Black Mirror creator isn't as worried about the coronavirus pandemic, rails against shows with one-word titles

The Guardian

Charlie Brooker, whose Charlie Brooker’s Antiviral Wipe airs tonight on BBC2, tells The Guardian he's less anxious about the coronavirus crisis because "it's hypnotically clear what the challenge is. It’s not like I’m relaxed, but I don’t have that sense of creeping dread of the unknown. That means I’m slightly acclimatised. I’m not going through a giant psychological shock that this has happened because, in a way, I sort of thought it might. I don’t think that in a smart-arsey way, but I had felt worried, for years, because having watched lots of nuclear war stuff as a kid, I assumed that was going to happen to me. I assumed I was going to be stumbling through rubble eating rats, so this happening just confirms my expectations in many ways. It means once it’s happened and it’s occurring, I’m not having to deal so much – obviously, like anyone I’ve got my abyss-staring moments – but I’m not having to deal so much with a huge adjustment, in a way. Hopefully that doesn’t sound like bragging. It’s certainly nothing to brag about.” While in quarantine, Brooker has been binging on Quiz, Tiger King, Unorthodox and Masterchef. “I just don’t think things should have a one-word title," he adds. "I mean, I guess you could get away with Quiz, but a show called See – why am I gonna watch that? Make an effort. If you can’t be bothered to put two words in your title, why should I be bothered to tune in?"