In Black Mirror’s “Fifteen Million Merits,” Daniel Kaluuya plays Bing, whose furious attack on the system becomes exactly the kind of show that system knows how to sell. The judges recognize a marketable act and offer him a recurring role as an angry commentator. The same entertainment machine that exploited Abi finds a use for his outrage.
Bing lives in a society where stationary bikes generate electricity and riders earn merits to spend on daily necessities and distractions. Screens cover their rooms, and even escaping an ad costs money. The talent competition Hot Shot offers a possible way out.
When Bing hears Abi, played by Jessica Brown Findlay, singing, he uses nearly all the merits he inherited from his dead brother to buy her an audition. The judges dismiss her singing and pressure her to perform on a porn channel instead.
Bing returns to the bikes and earns another 15 million merits to get himself onto the show. His audition becomes a furious attack on the system, with the glass at his throat.
Written by Charlie Brooker and Konnie Huq and directed by Euros Lyn, the episode first aired on Channel 4 in 2011 as the second episode of Season 1.
It was deliberately scheduled to follow the X Factor finale.
