Charlie Brooker facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Charlie Brooker
Brooker in December 2017
Born	Charlton Brooker (1971-03-03) 3 March 1971 (age 54) Reading, Berkshire, England
Occupation	Screenwriter producer presenter author cartoonist social critic
Years active	1987–present
Spouse(s)	Konnie Huq ​ (m. 2010)​
Children	2

Charlton ‘Charlie’ Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English writer, producer, and TV presenter. He is well-known for creating TV shows that look at modern society and media in a funny, critical way. Some of his early shows include Screenwipe, Gameswipe, and Newswipe.

Charlie Brooker became very famous for creating the science fiction series Black Mirror. He also wrote for comedy shows like Brass Eye and The 11 O'Clock Show. He created the horror drama Dead Set and wrote articles for The Guardian newspaper. He even helped start the second-hand shop CeX and designed its logo.

Early Life and Education

Charlie Brooker was born on 3 March 1971 in Reading, Berkshire, England. He grew up in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire, in a relaxed Quaker family. His parents named him Charlton after a character from the TV show Bewitched. As a teenager, he started writing and drawing cartoons for a comic called Oink!.

After attending Wallingford School, Charlie Brooker studied Media Studies at the University of Westminster. He didn't finish his degree because he wrote his final project about video games, which wasn't allowed at the time. He has said that comedians like Monty Python and shows like The Young Ones inspired his comedy.

Before his TV career, Brooker worked as a cartoonist. He also worked in a video game shop in Notting Hill Gate. He and some co-workers later started the second-hand shop CeX. Charlie helped in the first shop and designed their logo.

Career Highlights

Writing for Print

Charlie Brooker started writing for PC Zone magazine after they saw his cartoons for CeX. He wrote reviews for video games like System Shock (1994) and Fallout (1997). He also created a comic strip called "Cybertwats" and a column called "Sick Notes."

One of his cartoons, "Helmut Werstler's Cruelty Zoo," caused a stir and led to the magazine being removed from some shops. The cartoon was a joke about violent video games. Later, in 2008, he returned to review Euro Truck Simulator for the magazine's 200th issue.

In 2000, Brooker began writing a TV review column called "Screen Burn" for The Guardian newspaper. He continued this until October 2010. He also wrote other columns for The Guardian, including "Supposing" and "Ignopedia." Ignopedia was a funny series of fake articles, pretending to be written by someone who didn't know many facts.

In 2004, a column he wrote about George W. Bush caused some controversy. The Guardian removed the article, and Brooker apologized. He explained that he had used an old, tasteless joke that was misunderstood. He stopped writing the "Screen Burn" column in 2010, saying it was hard to criticize TV when he was also working in it.

In 2012, he contributed to a book called Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who. In 2014, one of his articles from The Guardian was included in a school textbook for A-Level students.

Online Work

From 1999 to 2003, Charlie Brooker created a funny website called TVGoHome. It showed fake TV schedules with silly and critical show descriptions. A book based on the website was published in 2001, and a TV sketch show followed on E4.

He was also interviewed for Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast in 2012 and again in 2019.

Television Shows

Brooker in 2011

Charlie Brooker first appeared on TV as a presenter on BBC Knowledge's The Kit (1999–2000), which reviewed new gadgets. He also played 'the Pundit' on Games Republic (1999–2000).

In 2000, he was a writer for Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show. In 2001, he helped write the Brass Eye special. In 2003, he wrote an episode for Channel 4's The Art Show called "How to Watch Television."

He co-wrote the sitcom Nathan Barley with Chris Morris. This show, which aired in 2005, was about trendy media people in London. He also wrote for the sketch show Spoons in the same year.

The Wipe Series

In 2006, Charlie Brooker started writing and presenting Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe on BBC Four. This show reviewed TV programmes, similar to his newspaper columns. It became very popular and had many series and special episodes. Screenwipe often looked at different themes, like American TV, news, or children's shows. For one episode about children's TV, he even joined the cast of Toonattik as "Angry News Guy."

Newswipe with Charlie Brooker, a show about how news is reported around the world, began in 2009. He also created Gameswipe in 2009, which focused on video games.

