HIT 1980s TV show Bergerac has cropped up in one of Netflix’s best-known series.
The Emmy-award winning Black Mirror, created by presenter, writer and satirist Charlie Brooker, repeatedly references Jersey’s famous television export in the second episode of its latest outing.
The dystopian sci-fi drama has featured numerous well-known actors across its six series, including Rory Kinnear, Daniel Kaluuya, Bryce Dallas Howard, and now… John Nettles.
In the episode ‘Loch Henry’, directed by Sam Miller and written by Mr Brooker, documentary filmmaker Davis explains to his American girlfriend that Bergerac was an ‘old TV show’ loved by his mother and that she had recorded dozens of episodes on VHS tapes.
As he and his partner Pia go on to research the true-crime documentary they are making about a historical local serial killer, they unearth some dark truths.
The real contents of his mother’s supposedly harmless Bergerac tapes form the major twist of the episode.
Neither the episode’s writer or director were available to comment on the episode or its link to the Island.
The appearance of Bergerac, however brief, in one of Netflix’s top shows also serves as a chance to remember that a reboot of the detective drama could be on the way.
In 2021, Brian Constantine, the chief executive of Jersey-based Westward Studios, which is leading the production efforts on the new version, assured Islanders that the development of the show was still under way, after an initial announcement about the project in 2019.
However, Mr Constantine has remained tight-lipped about ongoing efforts to bring the much-loved show back to television screens.
