It was written by the series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and his wife Konnie Huq[note 1] and directed by Euros Lyn.

Set in a world where most of society must cycle on exercise bikes in order to earn currency called "merits", the episode tells the story of Bing (Daniel Kaluuya), who meets Abi (Jessica Brown Findlay) and convinces her to participate in a talent show so she can become famous.

The episode was inspired by Huq's idea that her technology-obsessed husband Brooker would be happy in a room covered by screens; it additionally drew motivation from the narrative of talent shows leading to fame.

The acting received a mixed reception, as did the world-building, but the depressing humour and bleak tone of the episode garnered positive reviews.

"Fifteen Million Merits" was nominated for a British Academy Television Craft Award, but did not win; while on critics' lists of Black Mirror episodes by quality, it generally places middling or poorly.

Bing Madsen (Daniel Kaluuya) lives in a room surrounded by screens that wake him up, serve as a video game console and feature regular adverts.

He sits next to Dustin (Paul Popplewell), an obnoxious man who degrades the overweight cleaners as they pass and watches pornography as he cycles.

Overhearing Abi Khan (Jessica Brown Findlay) singing in the toilets, Bing persuades her to enter Hot Shot, a virtual talent show whose winners can live a life of luxury.

The judges praise her performance, but maintain that being an "above average" singer is not enough, so Wraith offers a place for Abi on his pornography channel WraithBabes.

Hope declares the speech the most heartfelt in Hot Shot history and offers Bing his own regular show on one of his channels.

Despite criticising the system on his show, he now lives in a luxury apartment, and the episode ends with him looking out from his room at what appears to be a vast green forest.

[1] Huq had conceived of a future where the walls of every house would be a touch-screen television, whilst Brooker had been inspired by avatars and Miis on the Xbox 360 and Wii.

[2] Additionally, Brooker said that the episode is based on a narrative promoted by talent shows where becoming an "overnight star" is "one of the main means of salvation that's held up" for people who "do a job they hate for little reward".

He said that the advert "implied the Mac might save mankind from a nightmarish Orwellian future", but that such a world would instead "probably" look "a bit like" the one in "Fifteen Million Merits".

One ending revealed that the exercise bikes were not connected to anything, contrary to the implication that they are generating electricity; Jones commented that the viewer may think this anyway.

Digital avatars called "doppels" represented each character on the screens, including in a large Hot Shot audience.

Kaluuya worked with a choreographer for the dance, whilst the rant was written by Brooker "in a real rush" to imitate Bing's feelings as he speaks.

[2] The episode features an original soundtrack by Stephen McKeon, who agreed with Lyn that the score should use live musicians and sound "natural" as a contrast to the artificiality of the setting.

[2] The music for pornography channel WraithBabes features voices by Tara Lee, McKeon's daughter, who was 16 years old at the time.

The scene in which Bing works hard to achieve enough merits to enter Hot Shot is five minutes long; the music had to build throughout, and McKeon used a sample of an exercise bike in his composition.

Coincidentally, "Fifteen Million Merits" was initially scheduled to air at the same time as the final of the eighth series of ITV's The X Factor.

Brooker commented that Hot Shot was not meant to "directly be" The X Factor, as talent shows have different roles in the fictional setting of the episode.

[2] From June to September 2017, scenes from "Fifteen Million Merits" were featured at a Barbican Centre exhibit entitled "Into the Unknown: A Journey Through Science Fiction".

[8][2] Alexandra Howard of The 405 identified advertising and capitalism as "villain[s]" in this episode and Adam David of CNN Philippines found the world to be "techno-fascist".

Sam Richards of The Telegraph noted that Hot Shot is "a caustic satire on TV talent shows"; it was widely considered to be based on the singing competition The X Factor, with Judge Hope in the role of Simon Cowell.

Lambie made comparisons to the 20th century dystopian novels Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World and We, due to the plot revolving around a "doomed relationship".

[20] Ian Berriman of GamesRadar+ compared the episode to the works of the American author Ray Bradbury and to the French Marxist Guy Debord's concept of the "spectacle".

She said that Abi's storyline is relevant to contemporary reality stars and Instagram models, arguing that "stardom, for women, equates to sexual objectification".

[13] The episode received praise from Sims, who said it was "a dazzling piece of science fiction that builds its world out slowly but perfectly".

[13] "Fifteen Million Merits" placed middling to poorly on critics' rankings of the 23 installments of Black Mirror, from best to worst: