We'd argue there's never been a bad Black Mirror episode. With anthologies, it's far easier to see past a not-so-great installment, when the following chapter knocks your socks off. But when it comes to the best Black Mirror episodes, well, everyone has their own opinions.
Some revel in the darker episodes, while others prefer their morality tales on the lighter side. With the arrival of season 6 on Netflix, we look back on every episode so far, and attempt to rank them. As a team, we've narrowed down a definitive hierarchy. First though, two disclaimers: this list contains spoilers for every episode of Black Mirror so far (obviously), and – despite its acclaim – we won't be including Bandersnatch in the rankings, as it’s technically a standalone movie, and not an episode in a series. (Perhaps in another branching path, we'd have made a different choice).
Let the debating begin...
27. Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too
The episode: Season 5, Episode 3
The one where: Miley Cyrus becomes an AI doll
Black Mirror season 5 was the least loved of all the show's seasons so far, and we'd venture that its least popular episode was 'Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too'. We had high hopes for a M3GAN-style thriller as Miley Cyrus's pop singer Ashley O gets an AI toy based on her called Ashley Too. And there were plenty of fun moments in there including a great performance from Cyrus, but the episode didn't quite become the classic we'd hoped. A lot of this was down to the intertwined storylines of a young girl being gifted an early version of the AI and the real singer's troubled life, which didn't quite mesh satisfyingly. Oh well, at least it gave us the song 'On a Roll', which is undoubtedly a banger. Fay Watson
26. The Waldo Moment
The episode: Season 2, episode 3
The one where: A cartoon character runs for parliament and wins
As far as subliminal messaging goes, The Waldo Moment's subtext is about as subtle as Brian Blessed shouting it from the rooftops in squeaky clown shoes. We get it; modern politics is a joke, and democracy is its court jester... What else is new? Black Mirror has always been better as a sharp-edged thought experiment than a straight played comedy, so this episode's whole-hearted pivot to the latter genre instantly makes it one of the less memorable and least impressive of the bunch. What's more, this being early Black Mirror, the CG makeup of Waldo himself looks pretty tacky too, which doesn't help. We get that the masses might protest vote for a cartoon character, but surely not one that looks like a knock off mascot that pops up every time you get a spare at the bowling alley? Alex Avard
25. Loch Henry
The episode: Season 6, episode 2
The one where: A Scottish documentary filmmaker takes his girlfriend home for the weekend, and winds up uncovering some horrific truths about his parents
Loch Henry is up there with the bleakest Black Mirror episodes. We're talking 'Shut Up and Dance' or 'Crocodile'-level depths of despair. It follows wannabe documentarian Davis (Samuel Blenkin), as he takes his fellow film-loving girlfriend Pia (Bodies Bodies Bodies' Myha'la Herrold) back home to Scotland to meet his mother and, well, make a movie. While there, the pair uncover the Davis's parents were once involved with a string of disappearances and murders that plagued their sleepy town, and rendered it unvisitable by tourists.
