# Demon 79
**Demon 79** is the fifth and final episode of the sixth series of the British anthology television series *Black Mirror*, first released on Netflix on 15 June 2023. Written by [Charlie Brooker](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlie-brooker) and Bisha K. Ali and directed by Toby Haynes, it departs from the series' usual technological themes for a supernatural horror story set in northern England in 1979, and it carries its own opening title card reading "A RED MIRROR FILM".[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/black_mirror/s06/e05) • [2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Episode | Series 6, episode 5 of *Black Mirror*; aired 15 June 2023 on Netflix[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/black_mirror/s06/e05) |
| Writing and direction | Screenplay by Charlie Brooker and Bisha K. Ali; directed by Toby Haynes; executive producers include Annabel Jones and Jessica Rhoades[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/black_mirror/s06/e05) |
| Premise | In 1979, sales assistant Nida Huq accidentally activates a talisman and is told she must make three human sacrifices over three days to prevent a nuclear apocalypse[2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained) |
| Cast | Anjana Vasan as Nida Huq; Paapa Essiedu as Gaap; Katherine Rose Morley as Vicky; David Shields as Michael Smart[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/black_mirror/s06/e05) |
| Length | 75 minutes[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/black-mirror-season-6-review-episodes-ranked-b2357292.html) |
| Critical reception | 100% approval on Rotten Tomatoes, from 14 reviews[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/black_mirror/s06/e05) |
## Premise
Nida Huq ([Anjana Vasan](https://www.edgepedia.org/anjana-vasan)) is a meek shoe saleswoman at a department store in a northern English town in 1979. Her isolation is sharpened by the racism and anti-immigrant sentiment around her: her house is daubed with National Front graffiti, and a colleague, Vicky, is openly hostile and plans to vote for the National Front, an anti-immigration movement.[2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained) • [3](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/black-mirror-season-6-review-episodes-ranked-b2357292.html) • [4](https://www.gamesradar.com/best-black-mirror-episodes/) While eating her lunch in the store basement, she discovers a talisman bearing a mysterious symbol; after cutting her finger, her blood activates it.[2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained) • [5](https://www.pluggedin.com/tv-reviews/black-mirror/)
The talisman summons a demon named Gaap ([Paapa Essiedu](https://www.edgepedia.org/paapa-essiedu)), who appears to Nida in the form of disco star Bobby Farrell of Boney M, a performer she has seen on television. Gaap explains that unless she carries out three human sacrifices over the next three days, the world will end on [May Day](https://www.edgepedia.org/may-day) 1979 in a fiery nuclear apocalypse.[2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained) • [3](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/black-mirror-season-6-review-episodes-ranked-b2357292.html) Gaap reasons that three killings are minor against "an agonizing death for all". He also faces a penalty of his own: if the sacrifices are not made, he will be cast into eternal oblivion.[2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained) • [5](https://www.pluggedin.com/tv-reviews/black-mirror/)
Nida is not a natural murderer, so Gaap helps her select targets who "deserve" death by showing her visions of terrible deeds they have committed or will commit. Her first impulses include Vicky and a local man believed to have strangled his wife.[2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained) • [4](https://www.gamesradar.com/best-black-mirror-episodes/) • [5](https://www.pluggedin.com/tv-reviews/black-mirror/) For the final sacrifice she insists on the politician Michael Smart (David Shields), despite Gaap's urging to choose someone else; demons are fans of Smart, and the visions show Nida his future, a rising tide of fascism.[6](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a44301942/black-mirror-season-6-episodes-ranked/)
## Ending
The deadline arrives and Nida does not prevent the apocalypse: fiery mushroom clouds destroy northern England on May Day, 1979.[2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained) Faced with death on Earth or an eternal oblivion outside it, Nida chooses to accompany Gaap into oblivion rather than stay behind. Reviews described the choice as a strange kind of optimism grounded in personal decision rather than in saving the world.[6](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a44301942/black-mirror-season-6-episodes-ranked/) • [7](https://8flix.com/assets/transcripts/b/tt2085059/BLACK-MIRROR-S6-PRESS-PACK.pdf)
