‘Black Mirror’: Jessica Brown Findlay Was ‘Terrified’ to Sing in ‘Fifteen Million Merits’

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers from “Black Mirror” Season 1, Episode 2, “Fifteen Million Merits.”]When Jessica Brown Findlay famously left “Downton Abbey” in its tragic third season that also saw the departure of Dan Stevens, she sought to change up her image.

Although she had first appeared in the science fiction drama “Misfits” as a young offender, she knew she would always be associated with the sweet youngest Crawley daughter, Lady Sibyl.Enter Charlie Brooker’s “Black Mirror,” the sci-fi anthology series that in its first season surprised viewers with its gloomy and over-the-top look at how the use of technology in culture can backfire.

The season’s second episode “Fifteen Million Merits” is set in a society where members must cycle on exercise bikes to power their surroundings and simultaneously earn “merits.” It stars a pre-“Get Out” Daniel Kaluuya as Bing, who encourages Abi (Brown Findlay) to enter a talent competition to escape the drudgery of her existence.

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