From 2010, he started making annual "Wipe" specials that reviewed the whole year. The last one was Charlie Brooker's 2016 Wipe. These yearly shows paused after 2016 because he was busy with Black Mirror.

Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe started in 2013 on BBC Two. It combined elements from Screenwipe and Newswipe, covering recent news, TV, and films. It also featured guests. A special episode called Election Wipe aired in 2015, looking at the UK general election.

In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he made a special called Charlie Brooker's Antiviral Wipe. It was about life during the lockdown and was produced while everyone was at home. Charlie often ends his shows by saying, "Thank you for watching. Now go away."

Dead Set

Charlie Brooker wrote Dead Set, a five-part zombie horror series for E4. It was set inside the Big Brother house and aired in October 2008. The show was very different from his usual comedy work.

He said that Dead Set was meant to "surprise, entertain and appall people." He had always been a fan of horror films. The show starred Jaime Winstone and even featured Big Brother presenter Davina McCall as herself. Dead Set was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Drama Serial.

Black Mirror

In December 2011, Charlie Brooker's science fiction series Black Mirror first aired on Channel 4. It received very good reviews. He created the show and wrote many of its episodes. Each episode tells a different story with different characters and settings. They all explore how technology affects our lives, often in a dark or thought-provoking way.

In September 2015, Netflix ordered more episodes of Black Mirror. The third season was released worldwide on Netflix in October 2016. The fourth season followed in December 2017. An interactive film called Bandersnatch was released in December 2018, where viewers could choose how the story unfolded. The fifth season came out in June 2019.

Brooker explained the title Black Mirror means the dark, shiny screen of a TV, computer, or smartphone. He said the show explores the "side-effects" of technology, "between delight and discomfort."

Some news reports compared the 2016 Donald Trump political campaign to an episode of Black Mirror called "The Waldo Moment." Brooker himself also made this comparison and correctly predicted Trump would win the 2016 election.

Other TV Work and Appearances

With Daniel Maier, Charlie Brooker co-wrote a funny crime drama for Sky1 called A Touch of Cloth. It first aired in 2012 and starred John Hannah and Suranne Jones. Two more series were made in 2013 and 2014.

Brooker has appeared on several popular TV shows, including the news quiz Have I Got News for You, 8 Out of 10 Cats, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2009, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and Would I Lie To You?.

In 2009, he started hosting You Have Been Watching, a comedy quiz show on Channel 4 about television. A second series aired the next year.

On 6 May 2010, Brooker co-hosted Channel 4's alternative election night coverage with David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr, and Lauren Laverne. He also hosted How TV Ruined Your Life on BBC Two from January to March 2011.

In November 2020, actor Hugh Grant mentioned that Brooker was making a funny documentary for Netflix about the year 2020. This mockumentary, called Death to 2020, was released in December 2020.

In 2022, an animated interactive story called Cat Burglar was released, with Charlie Brooker credited as its creator.

Radio Shows

From 2010 to 2012, Charlie Brooker hosted a BBC Radio 4 show called So Wrong It's Right. On this show, guests would try to come up with the worst possible ideas. The show's theme tune was "Summer Here Kids" by Grandaddy.

In January 2018, he was a guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, where guests choose music, a book, and a luxury item they would take if stranded on a desert island.

Personal Life

Charlie Brooker is married to TV presenter Konnie Huq. They met while filming an episode of Screenwipe and got engaged after dating for nine months. They married on 26 July 2010 in Las Vegas. They have two sons together. Konnie Huq's sister is the politician Rupa Huq.

Charlie Brooker is an atheist, meaning he does not believe in God. He also describes himself as a Quaker because of his family's background.

Awards and Recognitions

Charlie Brooker has won many awards for his work, especially for Black Mirror. He won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Television Movie and two for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special for Black Mirror.

He won the 2009 Columnist of the Year award for his Guardian column. His show Dead Set was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2009. In 2010, he received the Best Entertainment Programme Award for Newswipe from the Royal Television Society.

He has also won three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer in 2009, Best Comedy Entertainment Show for Newswipe in 2011, and Best Comedy Entertainment Personality in 2012. In 2017, Charlie Brooker's 2016 Wipe won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme.

Filmography

See also

In Spanish: Charlie Brooker para niños