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THE MEDIA SHOW - CHARLIE BROOKER (320kbs-m4a/63mb/27mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 14th June 2023
Charlie Brooker is one of the most influential satirists working today. Having started out as a cartoonist, his razor sharp writing on culture and the media made his TV columns for The Guardian, begun in 2000, essential reading for many. It wasn't long until his acerbic and frequently absurd world view found a home on BBC Four in the form of the TV review show, Screenwipe. He's also behind acclaimed comedies like Nathan Barley. But he's found global fame with the series Black Mirror, which has entered the lexicon for a singular form of technology-enhanced dread. In the week that the new season launches, Charlie Brooker joins The Media Show to look back at his career.
Presenter: Katie Razzall
Producer: Simon Richardson
6 MUSIC'S HISTORY OF VIDEO GAME MUSIC - CHARLIE BROOKER'S VIDEO GAME PLAYLIST (320kbs-m4a/137mb/60mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 10th March 2019
Charlie Brooker discusses his passion for video games, and selects some of his favourite game music.
Years before he created Black Mirror, Charlie Brooker was a video games journalist – reflecting a love of gaming that stretches back to his childhood.
It’s a passion that’s cropped up throughout his career – from programmes like Gameswipe to his appearance on Desert Island Discs, where he selected a track from the Gameboy title Robocop as one of his discs.
The most recent episode of Black Mirror – Bandersnatch – even revolves around the creation of a choose-your-own-adventure game, and included bespoke music written on a vintage ZX Spectrum.
As part of the 6 Music's History of Video Game Music series, Charlie sat down with Mark Savage to discuss how he discovered games at a local swimming pool, why he finds Super Mario Bros addictive, and how he’s using Zelda to teach his children to read. Along the way, he chooses his favourite tracks from video game history.
Grandaddy - A.M. 180 (Screenwipe Theme)
Unknown - Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Credits
Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters
Edvard Grieg - In The Hall Of The Mountain King (Manic Miner)
Lou Reed - The Great Defender (Down At The Arcade)
Queen - Bicycle Race
Johann Strauss Jr. - The Blue Danube
C64 Orchestra - Monty On The Run
Mike Berry - Everyone's A Wally
Mel Croucher - War Crimes Are Easy (Deus Ex Machina)
Unknown - Streetfighter 2 Incidental Music
Unknown - Tetris Remix
Kōji Kondō - Overworld Theme (Super Mario World)
Jonathan Dunn - Robocop Game Boy Theme
Masatao Nakamura - Spring Yard Zone (Mega Drive Version) (Sonic The Hedgehog)
John Baker - Toejam & Earl Theme
Masaya Matsuura - Chop Chop Master Onion's Rap (PaRappa The Rapper)
The Chemical Brothers - Chemical Beats
Jun Chikuma - Super Bomberman Multiplayer Mode
Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson - Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas)
The Super Mario Players Feat. Kate Davis - Jump Up, Super Star! (Super Mario Odyssey)
Kōji Kondō - The Legend Of Zelda Main Theme
C418 - Moog City (Minecraft)
Daniel Tidwell - At Doom's Gate (E1M1 Doom Theme)
Kōji Kondō - Super Mario Bros. Underworld Theme
Kōji Kondō - Super Mario Bros. Theme
London Philharmonic Orchestra & Andrew Skeet - Super Mario Bros. Theme
DESERT ISLAND DISCS: CHARLIE BROOKER (320kbs-m4a/98mb/43mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 7th January 2018
Charlie Brooker is a satirist, broadcaster and writer. He created the Emmy-award winning series, Black Mirror, and presents Screenwipe and Newswipe which won Best Comedy Entertainment Show award at the British Comedy Awards in 2011.
Born in 1971, his career has been influenced both by his early love of technology - he was a keen computer gamer - and by his passion for the anarchic, surreal and experimental comedy of Monty Python and The Young Ones. After creating his own comic while at school, he went on to provide cartoons for the magazine Oink! at the age of 15. He cultivated his acerbic style and satirical pessimism as a writer of games reviews and features for PC Zone magazine.
His online creation TVGoHome, an often caustic parody of television listings in the style of Radio Times, brought him to the attention of the Guardian newspaper where he began writing a TV review column entitled Screen Burn in 2000. This was adapted into a BBC Four television series, and various spin-offs, including Gameswipe and Newswipe, followed.
The first two series of Black Mirror, an anthology of unrelated dramas focused around the unexpected consequences of new technologies, aired on Channel 4. The third series was released on Netflix in 2016, followed by a fourth at the end of 2017.
Charlie is married to former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq and they have two young sons.
Presenter: Kirsty Young
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows [EMI]
Eric Thompson - Florence's Sad Song [MFP]
Jonathan Dunn - Robocop
Pixies - Debaser [4AD]
Richie Warburton - The Scoops
Irma Thomas - Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) [EMI]
Radiohead - Present Tense [XL Recordings]
Denim - The New Potatoes [Virgin]