cameras...