What's worse, is the couple used to make snuff videos, too, which adds a whole dark dimension to Davis's desire to be behind a camera – as the episode examines how creators mine deep, personal hurts for the sake of their art. While it's a reasonable 56 minutes, Loch Henry’s super slow-burn pacing will prove somewhat of an endurance test for those after more thrills, but it's worth sticking around for the pay-off, and the tie-in with an earlier episode in its last few minutes. Amy West
24. Striking Vipers
The episode: Season 5, Episode 1
The one where: Two friends start having an affair in a virtual reality video game
There's a lot to love about season 5's 'Striking Vipers', an episode that hinges around two friends, Danny and Karl, who start playing a fighting game called Striking Vipers that they used to love as teenagers and is now available in virtual reality. After a round of fighting one night, their avatars end up having sex in the game, crossing a line in their friendship that they try to reckon with. Things grow increasingly complicated when Danny's wife Theo begins to wonder what's going on between them. Great performances all around from Anthony Mackie, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Nicole Beharie mean it's a must-watch, but for us, where the episode fell down was in its failure to really dig into questions it raises about sexuality and technology's role in exploring it. Fay Watson
23. Arkangel
The episode: Season 4, episode 2
The one where: Mum puts creepy stalker tech in her daughter's head
Sometimes Black Mirror feels like a startlingly clear warning from the future, other times it feels like somebody repeating "what if technology but too much" in an increasingly loud stage whisper. Arkangel settles comfortably in the latter camp because none of its weird technology is even necessary for the episode's premise. Parents already spy on their kids while feeling conflicted about it, and they already isolate them from their peers (for better or worse) by limiting their exposure to certain parts of culture. The only true terrifying part of this episode is the idea of a brain implant being deprecated after a few years like a body-horror Google product. Connor Sheridan
22. Smithereens
The episode: Season 5, Episode 2
The one where: Andrew Scott kidnaps an intern of a social media company
While Black Mirror season 5 may not be the most memorable season of the show, 'Smithereens' was its most poignant episode. Much of this is to do with Andrew Scott’s fantastic performance as Chris, a rideshare driver with a vendetta against social media company Smithereen. In an attempt to get information to expose the damage the platform causes to people's lives from company CEO Billy Bauer (Topher Grace), he decides to kidnap one of their interns at gunpoint.
As the episode unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that Chris has faced a lot of trauma that he's linked with Smithereen in one of the most heartbreaking stories in the show's run. It’s definitely one of the more stripped-back episodes of the show, mostly taking place inside a car, but it’s all the better for it, leaning into its claustrophobia. The only way it falls down for us is that the criticism of social media ends up feeling slightly hollow, especially given the twist in Chris' story. Fay Watson
21. Hated in the Nation
The episode: Season 3, episode 6
The one where: Robot bees massacre a lot of people
Hated in the Nation sees Kelly Macdonald's DCI Parke on the hunt for a hacker who’s conducting a public hashtag vote to see who should be killed next. It sounds like it’s a cookie-cutter Black Mirror premise – and that’s because it is.
What begins as an engaging episode suddenly turns into a run-of-the-mill sci-fi fare with robot bees that feel like they'd be more at home buzzing around in an average Doctor Who episode. While scary and disconcerting in places - and far more prescient in today's cancel culture-obsessed social media age - the 89-minute runtime begins to stretch credulity - and our patience. Bradley Russell
20. Demon 79
The episode: Season 6, episode 5
The one where: A meek-mannered woman gets drafted in to do the devil’s dirty work
Starring Anjana Vasan and Paapa Essiedu, 'Demon 79' centers on Nida, a young shoe shop clerk whose quiet life gets turned upside down when she accidentally frees a demon trapped inside an ancient talisman, and is instructed to kill three people by midnight or else the world will end. When Gaap, the demon, first sets her the task, Nida daydreams about hurting Vicky, her rude and racist co-worker who plans on voting for the anti-immigration movement National Front, or the local creep who's believed to have strangled his wife to death. You see, while the episode leans heavily into fantasy, distancing itself from Black Mirror's obsession with tech and branding itself a 'Red Mirror' production instead, it tackles real-world themes just the same.
