The manner in which TV series in the UK are aired can be highly frustrating at times. Sometimes you only get three episodes of a show and then nothing else for a couple of years.

While waiting for more episodes is frustrating, it does allow a lot of interesting ideas to make it onto TV screens, thus always offering audiences something exciting to watch.

One such exciting idea is the mini-series Black Mirror. Aired on Channel 4 in the UK, it’s a series of three unrelated one-hour short movies that all offer a twisted commentary on technology.

For those not familiar with the series, let’s take a look at some of the intriguing yet strange topics of the previous episodes so that you can get an idea.

In one story, an unknown person kidnaps a British princess and posts a ransom video on YouTube. The video says that the princess will be set free if the British prime minister performs an indecent act with a pig on live TV.

Another story is set in a future where people must pedal bikes in order to generate power for the world and earn money that they can spend only on food, skipping TV ads, other entertainment and to change their online avatar.

In the third and final episode of season two, which aired on Feb 27, a computer-generated character from a TV show is jokingly put forward to become a member of Parliament.

One of the joys of watching Black Mirror is that as an anthology series it changes its setting, characters and theme in each episode, always leaving viewers unsure about what to expect in the next installment.

But the series presents a world in which anything is possible thanks to technology — a hard, cold fact that is less joyous to digest.

The stories, often through extreme situations, explore the human anxieties that surround technology: when we enjoy science but ignore morality, will we suffer a disaster?

Charlie Brooker, creator of the series, described Black Mirror as being about “the way we live now — and the way we might be living in 10 minutes’ time if we’re clumsy”.

I’ve always enjoyed TV series and movies that make people think. Black Mirror is undoubtedly a thought-provoking experiment and a refreshing change from other programs on the schedule.