‘Black Mirror’ New Series: Executive Producer Annabel Jones Discusses All-Female Lead Roles

‘Black Mirror’ series four has finally arrived on Netflix and while there are many things that make the new series pretty special - don’t worry, we’re not about to drop a load of spoilers - there’s one aspect that will delight many fans.

It’s easy to miss but each of the new episodes has a female protagonist, something co-creator Annabel Jones has discussed in a new interview.

The executive producer worked with Charlie Brooker on the series and has told The Hollywood Reporter that they didn’t set out to create an all-female line-up. 

“Charlie and I don’t tend to think about the stories that way. Sometimes, it just comes out,” she said. “But it’s great - great! - that they’re all strong female protagonists. I think what’s lovely about the show is that it’s not a strident statement. It’s more: Why not?

“We don’t even think about it from a gender perspective and I hope that’s progress. It’s more that we explore the best story and the best way to tell it.”

Annabel added that one episode, ‘Crocodile’, was written with a male lead, but things soon changed when Andrea Riseborough arrived to try out for a role.

She said: “Andrea read for one of the other parts and she really liked the journey of the protagonist and she challenged us and said, ‘Do you think it could be a woman?’

“Then we sort of said, ‘Oh, hold on’. We hadn’t quite thought about that. We questioned it and worked it.

“Apart from the physicality element of it - a requirement that plays out in the episode’s first few minutes - we thought, ‘How often do you see a mother reduced to this level of desperation?’

“Then we thought that was actually quite interesting, and that’s the result of Andrea’s role.”

This series of ‘Black Mirror’ is the second to be produced by Netflix and bosses will hoping to replicate the success - both in terms of critics and award wins - of the first.

‘San Junipero’, the fourth episode of the previous series, had a particularly impressive impact on fans and reviewers, scooping two Emmy Awards along the way.