Charlie Brooker

Charlton Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English writer, television presenter, producer and satirist. He is the creator and co-showrunner of the sci-fi drama anthology series Black Mirror, and has written for comedy series such as Brass Eye, The 11 O'Clock Show, and Nathan Barley. Brooker started his career as a cartoonist; he produced adverts for the second-hand video game retailer CeX before becoming a journalist for PC Zone. He has presented a number of television shows, mostly consisting of satirical and biting criticism of modern society and the media, such as Screenwipe, Gameswipe, Newswipe, Weekly Wipe, and 10 O'Clock Live. He also wrote the 2008 horror drama series Dead Set. He has written social criticism pieces for The Guardian and is one of four creative directors of the production company Zeppotron. Early life and education Charlie Brooker was born on 3 March 1971 in Reading, Berkshire. He grew up in a relaxed Quaker household in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire. His parents were fans of the television sitcom Bewitched, and named him Charlton after a character in one episode and his sister Samantha after the series' main character. As a teenager, he first worked as a writer and cartoonist for Oink!, a comic produced in the late 1980s. After attending Wallingford School, Brooker attended the Polytechnic of Central London (which became the University of Westminster during his final year there) to study for a BA in Media Studies. He says that he did not graduate because his dissertation was written on video games, which was not considered an acceptable topic. He has listed his comedic influences as Monty Python, The Young Ones, Blackadder, Chris Morris and Vic Reeves.