So, I've been taking a rather scattershot approach to going through the Guardian's top TV lists, managing to get about halfway through a year's list before the new one comes out and I move on to that one. I've decided that's not ideal though, so I've gone back to the 2020 list, which was when I started doing this, to try and pick up some of the missing ones. The first was this, Charlie Brooker's Antiviral Wipe, that I watched at the time but had to go to YouTube to find now (given the BBC seems to have an aversion to maintaining their own history).
Recorded at home, during the Covid 19 Pandemic, Charlie Brooker resurrects is "wipe" format for reviewing the news surrounding the emergency of the Covid 19 pandemic, leading to us all being quarantined in our homes for a few months, to try limit the exposure. Alongside regular contributors Philomena Cunk and Barry (redacted) the news of the time, including the actual coverage, is satirically analysed and mocked. Though not without an occasional nod to the actual horror and hope of the situation.
Firstly, it has to be said that, four years later, the pandemic feels to me like a work of fiction, an unreal moment in all our lives that it's hard to parse actually happened. As a reminder of those odd times it's extremely effective, as (as always) it's a cuttingly effective vivisection of the medias coverage of the UK's slow response to the pandemic, as well as the stranger moments, such as applauding for the NHS or hoarding toilet paper. It's maybe not quite as strident as Brooker has been in his earlier work. He's both mellowed somewhat with parenthood and is dealing with a situation where remaining as positive as possible is key.
Whilst I'm not sure I'd trade in "Black Mirror" and his other writing work for a regular return to this format, particular as I understand he gets some of it out on those Netflix "Death to" shows, but it was fun to see it one more time.
