Black Mirror season 3: Full story details revealed

Black Mirror is making its grand return to television - with a bigger budget, flashier casts, and a new home at Netflix.

The streaming giant claims to have given creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones complete creative control over the show; originally ordering 12, with six currently in line to drop on the service in October.

The hype is now forming around where exactly Brooker and Jones will take audiences on this third outing; in a world which has much changed over the years and, in certain ways, seen a few of the show's earlier episodes actually come to fruition.

Following our exclusive reveal of story details for the first three episodes in the series - 'San Junipero', 'Shut Up and Dance', and 'Nosedive' - Entertainment Weekly has now offered a rundown of each episode by Brooker himself.

Insecure office worker Lacie (Bryce Dallas Howard) lives in a happy, smiley, status-obsessed nightmare world. Her old friend Naomi (Alice Eve) is one of society’s elites -- and Lacie may have found a way to join her... "Each episode this season is a different genre; this one is a social satire," Brooker revealed. "It’s got a creepy serenity to it and won’t be what people expect."

California, 1987: San Junipero is a fun-loving beach town synonymous with sun, surf, and sex. And for recent arrivals Yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) and Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), it’s going to be a life-changer…"It’s kind of an ‘80s coming-of-age drama with a Black Mirror undertow," Brooker said. "Also, when Netflix picked us up, people were going, ''Oh that means [the show is] going to be Americanized.' I thought it would be a funny to f**k with those people by literally writing an episode set in California."

When withdrawn 19-year-old Kenny (Alex Lawther) stumbles headlong into an online trap, he is quickly forced into an uneasy alliance with shifty Hector (Jerome Flynn) – both of them at the mercy of persons unknown. Brooker explains the episode is set in the present day without any sci-fi elements, adding that it's the "most grounded" of the series; best explained as "a kitchen sink nightmarish thriller".

A military story set in a post-war future, the episode sees a rookie soldier (Malachi Kirby) posted overseas, protecting frightened villagers from an infestation of vicious feral mutants alongside fellow soldier Raiman (Madeline Brewer). They’re hoping some new technological advantage will save them. "It stemmed slightly from thinking about drone attacks and how technology is alternating the face of warfare, but it’s not about drones," Brooker explained. "It’s a horror thriller, almost like The Walking Dead."

A thrill-seeking globetrotter (Wyatt Russell) visits Britain, hooks up with a woman (Hannah John-Kamen) and tests the latest in video game technology – "a device as mind-bendingly sophisticated as it is terrifying." The episode stems from Brooker's own experience as a former video game journalist; directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), who he described as, "fantastic at creating suspenseful and tense mood; this is our Evil Dead 2."

The show’s first-ever 90-minute episode is a crime drama inspired by the likes of Scandi-Noir thrillers The Killing and Borgen. A police detective (Kelly McDonald) and her geeky young sidekick investigate a string of grisly murders with a sinister link to social media. Brooker teased the episode as dealing with, "online rage". "It starts out like a stylish standard police procedural, then takes a bizarre turn."

The first three episodes will premiere at the London Film Festival on 6 October, following a discussion and Q&A with Brooker, Jones, and 'Nosedive' director Joe Wright.

The full six episodes will then drop on Netflix, 21 October.