Yes, Bergerac from Black Mirror's 'Loch Henry' episode is a real show
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the "Loch Henry" episode of Black Mirror season 6.
In the latest season of Netflix's Black Mirror, show creator Charlie Brooker casts his withering gaze at the genre of the true crime documentary with the nightmarish episode "Loch Henry." The tale stars Samuel Blenkin and Myha'la Herrold as a couple, Davis and Pia, who decide to make a film about some murders committed decades previously in Davis' remote Scottish hometown. Writer Brooker and director Sam Miller accurately copy the true crime tropes, from vintage news reports to current-day drone shots, in the characters' recreation of the crimes. During the show, Brooker also repeatedly references a TV series called Bergerac, which Davis explains to his American girlfriend is an "old TV show" beloved by his mother Janet (Monica Dolan), who has dozens of episodes recorded on VHS tapes. "Mum had a crush on John Nettles, the guy who played Bergerac," says Davis. "She used to say he had a nice bum."
Given the skill with which the episode's behind-the-scenes team show us Davis and Pia's in-the-works documentary viewers could be forgiven for believing that the footage we see from Bergerac has also been created for Black Mirror and that the show is a figment of Brooker's imagination. In fact, Bergerac is no Brooker invention but a real series which was wildly popular in the U.K. during the '80s and early '90s.
Bergerac indeed starred Nettles as Jim Bergerac a policeman and recovering alcoholic who lives on the photogenic island of Jersey, a self-governing British dependent situated off the coast of France. Created by producer Robert Banks Stewart, the show premiered on BBC in October 1981 and ran for nine seasons, finally ending after a special Christmas episode in December 1991.
Bergerac made a star out of the previously unknown Nettles and at the height of its popularity attracted an audience of around 14 million people, an impressive figure even in a pre-cable, pre-streaming world. The key to that popularity was the show's key coziness, with Bergerac solving crimes in a manner designed to find favor with, or at least not to alarm, viewers of almost all ages.
By choosing to feature this cozy yet popular show, Brooker is commenting on how televisual habits have changed over past few decades, as audiences have gotten accustomed to, and now demand, seemingly ever more outre material. Janet's love for the show, and her coy lusting over Nettles' "bum," also leads the viewer to think Dolan's character is a harmless figure, instead of the killer she is revealed to be by the end of the episode.
Of course, to fully appreciate the impact of Bergerac's appearance on Black Mirror it helps to have previous familiarity with the show, something which Brooker presumably has but neither of the episode's leads can claim. In an interview with the U.K. outlet Metro, Herrold revealed that she had never seen the show while Blenkin admitted that he only possessed a vague memory of the series, while at the same time expressing gratitude to Nettles for the role his character played in the Black Mirror episode. "Somewhere in my memory it sparked something," said the actor. "Davis had a vague awareness of it, I was the same, I had enough. But you know what, John, if you're out there, thank you, for letting us tell your story."
Black Mirror season 6 is streaming now on Netflix.
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