Written by Charlie Brooker and first aired in 2011, "The National Anthem" is a Black Mirror episode about a British Prime Minister being coerced to have sex with a pig on live television in exchange for the safe return of a kidnapped princess. "The National Anthem" is the inaugural episode of the speculative fiction anthology series Black Mirror.
Prime Minister Michael Callow (played by Rory Kinnear) is woken before dawn and shown a video of Princess Susannah reading out a kidnapper's ransom. Bizarrely, the kidnapper's only demand is that Callow have sex with a pig on live television at 4 p.m. that day. Because the kidnapper uploaded the video to YouTube, news of the scandal proliferates online faster than the UK government can censor it. When the Home Secretary's plan to fake the footage using a porn actor stand-in becomes public knowledge, the kidnapper releases a video of him ostensibly removing Susannah's finger. Unable to track down the kidnapper in time, and with public opinion against him, Callow reluctantly goes through with the obscene act for over an hour, which the kidnapper stipulates must end in ejaculation. 1.3 billion people around the world tune in to watch. When the broadcast ends, the Home Secretary learns the sedated princess was released thirty minutes before the broadcast, but no one found her stumbling around central London because they were preoccupied with the broadcast. It is revealed that the kidnapper, who commits suicide during the broadcast, was a Turner Prize–winning artist who orchestrated the stunt to make a statement about humanity's voyeuristic desire to see others humiliated.
Exploring themes of public opinion, humiliation, coercion, and media sensationalism, "The National Anthem" depicts a government and citizenry being manipulated by weaponized consumer technology that plays on our basest desires. Reception to "The National Anthem" was positive, leading to a large Black Mirror fan base and critical acclaim. The episode had 1.9 million viewers at the time of its Dec 4, 2011 airing on Channel 4, and it was nominated for "Best Single Drama" at the Broadcast Awards.
While the episode bears an eerie similarity to the #piggate scandal involving former Prime Minister David Cameron, Brooker insists the parallel is coincidental and that he had no prior knowledge of the allegations against Cameron.