Vasan strikes the perfect balance of comedy and pathos with Nida, as she grows into her power, while Essiedu plays Gaap with a deliciously camp flair, aided, of course, by one of the most fabulously flamboyantly costumes Black Mirror has seen. Some might not enjoy the lack of gadgets or gizmos, mind. Amy West
19. USS Callister
The episode: Season 4, episode 1
The one where: Geek builds his own Enterprise and populates it with people he knows IRL
From 'Playtest' to 'Bandersnatch', Black Mirror has always demonstrated an affinity for video games. Charlie Brooker was once a games journalist himself, after all, and his love-hate relationship with the medium remains as zealous as ever. Nowhere is that more evident than in 'USS Callister', in which Brooker exemplifies both the soaring heights and damaging depravities of the digital medium, where a social outcast can fetishize his own tyrannical fantasies just by logging online. For all its subtext, 'USS Callister' is also hugely entertaining as a straight send-up of Star Trek, with some of the funniest moments seen in Black Mirror to date. And, in a rare moment for the show, we get an ending that’s for once more hopeful than po-faced, and one which is completely earned thanks to the episode's terrific cast, smart structure, and perceptive themes. Alex Avard
18. Mazey Day
The episode: Season 6, episode 4
The one where: Paparazzi get more than they bargained for in the hunt for a high-stakes pic
Marking Black Mirror's first foray in the world of supernatural horror, 'Mazey Day' takes place in the early 2000s and follows Beetz' down-on-her-luck Bo. After learning that the closeted actor she'd outed with her previous batch of photos has ended his own life, Bo – being pushed to catch up on late rent by her finicky roommate – embarks on a mission to get a $30,000 picture of Mazey Day (Clara Rugaard), a young actress who has mysteriously stopped showing up to the set of her latest production.
It's bloody, surprising, and gives interesting new meaning to the phrases "hounded" and "dogged". It's a little on the lean side – at just 40 minutes, it doesn't really enough time to delve into why Bo, a seemingly moral person, is a scandal-hungry photographer – but it's fun and over-the-top. We'll take it. Amy West
17. White Christmas
The episode: Christmas special
The one where: Jon Hamm uses "eye-link" technology for bad things and "blocking" someone takes on a whole new meaning
My sweet mother has never forgiven me for making her watch this one family Christmas. It's actually three stories in one, stories set in a world where we have little digital clones to run our lives, special implants to let us see through other people's eyes, and social media blocking to ghost anyone we want IRL. It's one of the darkest episodes ever made, and could well be subtitled "toxic masculinity ruins the party again." The clever use of I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday and the interweaving narratives play on all your festive feelings, making the ending even more depressing than your 17th pair of novelty socks from under the tree. Rachel Weber
16. Be Right Back
The episode: Season 2, episode 1
The one where: Domhnall Gleeson dies and comes back as an AI clone
Before they made a name for themselves in the US through Star Wars and Marvel respectively, Domhnall Gleeson and Hayley Atwell's natural chemistry allowed Black Mirror's season 2 premiere to flourish as a bittersweet tale of love, loss, and robots. Sadly, it's central questions about the line between artificial intelligence and human consciousness is a topic that's seen more than its fair share of coverage in the sci-fi genre, making 'Be Right Back' a more prosaic and platitudinal affair compared to subsequent episodes in the season. Gleeson and Atwell are both terrific, though, and if there's any reason to watch this episode, it’s them. Alex Avard
15. The Entire History of You
The episode: Season 1, episode 3
The one where: A surveillance biochip records everyone's memories
Yes, yes, I know, this is the episode that everyone points to when talking about Black Mirror, so why is it at number 15?! To be honest, as time has passed, and a whole load of better, more interesting Black Mirror episodes have been released, hindsight has naturally slid 'The Entire History of You' down towards the bottom of the rankings. Don't get me wrong, this is about as personal and dramatic as Black Mirror gets, using its technology not to ruminate on socio-political subject matter, but to accentuate the pathos of a failing marriage when it finally reaches its breakpoint. In most scenarios like this, a couple fights, spends some time apart, then makes up. Black Mirror, on the other hand, explores what happens when surveillance technology gets thrown into the mix. Bonus points awarded for future Time Lord Jodie Whittaker on reliably award-winning form as Toby Kebbell's beleaguered spouse. Alex Avard
14. White Bear
The episode: Season 2, episode 2
The one where: A criminal who filmed her boyfriend killing a little girl wakes up with no memory and is chased by psychos while onlookers films from the sidelines
'White Bear' has made such a primordial impact on Black Mirror's audience, that its iconic logo has appeared in multiple episodes of the show since, reminding us that – not only is the Black Mirrorverse real – this horrifying parody of a Derren Brown-style reality TV show is apparently in it, and still going strong. White Bear's apocalyptic trial by fire is harrowing from start to finish, but it's last minute stinger is where the episode really comes into its own, not least because Brooker turns his ire squarely towards the audience. Technology isn't the real monster of this story, we are, and that devastating twist is exactly why 'White Bear' still holds up as a jet black piece of social satire today. Alex Avard
