Black Mirror: Netflix show's 10 best rated episodes

Black Mirror will soon be back on the small screen for its sixth season, bringing five new stories to the Netflix franchise.

The dystopian series has been delighting viewers since 2011, though the first two seasons originally aired on Channel 4, and each features unique standalone episodes, some of which have proven more popular than others.

Read more: Black Mirror Easter eggs that prove the shared universe theory

Fans of the series have rated each episode on IMDb, bringing together a comprehensive list of the best episodes of the franchise as a whole.

Here's everything you need to know about the top ten episodes of Black Mirror, and the one season that dominated the rest.

10. Playtest - Season 3, episode 2

Gamer Cooper Redfield (Wyatt Russell) is given the opportunity of a lifetime, to test a new game but what at first seems like a golden opportunity becomes a waking nightmare when he can no longer tell the difference between the game and reality.

Rating: 8.1

9. USS Callister - Season 4, episode 1

Black Mirror's pseudo-Star Trek parody follows Captain Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons) who presides over his crew with apparent care, but the dark nature of his spaceship is soon uncovered when Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti) is made into a new recruit.

Rating: 8.3

8. Nosedive - Season 3, episode 1

In a remarkable commentary on modern society and how social media can be used for. validation, Nosedive follows Lacie (Bryce Dallas Howard) as she desperately tries to increase her social media score no mater the cost.

Rating: 8.3

Read more: Black Mirror's Charlie Brooker shares how AI-written episode influenced season 6 (Digital Spy, 2-min)

7. Shut Up and Dance - Season 3, episode 3

Kenny (Alex Lawthorne) is blackmailed into committing bizarre, criminal behaviour after a hacker comes into possession of a video of him masturbating. He is joined by Hector (Jerome Flynn) who is also being blackmailed by the hacker for cheating on his wife, and the pair try to placate the person extorting them in one of the show's darker tales.

Rating: 8.4

6. Hated in the Nation - Season 3, episode 5

Detectives Karin Parke (Kelly Macdonald) and Blue Coulson (Faye Marsay) investigate a series of deaths connected to those being sent hate on social media, inspired by Brooker's own experience with trolling the episode is a frank examination on society and environmentalism.

Rating: 8.5

5. The Entire History of You - Season 1, episode 3

One of the original episodes to be released from Black Mirror, The Entire History of You was penned by Succession creator Jesse Armstrong and it is set in a near-future where people's memories are recorded through lenses that allow them to re-watch them.

However, the technology serves a darker purpose in the episode when Liam (Toby Kebbell) begins suspecting his wife Ffion (Jodie Whittaker) of cheating.

Rating: 8.5

4. Black Museum - Season 4, episode 6

When Nish (Letitia Wright) visits the Black Museum she is met by the owner Rolo Haynes (Douglas Hodge) who begins to tell her the stories behind some of the exhibits, some more sinister than others.

Rating: 8.6

3. San Junipero - Season 3, episode 4

In San Junipero, Yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) and Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) meet in the town that the episode is named after, and their lives are changed forever by their experiences.

The episode has been hailed by critics and even won the show two Emmys for Outstanding TV Movie and Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.

Rating: 8.6

2. Hang the DJ - Season 4, episode 4

Joe Cole stars as Frank and Georgina Campbell as Amy in this emotional episode where a couple are paired by a dating program that puts an expiration date on all relationships. As their relationship develops the couple begin to wonder whether the system is wrong, and the episode has been largely praised by critics and was even nominated for three BAFTA awards.

Rating: 8.7

1. White Christmas - Season 2, episode 4

The first special of the Black Mirror franchise, White Christmas stars Jon Hamm, Rafe Spall and Oona Chaplin in three stories set during the festive period in which technology goes awry. On IMDb the special was universally acclaimed amongst fans and received the highest score of any episode in the franchise.

Rating: 9.1

Black Mirror season 6 premieres on Netflix on Thursday, 15 June.

Watch the trailer for Black Mirror season 6