Fifteen Million Merits

"Fifteen Million Merits"
Black Mirror episode
Bing (Daniel Kaluuya) awakens in his screen-covered "box" every morning.
Episode no.	Series 1 Episode 2
Directed by	Euros Lyn
Written by	Charlie Brooker Kanak Huq
Original air date	11 December 2011 (2011-12-11)
Running time	62 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
Daniel Kaluuya – Bing Jessica Brown Findlay – Abi Rupert Everett – Judge Hope Julia Davis – Judge Charity Ashley Thomas – Judge Wraith Paul Popplewell – Dustin Isabella Laughland – Swift David Flynn – Oliver Colin Carmichael – Kai Hannah John-Kamen – Selma Telse Kerrie Hayes – Glee Eugene O'Hare – Hammond Jaimi Barbakoff - Anna Merce Ribot - Hot Shot Registration Lady Matthew Burgess - Botherguts Host Laura Power - Interviewer Matt Stokoe – Guard
Episode chronology
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List of Black Mirror episodes

"Fifteen Million Merits" is the second episode of the first series of British science fiction anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and his wife Kanak Huq and directed by Euros Lyn, and first aired on Channel 4 on 11 December 2011.

Set in a dystopian future where most of society must cycle on exercise bikes in order to power their surroundings and earn currency called "Merits", the episode tells the story of Bing (Daniel Kaluuya), whose life changes when he meets Abi (Jessica Brown Findlay). Convinced that she has a unique talent for singing, he convinces her and helps her to participate to a talent game show so she might escape the slave-like world around them.

The episode was critically acclaimed.

The episode is a satire on entertainment shows and insatiable thirst for distraction set in a satirical future dystopia. In this world, everyone must cycle on exercise bikes in order to power their surroundings and generate currency called Merits. Everyday activities are constantly interrupted by advertisements that cannot be skipped or ignored without financial penalty. Obese people are considered to be second-class citizens, and either work as cleaners around the machines (where they receive verbal abuse) or are humiliated on game shows.

Bingham "Bing" Madsen (Daniel Kaluuya) has inherited 12 million merits from his dead brother and thus has the luxury of skipping advertisements as often as he likes. In the toilet he overhears Abi (Jessica Brown Findlay) singing and encourages her to enter into an X-Factor style game show called Hot Shot, which offers a chance for people to get out of the slave-like world around them. Bing persuades her and, feeling there is nothing "real" worth buying, purchases the ticket for her, costing him nearly his entire balance of just more than 15 million merits. The judges (Rupert Everett, Julia Davis, Ashley Thomas) and the crowd enjoy her cover of "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is", but they state there is no room for an 'Above Average Singer' and instead give her the chance to become an adult actress on a pornographic TV station. After goading from the judges and the crowd, and drugged on a substance called "Cuppliance" (compliance in a cup), Abi reluctantly agrees.