Charlie Brooker: No 'get out of jail free card' for Boris Johnson because he had coronavirus

Charlie Brooker has said the fact that Boris Johnson had the coronavirus does not give him a “get out of jail free card”.

The prime minister was taken to hospital in April after contracting the virus but has now recovered.

Black Mirror creator Brooker told The Guardian that while he was not a fan of Johnson he was worried about him when he was in intensive care.

Read more: Charlie Brooker ‘always expected’ something like coronavirus pandemic

He added: “Worrying about that doesn’t mean you’re not worried about everything else.

“It doesn’t mean you’re not critical of things he’s done or decisions he’s taken. And also it doesn’t give him a get-out-of-jail-free card.

“Now he’s back in the saddle, it doesn’t mean you can’t criticise the decisions that he’s made.”

Brooker, 49, previously suggested he was finding coping with the coronavirus pandemic easier than some as he “always expected something like this to come along”.

Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice

Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world

Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area

Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu

He has now told The Guardian he doesn’t feel a huge sense of shock at the current situation, because he suspected something like this could happen.

Read more: Konnie Huq 'just knew' Charlie Brooker was Mr Right

The star said that having watched a lot of things about nuclear war when he was a child, he assumed he would at some point be “stumbling through rubble eating rats”.

The star is set to return to TV on Thursday night with a pandemic special of his Screenwipe series.

Charlie Brooker’s Antiviral Wipe will focus on the coronavirus crisis.

It will be on BBC Two at 9pm.