13. Metalhead
The episode: Season 4, episode 5
The one where: Robot dogs hunt people down in a post-apocalyptic Earth
Black Mirror is known for rocking the boat when it comes to audience expectations, but Metalhead completely alters everything the show has done before. It's the shortest Black Mirror episode yet, but you'll find some of the best cinematography in the entire series here, as Bella (Maxine Peake) flees from robot dogs intent on hunting her down. The message conveyed in Metalhead - all of which is draped in a monochromatic filter - is debatable, but the entire episode is a knuckle-biting, horror-infused thrill-ride from start to finish, making the episode an immediate must watch for any Black Mirror enthusiast. Ford James
12. Men Against Fire
The episode: Season 3, episode 5
The one where: Soldiers are manipulated into thinking the people they are killing are "roaches"
As a parable for the tragic triumph of nationalism over humanism, 'Men Against Fire' is depressingly timeless. Nations already manufacture a fear of 'the other' to achieve military and political goals, but what happens when technology allows the state to weaponize its civilians more effectively (and devastatingly) than ever before? Charlie Brooker’s answer is about as sunny and hopeful as you might expect, and by that, of course, I mean it’s not sunny and hopeful at all. All in all, this is a war story with a twist that you probably saw coming from the very beginning, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful as an indictment against the kind of state-sanctioned neoconservative bigotry that still ripples across modern politics today. Alex Avard
11. Playtest
The episode: Season 3, episode 2
The one where: A traveller tests a new video game which probes his mind for his darkest fears
Playtest starts so innocuously that you'd be forgiven for thinking it isn't a Black Mirror episode. An American backpacker arrives in London and meets a British girl via a dating app. There are some laughs, nothing sci-fi or out of the ordinary, but it's all there to lull you into a false sense of security. After a series of events, backpacker Cooper goes for a well-paying job as a playtester at a well-known games company. But rather than a new AAA game, it's a revolutionary new VR technology where a small device is inserted into Coop's neck, producing VR experiences that are more akin to powerful hallucinations than a gaming experience. As you can imagine, it's all downhill from there.
From a cutesy game of whack-a-mole, things move into survival horror territory as Cooper is dropped into a mansion to see how long he can endure the terrors the company unleash on him. Cue a succession of horror so visceral that at times you want to watch through parted fingers. It's the most intense episode of Black Mirror still to be aired, and that's why it's so high up in our ranking of the best Black Mirror episodes of all time. Sam Loveridge
10. Fifteen Million Merits
The episode: Season 1, episode 2
The one where: The X Factor is capitalism and porn is unavoidable
'Fifteen Million Merits' is Black Mirror at its most cynical. It posits a world where people are consummately commoditized: their working hours are spent pumping away at stationary bikes to earn Merits while their resting hours are spent watching their fellow citizens in reality television. Any possibility of change is eroded when the main character's budding romance is cut short by his sweet, pure girlfriend jumping straight from future X Factor to hardcore porn (and he's even forced to watch ads for her new career). Then he gets his own spotlight by threatening to slit his throat on public television, turning that act of rebellion into a new regular broadcast. Black Mirror's almost always dark, but the brief flash of optimism being snuffed out by suffocating cynicism can make 'Fifteen Million Merits' a tough re-watch. Connor Sheridan
9. Crocodile
The episode: Season 4, episode 3
The one where: In a world with memory reading tech, a woman kills again and again to try and protect an accidental murder she was a part of long ago
Sometimes it's about the episode's story with Black Mirror, at other times it's about the actors within it. With 'Crocodile', it's both. Andrea Riseborough plays Mia Nolan, a woman whose old friend brings up a past event that causes her to descend into a maddening crime spree. Her transformation is a character arc that sounds mad on paper, but Riseborough plays it out perfectly, and in a way that will have you screaming at the TV by the end of the episode. The ability to replay people's memories adds an extra dimension to the madness, juxtaposing the wide-angled shots and open spaces of the Icelandic setting with the idea of the severest surveillance state ever. God forbid we ever live in a world where we're all walking recording devices - and not just using the tech we keep in our pocket. Sam Loveridge
8. Hang the DJ
The episode: Season 4, episode 4
The one where: Tinder uses copies of people in multiple different scenarios to work out how to match people
Imagine being so desperate for love, you voluntarily move to a place that's focused on finding you 'The One'. A place where you can seemingly only go on dates with people the System matches you with, and exercise. Each potential love interest is armed with a device called Coach that's solely dedicated to your romantic happiness, but behaves like a Google Home speaker with a screen and an obsession with your sex life. That might all sound like hell or some kind of cult, but 'Hang the DJ' is actually a rare Black mirror episode with a love story and a happy ending.
