In a post-apocalyptic Scotland a small group of survivors try to hide from robotic hunters.

If after the previous episode (Hang the DJ) you feared that Charlie Brooker had gone a little soft, this intense slice of grimness should set your mind at ease. Maxine Peake carries the whole piece as tough Bella, and we’re thrown straight into the action. She and her fellow travellers are on the run from something, which soon is revealed to be a ferocious robot dog. Imagine K9 fused with one of the Bugs from Starship Troopers and ED-209 from RoboCop and you have a very clear indication of how vicious these metal hounds are.

The episode is shot in monochrome by David Slade, perhaps best known for Hannibal, American Gods and 30 Days of Night. Charlie Brooker’s story is lean and to the point, soon reducing the narrative to a survival story of man (woman) against machine, with human ingenuity trying to have the upper hand over the brute strength of the mechanical menace. It’s Cujo meets Richard Stanley’s Hardware, with Peake being particularly good at emoting her dogged (sorry for that) determination when all the odd are against her.

Verdict: A taut, cinematic battle between humanity and the machines, I can’t help but feel that a little exposition about the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of the setup would have added some useful context, but as it stands we’re basically told that this technology exists and we’re running for lives from what are clearly not mankind’s best friends. 7/10

Nick Joy