'Black Mirror' Revisits the 1980s And Makes Outer London Town Super Retro
The Netflix sci-fi series “Black Mirror” has been shooting in Croydon this week, converting the town’s center into a 1980s wonderland.
As per a series of tweets, fans and locals have been snapping images of the signage and retro store fronts, including a Wimpy and an old WHSmith.
Can confirm for @WHS_Carpet that there does seem to be a grubby carpet, but who knows if that will be part of the plot. pic.twitter.com/m01t8VZnOd
— Nick Walker (@nickw84) April 21, 2018
Love casually walking pass the Black Mirror set assembly in Croydon on my lunch break. Today I spotted a Wimpy being assembled. pic.twitter.com/MxA8BFztsY
— Stephen Hardy (@Shardyhaha) April 24, 2018
The Black Mirror set builders on St George’s Walk Croydon have gone completely mad now. pic.twitter.com/gbWiyPEHyh
— Tim Longhurst (@tim_longhurst) April 25, 2018
Could someone nip into the #Croydon #BlackMirror 1984 WH Smith's & get me a couple of LP record boxes (blue), a turntable mounted record cleaning brush, a £10 record token & a copy of David Sylvian's 'Brilliant Trees' album (it's number 11 in the Chart racks)
thanks. pic.twitter.com/1P2OSCZVyf— ~SteveWiseman~ (@stevieboywise) April 23, 2018
1980s @WHSmith - part of the set for @blackmirror round the corner from our gaff in #Croydon - in fact they seem to be creating a whole 80s high street with Chelsea Girl, Wimpy and travel agents. Love it! pic.twitter.com/gAsOFyz4wg
— Bugeye (@Bugeyeband) April 24, 2018
YO CROYDON: Black Mirror is gonna be filmed in St George's Walk next week 😎 pic.twitter.com/pa8VdzUU3L
— Jonny Rose (@98rosjon) April 19, 2018
Apparently they are filming a Black Mirror set in The Past, so naturally they're in Croydon. See vintage WH Smith and Chelsea Girl. pic.twitter.com/q54HQZChoT
— Nick Walker (@nickw84) April 21, 2018
The show is no stranger to revisiting other time periods or flashing forward into the future, but the 1980s is a particularly special time for the series.
Season three’s critically acclaimed “San Junipero” took place in 1987 and featured shoulder pads, big hair, and Belinda Carlisle galore.
It’s not clear what the storyline of this episode will be about, but one Twitter user shared this image that may hint at the episode’s name: Bandersnatch.
@oliviat_93 Hi Olivia. Black Mirror is also filmed today and tomorrow at One Croydon. pic.twitter.com/aHkP25SOoX
— Boskee (@boskee_voitek) April 23, 2018
For the unfamiliar, the “Bandersnatch” is vicious fictional creature created by Lewis Carroll that boasts sharp teeth and claws, white eyes with red pupils, and is extremely fast. It’s featured in his 1872 novel “Through the Looking-Glass” and 1874 poem “The Hunting of the Snark.”
Additionally, you can spot in the gallery below a plethora of video games within the elaborate set that act as fun Easter Eggs.
As first noted in Digital Spy, the vinyl albums wink at past episodes with titles like “Roachbusters Red and Blue” (which is a reference to “Men Against Fire”), “Pig in a Poke” (a reference to “The National Anthem”), “Valdack’s Revenge” (a reference to “USS Callister”), ’White Bear” and “Metl Hedd,” which both reference the episodes “White Bear” and “Metalhead.”
“Black Mirror” creator Charlie Brooker has not revealed when season 5 will hit Netflix for our binge-watching pleasure, but he did tell Radio Times that he’s doing a lot of back-to-back filming to crank them out:
“Season Five, we are filming one [episode] at the moment. We are about to start filming another one imminently. I’m writing the next one and then it gets a bit more foggy.”
We can’t wait.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.