Our protagonists Amy and Frank are basically a dream couple; that's clear from their first 12 hours together, and it's the kind of attraction you can believe in. It's natural, clumsy, and very un-Hollywood. After a brief interlude they're forced to spend specific periods of time with other lovers, which make for hilarious capers, including a lady Frank is stuck with for 12 months, who likens their romantic escapades to "trying to shove a drawer back into a filing cabinet". Nice. The twist at the end may not pay off for some, but in a world of online dating nightmares - and sometimes dreams - 'Hang the DJ' outs a different spin on an alternative future that carves a different groove from the usual Black Mirror fare. Sam Loveridge
7. Joan is Awful
The episode: Season 6, episode 1
The one where: Alexis from Schitt’s Creek finds out her life is being made into a streaming show – and that Salma Hayek is playing her
'Joan is Awful' is Black Mirror at its most meta and, undeniably, its most hilarious too. It follows Joan (Annie Murphy, turning in a wonderfully goofy performance) as she learns why you should always read the small print the hard way. In short, she discovers that her life is being turned into a comedy-drama, available for everyone in her life to watch on popular platform, Streamberry – and the fallout is not pretty. Her boyfriend learns she's still hung up on her ex, her work sees "her" breach company policy during a private meeting, and that's just the start… so Joan teams up with the actor who plays her, Salma Hayek, to stop the show. But it's going to take more than a strongly-worded cease and desist letter…
Of all season 6 episodes, 'Joan is Awful' is arguably the most traditional, in the sense that it pokes fun at streaming services' domination over the industry. You know, tech stuff. Without getting into spoilers, it also tackles subjects like content rights, algorithms determining creative choices, and deep fakes, which are all super timely themes, too. It's not hard to imagine a reality where the events of Joan is Awful could take place, which ensures that through all its humor, it still retains that ominous Black Mirror bite. Amy West
6. Black Museum
The episode: Season 4, episode 6
The one where: Shuri goes to a museum to kill the owner who's been torturing her Dad and listens to three creepy stories, which confirm a Black Mirror shared universe
'Black Museum' is one of the best Black Mirror episodes simply because it's the first to confirm a shared Black Mirror universe that none of us want to live in - but it's also a really good ep in its own right, too. Starring Letitia Wright before her Black Panther fame, Nish has some time to kill while she's waiting for her solar-powered car to charge, so decides to check out the rundown museum nearby. Inside she discovers a rather disturbing world as museum owner Rolo Haynes, played by Douglas Hodge, takes her on a tour of three incredibly creepy stories worthy of a Black Mirror episode. Not only did this chapter confirm a shared universe many fans had suspected for a while, but it's basically three terrifying Black Mirror episodes in one, making it one of the show's bests. Lauren O'Callaghan
5. Beyond the Sea
The episode: Season 6, episode 3
The one where: Kate Mara, Josh Hartnett, and Aaron Paul kind of get involved in the most complicated polyamorous relationship ever
Inspired by the COVID pandemic, and our time spent in numerous lockdowns, Charlie Brooker explores the damaging effects of isolation and toxic masculinity in 'Beyond the Sea', arguably the show's most gut-punching episode yet.