## Red Mirror and production
The title sequence reads "A RED MIRROR FILM", marking the episode, in Brooker's words, as "different-yet-adjacent to *Black Mirror*". He initially conceived it as the first episode of a companion retro-themed horror anthology series called Red Mirror, and said further episodes could be made under the label depending on the episode's success.[2](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained)It was the first episode of series six to be written, though the last to air, and the only episode of the season not solely written by Brooker; Bisha K. Ali shares the screenplay credit.[8](https://www.televisual.com/news/black-mirror-hello-darkness-my-old-friend/) Essiedu, a fan of the series, described the story as "unique, political, funny and uniquely human".[9](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/videos/black-mirror-demon-79-behind-the-scenes-paapa-essiedu-anjana-vasan)
The past setting fits the season's wider shift: "Demon 79" was conceived for the retro-horror strand, "Beyond the Sea" was changed from a near-future story to one set in 1969, and "Mazey Day" is set in the mid-2000s. Brooker said that setting episodes in the past freed him from inventing technology-centered premises.[10](https://time.com/6287513/black-mirror-season-6-review/)
## Setting and themes
The episode's 1979 Britain is drawn from real conditions: the [Winter of Discontent](https://www.edgepedia.org/winter-of-discontent) of 1978 to 1979, months of industrial disputes, spiraling fuel costs, a crisis in [James Callaghan](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-callaghan)'s government, and right-wing agitation in the north of England. Critics noted that these issues felt strikingly present to viewers rather than purely nostalgic, reading the episode less as a prediction of a technological future than as commentary on the political present.[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/black-mirror-season-6-review-episodes-ranked-b2357292.html) • [11](https://exhibitions.wienerholocaustlibrary.org/beware-this-poison/)
The supernatural framing also carries a reading about radicalization: one analysis argues that stripped of the demon, the story shows how an isolated, humiliated, scapegoated person can be handed a charismatic voice and an apocalyptic justification that reframes killing as saving the world.[12](https://www.howclosetoblackmirror.com/demon-79)
## Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the episode holds 100% approval, from 14 reviews.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/black_mirror/s06/e05) Reviewers rated it four stars in *The Independent* and Vulture and 4.5 stars in Den of Geek, while *The Daily Telegraph* gave it five stars and called it "funny, gory" with what could be read as a happy ending.[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/black-mirror-season-6-review-episodes-ranked-b2357292.html) Critics singled out the chemistry between Vasan and Essiedu, and Gaap's characterization drew particular praise; *The Guardian*'s Stuart Heritage attributed the episode's success to Essiedu.[6](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a44301942/black-mirror-season-6-episodes-ranked/) Time ranked it second of the five episodes of season six, calling it the most conspicuous outlier in a season full of them and noting that it has no connection to technology, the future, or mass media.[13](https://time.com/6287186/black-mirror-season-6-episodes-ranked/)
## References
1. [Black Mirror: Season 6, Episode 5 "Demon 79", Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/black_mirror/s06/e05)
2. ['Black Mirror' Episode 5 'Demon 79' Ending Explained, Netflix Tudum (Stephan Lee, June 20, 2023)](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/black-mirror-demon-79-ending-explained)
3. [Black Mirror season 6 review, The Independent (Nick Hilton, June 15, 2023)](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/black-mirror-season-6-review-episodes-ranked-b2357292.html)
4. [All Black Mirror episodes ranked, GamesRadar+ (Amy West)](https://www.gamesradar.com/best-black-mirror-episodes/)
5. [Black Mirror review (S6, Ep5 "Demon 79"), Plugged In](https://www.pluggedin.com/tv-reviews/black-mirror/)
6. [Every 'Black Mirror' Season 6 Episode, Ranked, Elle](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a44301942/black-mirror-season-6-episodes-ranked/)
7. [Black Mirror S6 Press Pack transcript](https://8flix.com/assets/transcripts/b/tt2085059/BLACK-MIRROR-S6-PRESS-PACK.pdf)
8. [Black Mirror: Hello darkness my old friend, Televisual](https://www.televisual.com/news/black-mirror-hello-darkness-my-old-friend/)
9. [Black Mirror: Behind the Scenes of Demon 79 with Paapa Essiedu, Netflix Tudum (June 22, 2023)](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/videos/black-mirror-demon-79-behind-the-scenes-paapa-essiedu-anjana-vasan)
10. [What Even Is 'Black Mirror' Anymore?, Time (June 2023)](https://time.com/6287513/black-mirror-season-6-review/)
11. ['Beware this Poison': Fighting Fascism in 1970s Britain, Wiener Holocaust Library](https://exhibitions.wienerholocaustlibrary.org/beware-this-poison/)
12. [Demon 79: How Real Is Its Moral Panic?, How Close to Black Mirror](https://www.howclosetoblackmirror.com/demon-79)
13. ['Black Mirror' Season 6 Episodes, Ranked From Worst to Best, Time](https://time.com/6287186/black-mirror-season-6-episodes-ranked/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Seasons, episodes, and installments › Episodes and serial chapters › Individual episode articles › Season and series finales › Science-fiction and fantasy franchise finales*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license