Summary
In Part Two, a young couple is in bed watching the video on YouTube. They don’t understand why it isn’t on the news. The scene cuts to the newsroom of UKN; the mood is tense as a group of journalists argue over the story. Martin, the editor, tells his journalists they can’t report on it. The journalists take shots at him for abiding by the D-notice while any internet platform can freely run with the story.
When a young man opens the door to say CNN is running the story, the editor throws up his hands. Martin then assigns his reporters to get to work on reporting it, specifying the angles they should take. Martin tells Malaika (Chetna Pandya), a journalist who has been among the most forceful in saying they should run the story, to “update the Princess obit VT.” She is surprised and looks at him with resentment.
Martin phones Tom Blice (Tom Goodman-Hill), one of the prime minister’s aides. Tom is angry and tells Martin that UKN will get no help from No. 10 going forward. He is telling to Martin to shove it up his ass when Cairns walks by Tom. She says has been “exploring contingency plans” and has “briefed Callett.”
The scene cuts to Special Agent Callett (Alex Macqueen) arriving at a TV studio. A producer introduces Callett to Noel, an award-winning special effects coordinator. While walking down a hall, Callett and Noel discuss the kidnapper’s specifications. Callett says: “Rule sheet specifies a single hand-held camera in a constant roving motion.” Noel comments, “Gonzo style. He knows his shit. That’s tough.” When Noel asks what “Fruition to be transmitted in full” means, Callett tells him to focus on the visuals. He is asking if Noel can map one performer’s face onto another’s body. Noel laughs and says it “can’t happen” when he learns the deadline to know if it can work is 2 p.m. Callett says: “It has to.”
At a hospital, workers stand together and watch the UKN breaking news report on the kidnapping. The news shows text of the kidnapper’s instructions “relating to the enactment of this demand.” As the new story is on, various people across the country are going about their mornings while the report plays on their TVs. Among the viewers is a middle-aged white man in a green sweater and white overalls. He glances over his shoulder at the TV while walking to a large utility sink in his artist’s studio. People begin commenting on the story.
Malaika phones one of the Downing Street aides, asking for a comment. He says there is no comment, but he still “wants that drink.” She says, suggestively, “I’m friendly when I drink. Very friendly when I’m grateful.” The flustered young man smiles and hangs up. Malaika goes to a toilet stall to take a selfie of her nude torso. The staffer she was just speaking with receives a text on his phone and looks at the photo before returning his phone to his pocket.
The news coverage continues with public opinion polls about whether viewers would tune in to see it. There are also street interviews with members of the public, commenting on how disgusting it is. Meanwhile, the prime minister’s wife, Jane, looks at YouTube comments on the ransom video with a look of anger and concern. She goes down to speak with her husband, pushing past the guard outside his meeting room door. She says it is her house.
When they are alone, Callow tells his wife, “It won’t come to that.” He says MI5 are surrounding another suspected holding place in Truro. She can tell he is lying. Callow says they’ll get through this. His wife says, “Everyone’s laughing at us” and disparages the beloved princess for being a national sweetheart. Jane adds, “I know people. We love humiliation. We can’t not laugh.” She sobs, and says that in people’s heads, he’s already having sex with a pig. They hug and she says she loves him. Someone interrupts to tell Callow the palace is on the phone. It’s the queen herself on the line. Jane leaves the room so Callow can take the call.
At the hospital, a larger crowd of nurses and people has formed. Two male nurses discuss how the kidnapper’s specifications are like Dogme 95, a list of cinematic rules to ensure authenticity in cinema. They say that the rules are being used in this case so the government can’t cheat the footage and show another guy's “arse.” On the news, a panel discussion takes place. A young Muslim man says the terrorism can’t be Islamist because “to request a pig is specifically abhorrent.” An older white man on the panel says, “That’s exactly the point: to make love to a pig!” Editors listen and tell the news presenter moderating the panel to move the speakers away from the “grisly details.”
Back at Downing Street, the prime minister tells the home secretary that the queen told him she hoped he would do everything in his power to get the princess back. He says, “It wasn’t a collective ‘you.’ It was a singular ‘you,’ i.e. me.” A young aide then explains that she ran a nationwide traceback on the upload by reverse-engineering the data based on the video’s compression size. She finds a building in the country and discovers from a 3 a.m. flyover satellite image that there was a light on inside late at night. The prime minister says, “We got him. We got him.” Believing they’ve tracked down the kidnapper’s location, the prime minister tells his team to get a full MI5 squad “with helmet cam relay” on the case. As the aides leave the room to set the raid in motion, Callow says, “Yes” and moves his fist triumphantly; he smirks to himself in relief. Part Two ends.
Analysis
In Part Two, Brooker introduces the major theme of media sensationalism as the action moves from Downing Street to the newsroom of the fictional UKN television network. The dark side of technological innovation arises again as the UKN staff comment on the irony of not being able to report on the kidnapping story while most of the world has already heard about it through social media platforms. At a certain point, abiding by the D-notice makes the network look like it is sacrificing journalistic integrity by silencing a story everyone already knows about.
While the chief editor insists on abiding by the D-notice to keep good relations with Downing Street sources, the story’s overwhelming online traction prompts CNN to report on the story; at this, Martin gives in and sets about covering every angle of the story, knowing its sensational nature will boost the network’s viewing figures. At Downing Street, Tom Blice is angry with Martin for defying the D-notice advisory, but Martin reacts as though they have no choice. With this development, Brooker shows how a traditional information-sharing agreement between a prominent outlet and the government can be easily broken because of social media’s ubiquity.
In an instance of dramatic irony, the viewer learns that Home Secretary Alex Cairns is going behind the Prime Minister’s back to explore a way of faking the broadcast footage, even though to do so violates the kidnapper’s stipulations. In a comedic subplot, Brooker juxtaposes the always-serious demeanor of MI6 Special Agent Callett with his absurd task: contracting a special effects coordinator to graft the Prime Minister’s face onto a porn star’s body while he has sex with a pig.
Ironically, the kidnapper realizes that technological innovations, which he relied on to set up the ransom, could be used to trick him into believing the ransom is being fulfilled. To preempt the government’s attempts at forgery, the kidnapper sets out rules for the broadcast, which are similar to the cinematic limitations set out by Danish directors in the Dogme 95 movement manifesto. This list of rules was meant to save the traditional tools of filmmakers, which were at risk of erasure by increasingly sophisticated special effects.
The major theme of public opinion arises as more and more people across Britain learn of the scandal being reported on UKN. To fill their all-day coverage schedule, UKN conducts street interviews with passersby and polls members of the public about whether they think the Prime Minister should fulfill the kidnapper’s demands, and whether they would watch. The Prime Minister’s wife, Jane, gets swept up in the public’s perception of the spectacle, taking great issue with comments she sees on YouTube of people mocking her husband. Jane reveals that she has a pessimistic view of the public, who she sees as being unable to avoid indulging their voyeuristic need to see others’ humiliation. She predicts that her husband’s image will be ruined if he goes through with it.