At 80-minutes, it's a slow-burn somber affair as it follows Cliff (Aaron Paul, exquisite) and David (Josh Hartnett), two astronauts who split their consciousnesses between Earth and the space station they're keeping operational. While the pair's real bodies stay among the stars, the twosome regularly rig themselves up to devices that send their minds to their droid doubles elsewhere; tender family man David to his wife and two children in LA, and dismissive, closed-off Cliff to his equivalent in the secluded countryside. But the colleagues' relationship becomes dark and twisted when David's family are viciously murdered, and Cliff offers his workmate his own "link" to escape the confines of their unusual office.
Anchored by Hartnett, Paul, and Kate Mara's measured performances, it feels more human than some other recent Black Mirror episodes, and leaves you asking more questions about how we relate to one another than we do our fancy devices. Amy West
4. Nosedive
The episode: Season 3, episode 1
The one where: Bryce Dallas Howards goes mad trying to get upvotes
Do you use social media? Yes? Then you need to watch this. Yeah, it might end with a rather fraught Bryce Dallas Howard, but the whole thing starts off being terrifyingly believable. In its world the place you live, your job, and your worth as a person is determined by how popular you are on social media, and Howard's character Lacie falls down a very slippery slope in an attempt to heighten her rating. This will make you look at your own Twitter or Instagram, whichever is your drug of choice, in a brand new way. Do you appease those that follow you in an effort to get a bigger response, or truly act like yourself? Prepare for some uncomfortable realizations - but trust me, it's all worth it for that cathartic, glorious ending. Zoe Delahunty-Light
3. Shut up and Dance
The episode: Season 3, episode 3
The one where: Pedophiles get blackmailed into fighting to the death by the internet
Black Mirror often tends to portray things in the future that could be realistic but will likely take decades to actually happen, if not centuries. 'Shut Up and Dance' is one of the only episodes without any sci-fi element whatsoever, depicting something that could feasibly happen today. It features Alex Lawther as a seemingly average teenager, whose laptop is infected with malware which gives hackers control of his laptop. It doesn't sound too intriguing, but trust me; by the end of Shut Up and Dance, your jaw will be dropped and it will give you a lot to digest. It's as nasty and cynical and devious as Black Mirror gets, and the fact that it's divided so many fans since first airing is exactly what makes it one of the best. Ford James
2. The National Anthem
The episode: Season 1, episode 1
The one where: The Prime Minister fucks a pig to save a Princess
How can I say this? The very first episode of Black Mirror is so harrowing, so disgusting, and so scarily possible that it can't not be one of the best Black Mirror episodes ever. This was the first time we'd seen Charlie Brooker's terrifying take on tech so it was all the more shocking and amazing seeing the Black Mirror world for the first time. 'The National Anthem' sees the Prime Minister, played by Rory Kinnear, blackmailed into doing something truly horrific to save a popular, Kate Middleton-like aristocrat from harm, but the beauty of this episode is that it's not set in the far-flung future and, while seemingly outrageous, you could feasible see something like this happening in the real world. Even now, years later with almost 30 Black Mirror episodes to choose from, it's this first ep that sticks in your mind and makes your skin crawl. Lauren O'Callaghan
1. San Junipero
The episode: Season 3, episode 4
The one where: Old/dead people live forever in virtual worlds based on different time periods
Black Mirror had made us feel a lot of things by the time 'San Junipero' rolled around in season 3, but our hearts swelling with love and joy was a new sensation. Seemingly a story about a holiday romance at first, the story pummeled our nostalgia glands with late 80s fashion and music, before revealing it was really about a future where humans have used technology to create their own kind of heaven. Fascinating, but, in San Junipero, the science fiction takes second place to a story of love, loss, and second chances at happiness. That's why this episode is so special, and why so many people had to book compassionate leave the day after watching it. Rachel Weber
For more on the sci-fi anthology series, check out our guide to every possible Black Mirror: Bandersnatch ending, or our interview with Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker.
