After nearly losing her daughter, a mother invests in a new technology to track her. What could possibly go wrong?

Alicia DeWitt is carving a fine career in ‘mom who loses child’ having previously been Carol-Anne’s mother in the Poltergeist remake and now the over-protective mother of three-year-old Sara. It would be easy to describe her as neurotic, but having nearly lost the baby at birth, and then following a temporary disappearance, it’s easy to see why she wants to wrap the child in cotton wool. And that’s why this cautionary tale by Charlie Brooker, directed by Jodie Foster, works so well. She’s not a monster by any stretch and her helicopter parenting at first seems reasonable if not invasive.

As with most technology, and this is a recurring theme in Black Mirror, there is an over-reliance on its use – an addiction to the enhancements that it offers over everyday life. If Marie only fell back on the tech in moments of danger then this would feel like an appropriate use of the app (which also lets her see what Sara can see). It becomes an obsession and develops into a form of voyeurism when her child quite understandably is due some privacy. The most dangerous element of the implant is its parental control that pixelates real world danger, meaning that when bad things happen the trackee isn’t prepared for it.

Verdict: A high concept episode that relies heavily on its simple premise – the potential abuse of parental tracking apps. The outcome is not unexpected, but I imagine a few neurotic mums and dads might shift uncomfortably in their seats while watching it, provided they can drag themselves away from their GPS child tracker. 7/10

Nick Joy