Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker returns to BBC for coronavirus special Antibacterial Wipe

Charlie Brooker is set to make a return to the BBC to present a coronavirus special, called Charlie Brooker’s Antibacterial Wipe.

The half-hour show will focus on how people are occupying themselves during their spare time amid the COVID-19 lockdown, as well as what they’re watching.

Announcing the special, Brooker, 49, said in a tongue-in-cheek statement: ‘The BBC asked me to supply a quote for the press release, which is what you’re reading now.’

In keeping with his other Screenwipe episodes, Diane Morgan and Al Campbell will return in their roles as reporters Philomena Cunk and Barry S**tpeas, respectively. An air date for the new special has yet to be announced.

The award-winning writer first aired TV review programme Screenwipe in 2006 with a three-part series that aired in that format up until 2008.

He then transitioned into making one-specials of the show, the most recent of which – The Best of 2010–2015 Wipe With Charlie Brooker – aired in December 2019.

With The 11 O’Clock Show and Brass Eye among his extensive CV, Brooker’s biggest success to date has been his creation of dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror, for which he has won a plethora of awards both in the US and UK. 

Back in 2018, Brooker paid tribute to his wife Konnie Huq and their two sons, revealing his whirlwind romance with the former Blue Presenter and becoming a parent changed him for the better.

The talented writer told BBC 4’s Desert Island Discs that marrying Konnie in a Las Vegas ceremony after just nine months together in 2010 and deciding to become a dad was ‘the best decision’ he had ever made.

Of the loved-up pair’s marriage he said: ‘That was absolutely the right time.

‘It was weird because, for years, I’d not known if I’d wanted kids or a family, that seemed like something that other people did, I couldn’t perceive of that as a future. 

 ‘And then Konnie came along and quite early on she said “I want kids and a family” and this sort of thing, and I heard myself going “OK”, and sort of thought, “oh, right, why have I said that?” It was the best decision I ever made.’

Konnie, 44, who previously dated fellow presenter Richard Bacon for six years, met Charlie nine years ago when she appeared in an episode of his show Screenwipe on BBC One in 2008.

The star said that he has a ‘romantic fluttering heart’ underneath his sarcastic exterior. The couple now share two sons Covey, seven and Huxley, five. 

Charlie said it was a ‘cliche’ to say that becoming a father changed him, as the star had written columns in the past in which he expressed his dislike for children and said he didn’t want any.

He also admitted to fearing that he wouldn’t bond with his baby and spoke about Konnie’s ‘horrific’ emergency Caesarean section while giving birth to eldest son Covey

He said: ‘I remember when Konnie was pregnant with our first son Covey, this was like in 2012 when he was born, and it was a thing I could worry about, the pregnancy.

‘But my biggest fear was that I’d heard about dads who, the baby is born and they just don’t connect, or for whatever reason, they don’t emotionally connect, and I didn’t really get babies and kids.

‘I was like, ‘that’s going to be me, what if I feel nothing?’ 

The pair raised eyebrows when they first got together due to their very different personalities, with Charlie described as a satirical pessimist while Konnie has a clean-cut happy-go-lucky image.

In an interview with the Guardian in 2011, Konnie was asked, ‘What or who is the greatest love of your life?’ to which she replied, ‘My husband.’