Charlie Brooker explained the inspiration behind Black Mirror’s Plaything and it’s triggering

Traumatic childhood memories have started to flood back after Black Mirror’s genius creator Charlie Brooker explained the very relatable inspiration behind season seven’s Plaything.

Plaything, a continuation of the Bandersnatch story, follows a chap named Cameron who is arrested over a cold case murder from 20 years earlier. In the interrogation, he walks us through much of his acid-laced life and introduces us to sentient digital creatures known as Thronglets. He cultivates them for years, increasing their numbers, before introducing them to a nationwide AI system where they hijack the brains of every man, woman, and child. Whether they’re benevolent overlords or malicious rascals is never revealed, but the prominent basilisk theory would suggest the latter.

Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker pulls in a lot of sources for his stories, but the inspiration behind Plaything might be the most jarring.

What was the inspiration behind Black Mirror’s Plaything?

Over the years, Charlie Brooker has cited countless things as the inspiration behind his show: The “shiny adverts for Apple” products, The Twilight Zone, personal anxieties, and even Star Trek in this season’s USS Callister: Into Infinity. Speaking to Netflix’s Tudum about the wider inspiration for Plaything, Charlie noted how Tamagotchis were a major source of inspiration for him.

“I remember having a Tamagotchi, and it’s amazing how quickly you get attached to it. I left it in the pocket of some jeans and it went in the washing machine, and it got boiled and died, and I felt genuine remorse and I felt terrible like I had boiled a hamster alive,” he said.

I can still hear the screams of my own neglected Tamagotchi now, but that wasn’t the only video game to inspire Plaything.

Most Read

Good lord, Bonnie Blue opened up about what Beavo was like in bed and I’m traumatised

Dave dated another MAFS Australia 2025 bride before the show and you’ll never guess who

A former flatmate of Jacqui from MAFS Australia speaks out about what she was like to live with

Charlie Brooker added: “I also read an article once about somebody who had a game, either Civilisation or SimCity, on an old computer in the 90s, but they kept it going for two decades uninterrupted, and it started going bananas basically.”

If you haven’t watched Plaything yet then you’re in for a wild ride, and don’t worry, it doesn’t necassarily affect all of the many endings to Bandersnatch.

“I knew I wanted Cameron to meet this programmer, but [I thought], wait a minute, I created this character, Colin Ritman, played by Will Poulter in Bandersnatch. I loved that character, and Mohan Thakur, Asim Chaudhry, who played his boss in the original Bandersnatch, I’m going to write the best version of that,” Charlie explained.

“I prayed and hoped we can get Will and Asim back to reprise their roles. It came about that way. What that says, in terms of the Black Mirror multiverse or whatever you want to call it, I’ll leave up to the viewer, because I think all endings of Bandersnatch are as valid as the next.”

Black Mirror season seven is now available on Netflix. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Featured image credit: Netflix