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Charlie Brooker
Tourists are flocking to Scotland to visit a pub that was featured in the latest season of Black Mirror, despite the episode warning them against it. In the second episode of Season 6 – titled “Loch Henry – two young filmmakers visit a small town to make a documentary about egg theft, but while meshing with locals, they uncover something much more riveting: a gruesome murderer.
The two, Davis (Samuel Blenkin) and Pia (Myha’la Herrold), pivot to investigate the series of local murders, including the death of Davis’s father. They receive support from Davis’s friend and local bartender Stuart (Daniel Portman), who hopes that the true crime documentary might draw tourists back to the area after they were scared off by the incident.
As the episode continues, Pia links Davis’s mother to the murders and winds up falling into a stream, hitting her head on a rock and dying while outrunning the vicious killer. Davis’s mother suffers a similar fate and commits suicide, leaving behind evidence of her crimes and a note for her grieving son that reads, “For your film. Mum.”
With its twisty ending, the episode is a standout from the season and occupies the #2 spot on our ranking of Black Mirror Season 6 episodes.
The entire episode posits Davis as someone who is very critical of true crime and the voyeuristic interest it brings, but it’s the final moments twist the knife. Davis receives a BAFTA for his work, and appears reluctant and sad throughout the evening, while both his producer and Stuart are left lapping up the success of the project. Ouchie, right? Now, in the wake of this violent episode, fans of the anthology series are hitting up the real-life town where the episode was filmed.
The episode takes place in Loch Henry, but that city doesn’t really exist. The episode was filmed in Arrochar, which is roughly 55 minutes outside of the largest city in Scotland, Glasgow. The town is located within Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. According to The Times and Daily Record, hotels and B&Bs in the area have seen a large interest in bookings following the release of the episode. And as one would expect, it has elicited mixed responses from the villagers.
While speaking with The Times, Hilary Van Looy, deputy manager of the Village Inn, where the show filmed for multiple days, said that people have been “coming in and saying, ‘Is this the place from that programme?'” and named comedian Kevin Bridges as one. Also speaking on the town’s popularity boost is an anonymous lifelong resident who slammed the show for its horrific portrayal, calling it “the worst possible advert for Arrochar and the surrounding area.” They said, “It was a fantasy version of Scotland, cooked up in London, where the locals are drunk, incomprehensible and violent.”
Frankly, this newfound fan attention is nothing new and is not even the most damaging instance of this type of fandom, whether locals are on board or not. When Ryan Murphy’s The Watcher was released on Netflix, viewers were quick to swarm the real house that the story was based on, irritating locals and exposing their questionable motives. But with “Loch Henry” there’s a key difference. The story isn’t based on a true story and lives well within the realms of fandom. So, how is this any different from visiting St. Bart’s Hospital in London after Sherlock’s leap from the building in the BBC series? Or perhaps Katz’s Diner in NYC after a romantic evening of watching When Harry Met Sally? It’s rather harmless until it turns into a long-term problem, which situations such as this seldom do.
What remains concerning is how unaffected viewers of Black Mirror are when it comes to understanding and applying the very topics the show dissects. In this case, the episode’s adjacency to the true crime genre.
Another example of this was shown through Netflix’s temporary rebranding as Streamberry, which is a fictional streaming service featured in the first episode of the new season. The episode resulted in a massive identity theft war, brought on by tricky terms and conditions contracts and artificial intelligence. Headlines ran for weeks saying “I can’t believe Netflix let their own show spoof them in such a bad light,” but when push came to shove, the streamer ate up the attention like a big slice of chocolate cake. After rebranding their social media to look like the fictional streamer, they released a photo generator for fans to upload personal images of themselves in exchange for a title card similar to the fictional program depicted in the episode. The real terms and conditions stated that by uploading an image, users were giving Netflix access to “personal identifiers” and other aspects of their likeness, so that they could be featured in advertisements and more. And people did it! Despite the warning signs featured in the episode!
Just like how now, people are flocking to the Scottish pub to grab a pint and explore the location at which multiple gruesome murders were depicted. Sure, it’s different because it’s not real, but it’s not different because: what if it was real? Are Black Mirror viewers any different than The Watcher viewers?
Last month, showrunner Charlie Brooker had heavy things to say about true crime fanatics, comparing the fascination to a “gourmet burger” while speaking with Tudum. He said the visuals of the true-crime movies and shows disguise that viewers are tuning into the program “to have a good old bloody gawp.” He shared, “You’re still eating something full of fat and salt, but because it’s called an artisan burger, you almost feel good about yourself rather than like a horrible pig.”
Well, Brooker proved us horrible pigs right.
