Black Mirror season 3 reviews round-up: 'It's time Charlie Brooker got his due'

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There's not a huge amount of time to wait before Charlie Brooker unleashes his next batch of Black Mirror episodes on the world via Netflix, but the early verdicts are in.

Two episodes - titled "San Junipero" and "Nosedive" - debuted at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to unanimous praise.

Mackenzie Davis (The Martian) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle) appear in Eighties-set episode San Junipero which is directed by Owen Harris (Kill Your Friends).

Nosedive, directed by Joe Wright (Atonement, Hanna), stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World) and Alice Eve in a story written by Parks and Recreation's co-creator Michael Schur and actor Rashida Jones.

It was recently announced that the upcoming episodes will be scored by Portishead's Geoff Barrow, Max Richter (The Leftovers), Bear McCreary (The Walking Dead) and Clint Mansell (Black Swan).

All six episodes of Black Mirror's third season will be available to view on Netflix from 21 October 2016. Check out the early reviews below.

The Hollywood Reporter - Tim Goodman

It's such a joy to have this brilliant series return not only because Brooker has yet to get the full auteur treatment he richly deserves in the States, but also because each episode reminds you of what happens when creative people keep stretching their own boundaries of imagination. The series is also a magnet for directors, as the weird concepts allow them to do some of their best work.

Collider - Adam Chitwood

I’ve only seen two of the six episodes of Black Mirror Season 3 so I can’t speak for the season as a whole, but these two that I’ve seen thus far are incredibly solid and refreshingly different. It’s still the same old Black Mirror of course, it just feels like it’s playing on a much larger canvas. And that, my friends, is a very good thing.

The Verge - Bryan Bishop

This is Black Mirror, so that’s just the start of the unexpected twists and turns the episode takes - and they’re all better discovered when you watch the episode for yourself. But what I can tell you is that as a standalone hour of television, it is a fantastic piece of storytelling, touching on larger themes of life, death, self-identity, and guilt with a cleverness and sense of real emotional stakes.

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JoBlo - Chris Bumbray

...this double-header of episodes proved to be remarkably consistent. While it’s impossible to tell if the rest of the season will be up to its standard, I’d say it’s looking pretty good folks. October 21st can’t come soon enough.

SlashFilm - Angie Han

On the one hand, Black Mirror is second to none when it comes to chronicling the way humanity and technology intersect in 2016. On the other, we’ve seen tons of shows renewed after extended hiatuses, only to return as shells of their former selves. Could the third season of Black Mirror live up to the greatness of the first two? Based on the two episodes that screened at TIFF, “San Junipero” and “Nosedive,” the answer seems to be yes.