‘Black Mirror’ wins big at the BAFTA TV Craft Awards

Netflix’s anthology series “Black Mirror” has a pretty impressive BAFTA record, amassing a total of 24 nominations at both the BAFTA TV Awards and the BAFTA TV Craft Awards since 2012. Like the Creative Arts Emmys, the Craft Awards are dedicated to honoring the below-the-line categories. This year’s Craft Awards, which were just held on Sunday, added to the BAFTA record of “Black Mirror” by awarding them five nominations and two victories (more on those wins later).

Specifically, it was the fifth and final episode of the sixth season of “Black Mirror,” “Demon 79” that was nominated. We caught up with several key creatives behind this episode when we attended Sunday’s Craft Awards, which were hosted at the Brewery in East London by British documentarian and TV host Stacey Dooley. Firstly, we spoke to “Black Mirror” creator Charlie Brooker and his co-writer on “Demon 79” Bisha K. Ali, who was the head writer for the Disney+ show “Ms. Marvel.” We spoke to the duo, who were nominated for Best Drama Writer, about the importance (or unimportance) of awards ceremonies before the ceremony itself began.

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“The first time I went to an American awards ceremony, I was bewildered by how seriously they take awards ceremonies. But I really like this, the Crafts ceremony. They often have a nicer vibe. For one thing, you can drink during the ceremony. And when people complain about times being tough in TV, they sort of think it’s a bunch of lovies but there’s so many crafts people involved in making out kind of show that I prefer these ceremonies,” Brooker said.

“I’m not a big one for big, gushing, earnest, speeches. Fuck that. I find that so fucking boring. I kind of understand why but I sort of hate it. But that said, it’s really nice when you see people having their work recognised. I mean it is sort of ridiculous, really, pitting them against each other. I mean, I would say that because I don’t think I’m going to win,” Brooker joked.

He added: “But it’s sort of absurd, really, to say one thing is better than another because it’s a frickin task getting anything made. Anyway, that was a long, rambling, and possibly negative and stupid answer.”

While Brooker and Ali might not have thought they were going to win (they thought “Succession” writer Jesse Armstrong was set to be the victor), they did, in fact, emerge victorious in their category. We managed to catch up with them again backstage in the winner’s press conference room, where Brooker admitted he had been worrying that he had accidentally called awards ceremonies stupid.

“I was saying to Bisha earlier, I think I said to the guy from Gold Derby that awards ceremonies were pointless,” Brooker laughed.

Ali added: “Not to be too earnest because Charlie hates this but I feel really grateful. I’m so happy to be here with Charlie. We had such a great time making it but for people to recognise it feels like a bonus on top. And it’s also my first rodeo.”

While this was Ali’s first rodeo, it wasn’t Brooker’s. He was nominated for eight BAFTAs before “Demon 79.” His “Demon 79” win was his first — on his ninth nomination. However, when asked who in the “Black Mirror” team he would like to give an award, too, he was less successful in singling out one name.

“This is a wussy answer. I’d melt it down, I’d turn it into little gold flakes, and I’d crumble it across a series of desserts that I’d give to everyone on the production. It would be remiss me of to pick one person out,” Brooker said.

BAFTA did single one other name out, however, as the other BAFTA TV award that “Demon 79” won was for Best Fiction Photography and Lighting (cinematographer, to you and me). That gong went to director of photography Stephan Pehrsson, who told us backstage that while he probably does have a style as a cinematographer, he tries to mould his work to suit the needs of each project.

However, he did immediately know what style the visions and memories of “Demon 79’s” main character, Nida Huq (Anjana Vasan), would have.

“The stuff about her memories being done as an overly done, heightened film. The glass shards sticking out of people’s necks, the blood being an extra visceral red, almost a wrong red. That her fantasies would be like the films she may have seen. That came early on but the rest was a sort of organic process sitting with the director, talking it through day by day, page by page,” Pehrsson said.

“Demon 79” was, to many the scariest episode of “Black Mirror” so far, purely due to the fact that it is a horror entry into the anthology series. But what scares most Pehrsson most?

“Space. ‘2001,’ anything like that. Floating away and not being able to come back… ‘Gravity’ was my complete nightmare. We’re actually doing a space ‘Black Mirror’ right now. It doesn’t have that kind of stuff but we’re doing a sequel to USS Callister, we’re working on that right now,” Pehrsson teased.

We also spoke to production designer Udo Kramer and set decorator Mike Britton. They were nominated for Best Production Design, although they lost to “Silo” artists Gavin Bocquet and Amanda Bernstein. Britton explained to us the process that they went through to create such an atmospheric, detailed set.

“The main character in ‘Demon 79,’ she lives in a small bedsit, she has a very mundane job in a shoe shop. She obviously has a certain ethnic background so you have to look at her whole background and what she might have in her flat, by what means does she live, her routine every day. You dress it as much as you can and the actor will pick and choose what to engage with so there’s a lot that never gets seen. 70%, I’d say,” Britton said.

Meanwhile, Kramer revealed that their work is a combination of both instinct and research, with instinct telling him what to research and where to find it.

“When there’s enough, you filter it down to aspects that you like and that fit to the character and that give the story, kind of, accents. Sometimes you find them in research just by coincidence. And then you bring them it all together and it creates a new picture. It’s a world-building process but it’s led by instinct.”

“Black Mirror” has now doubled its BAFTA tally thanks to “Demon 79.” The episode “San Junipero” previously won Best Makeup and Hair Design for Tanya Lodge in 2017 before “Metalhead” won Best Special, Visual Effects & Graphics in 2018.

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