Record this, if you dare

I recorded the last episode of series one of Black Mirror on MySky.

That allowed me to watch The Entire History of You later at my leisure, pause the show when I needed to get something to eat, watch bits in slow motion or delete it if it got tiresome.

The technology is useful, but the last episode of series one of Black Mirror showed just how calamitous it could be if the technology was taken a lot further. And it could be quite calamitous.

Black Mirror is a three-episode British television drama series running on Soho on a Wednesday night.

While the last episode played last Wednesday, and I watched it on Sunday, the good news is series two begins tomorrow night.

Black Mirror has been well described as a cross between Tales of the Unexpected and The Twilight Zone.

But the series that plays cleverly on modern unease with Twitter and other social technology has a darker, more personal and emotional twist than both those shows.

And the black mirror in the title is that ubiquitous black screen that lights up every time we turn on our television, phone or tablet.

In The Entire History of You, most people have a ''grain'' implanted behind their ear which records everything they see or hear. Their memories can then be played back either in their eyes or on a screen, a process known as a ''re-do''.

Liam Foxwell (Toby Kebbell) is a young lawyer who comes home from a work appraisal he is concerned about.

He replays his memory of the meeting in the taxi home, repeating and repeating certain phrases used by his appraisers as he tries to ascertain how well - or poorly - he has done.

But it is when he gets home and finds his wife's body language with a house guest disturbing him that things go awry.

And in the world of The Entire History of You, each nuance of behaviour and conversation can be endlessly replayed and obsessed over.

But that's not all.

Every sexual experience is also recorded for viewing and reviewing.

And that's not all, either.

A horrendous fight with a rival during a drunken black-out can be instantly replayed the next morning in all its embarrassing and shocking detail.

All these factors come together for Liam when the truth about his wife's relationship with another man slowly becomes clear as the show lurches to its violent and bloody conclusion.

I hope you recorded it - otherwise you missed one of the better television experiences of the year.

Luckily, series two starts tomorrow with what looks like more television gold - the technological resurrection of a social media addict.

Don't forget to record it.

- Charles Loughrey

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