All the ‘Black Mirror’ Series 6 Easter Eggs, Explained (2024)

Black Mirror is back: five grotesque stories linked by technology (and in this outing, the media too) being abused by humans behaving terribly. With this series pulling in some of the biggest names of perhaps all the series so far - Salma Hayek! Aaron Paul! Josh Hartnett! Kate Mara! - the five episodes arguably become darker, gory and more violent than ever.

On the first watch, you’ll be taken in by the plot, but as is customary for showrunner Charlie Brooker, a second viewing will reveal many easter eggs for true fans: references to other episodes and seasons, nods to the sci-fi heritage and extra layers of nerd-level info. Here’s everything we’ve managed to spot so far, let us know if there’s any more we’ve missed…

Episode One: Joan Is Awful

Streamberry, the streaming platform that Joan Is Awful is played on, is obviously a stand in for Netflix – they’ve even used the same audio logo (the “tudum”) and font.

On Streamberry, we can see the couple flicking through shows that include Sea of Tranquility. Sea of Tranquility is arguably Black Mirror’s biggest easter egg and show that’s repeatedly referred to in four episodes of prior series; “The National Anthem” (the PM live-shagging a pig) in which it’s described as “an HBO Moon Western thing”; “Nosedive” (the human Uber-rating ep) where some characters talk about attending “Tranquillity-con”, “Smithereens” (Andrew Scott gets angry about social media) where #SeaOfTranquiltyReboot is trending on Twitter and in Rachel, “Jack and Ashley Too” (Miley Cyrus as a hologram pop star) a TV news reporter tells us that Sea Of Tranquility is in fact getting a reboot. In Joan is Awful, when her fiance suggests they watch it, Joan replies “Eh, Eric says it blows.” Is the entirety of Black Mirror leading up to a final ever episode called Sea Of Tranquility”?

For your Streamberry perusal, there’s also shows called Junipero Dreams (a hark back to the much-loved “San Junipero” episode), Finding Ritman (with Will Poulter as mad programmer Colin Ritman from 2019’s interactive Bandersnatch episode) a show about Ashley (from Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too) and keep an eye on The Callow Years too, as that will come up in a later episode.

There’s also the fictional documentary advertised called Loch Henry, which brings us neatly on to…

Episode Two: Loch Henry

The true-crime doc is actually advertised on Streamberry in Joan Is Awful, as we find out it later gets made. But when Pia and Davis go to pitch the idea to Historik Productions company, there’s a poster on the wall advertising The Callow Years, billed as “a six-part documentary event”. Callow - Michael Callow - is the name of the Rory Kinnear-fronted Prime Minister in “The National Anthem”, and a doc we’d be all over if Streamberry/Netflix released it.

When the Loch Henry doc finally gets made, it’s shortlisted for a Bafta. Joining it on the list is Euthanasia: Inside Project Junipero, another call back to San Junipero, when the souls of elderly humans are downloaded into a digital life instead.

Episode Three: Beyond The Sea

David Ross (Josh Hartnett) has a badge on his astronaut suit titled Arkangel, which is from a 2017 Black Mirror episode of the same name with Jodie Foster, where Arkangel is a technological implant that enables people to track people and see from their POV what’s happening, to very dark ends.

The book that Lana (Kate Mara) reads is called The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein, which Brooker, as a sci-fi aficionado, will have placed in there as Heinlein has been called “the greatest science fiction writer of the modern age”. Lana’s name is also a play on Luna, the name for the human colony planted on the moon, who fight back against the Earth in the book.

Episode Four: Mazey Day

Oh look what’s popped up again: Sea Of Tranquility! In this outing, we’re told on a TV news report that the star of the show, Justin Camley, dies by suicide after Bo (Zazie Beetz) the paparazzo snaps pictures of him with his gay lover.

The starlet Sydney Alberti is obviously inspired by Paris Hilton, who also had a tape of her having sex made public without her knowledge.

Episode Five: Demon 79

Nida Huq (Anjana Vasan) - Huq is the surname of Brooker’s wife Konnie, the former Blue Peter presenter who also co-wrote the Black Mirror episode “Fifteen Million Merits”.

Nida reads the book Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Life by Shakti Gawain - did she manifest the demon and make herself a killer as she was unhappy with her life?

When Nida finds newspaper cuttings of suspicious deaths in the basem*nt, they’re all set in the town of Tipley - which is mentioned in the Bafta shortlist of Loch Henry, when one of the other nominations is for Suffer The Children: The Tipley Paedophile Ring. Tipley sounds like the bleakest place in the country - thank god it’s fictional.

And finally, one of Paapa Essiedu’s funniest scenes as a Boney M-dressed demon is when he phone calls hell to complain about the talisman and reveals he’s the Gaap of Misophaes. According to 10th Century AD Eastern Byzantine Religion, Misophaes were a class of demons only found in the lowest portion of hell, and Gaap, a demon who is described in some historic works as “a prince in human form who incites love”. Given the ending of the episode - in which Nida and Gaap hold hands - it sounds like that ancient reference could be bang on.