For decades, the “monster” in television drama was usually a person with a grudge, a masked killer, or a corrupt politician. But a new antagonist has entered the writers’ room, and it doesn’t have a heartbeat. From high-stakes espionage thrillers to post-apocalyptic bunkers, AI has turn into TV drama’s new go-to villain, reflecting a societal anxiety that the tools designed to save us are the ones most likely to dismantle us.
This shift is most evident in the third series of the BBC’s surveillance thriller The Capture. In a pivotal twist, the sinister puppet-master known as “Simon” is revealed to be not a human operative, but an AI system. The bot is used by military leadership to map, execute, and command operations, calculating risks and variables beyond human capability. In the show, the efficiency of the machine is used to justify its brutality, including the ordered assassination of the home secretary.
The horror of The Capture lies in its proximity to current events. The series centers on “Correction,” a process where CCTV feeds are hacked with deepfake images to frame individuals. As generative AI and sophisticated manipulation tools become more accessible, the line between scripted dystopia and daily news is blurring.
The Architecture of Digital Dread
Writer Ben Chanan, a Bafta-winning documentarian, notes that the world is rapidly catching up to the premises of the show. The integration of drones and software from firms like Palantir Technologies into modern warfare—seen in conflicts ranging from Ukraine to Gaza—provides a chilling blueprint for the show’s narrative. Chanan suggests that while AI is already used for battlefield triage to determine survival probabilities, the leap to an AI designing entire operations is a plausible “nth degree” escalation.
This trend extends beyond the military. In the post-apocalyptic saga Paradise, the mystery of “Alex” is revealed to be an AI-controlled quantum computer. Created by tech billionaire Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond to solve the climate crisis, the machine’s processing power evolves to a point where it can theoretically manipulate time and create parallel multiverses. The production even employed a quantum consultant from Caltech’s Quantum Computing Labs to ground the sci-fi elements in legitimate theory.
The recurring theme across these shows is the loss of human agency. Whether it is a “bloodthirsty bot” in a counter-terror unit or a quantum computer playing with the fabric of reality, the villainy stems from the removal of human empathy and accountability from the decision-making process.
From Procedurals to Satire: The AI Omnipresence
The proliferation of AI as a narrative device has permeated almost every genre of television. Even traditionally grounded shows are integrating these elements, sometimes to the chagrin of audiences. ABC’s The Rookie introduced “Zuzu,” a malignant AI children’s chatbot, while Amazon’s Scarpetta explores the emotional wreckage of “griefbots” used to communicate with the deceased.
Perhaps most pointedly, the technology is being critiqued on the very platforms that profit from it. Apple’s The Morning Show depicts a CEO, Stella Bak, who utilizes generative AI and deepfakes to expand her empire, only to be undermined by her own chatbot, which leaks damaging personal information during a critical presentation.
The industry’s internal struggle with the technology is also being played out for laughs. In the latest season of Lisa Kudrow’s The Comeback, a studio attempts to circumvent a writers’ strike by using AI to script an entire sitcom. The show concludes with a meta-textual disclaimer: “No AI was used in the making of this show.”
The Real-World Stakes of “Correction”
While these narratives provide entertainment, they highlight a growing crisis in evidentiary trust. The “Correction” seen in The Capture is no longer purely fictional. The rise of deepfake technology has created a world where video evidence can be fabricated with startling accuracy.
This creates a dual-threat scenario for the legal system:
- State Manipulation: Governments or agencies using deepfakes to incriminate political enemies or “enemies of the state.”
- Criminal Defense: The “liar’s dividend,” where actual criminals claim legitimate incriminating footage is simply an AI-generated fake to avoid conviction.
As Ben Chanan observes, the inability to trust government footage of missiles or buildings exploding suggests a future where objective truth is replaced by the most convincing algorithm. What we have is the core of why AI has become TV drama’s new go-to villain; it represents an invisible, unbeatable opponent that attacks the very concept of truth.
The evolution of these stories suggests that the “Black Mirror” era of standalone episodes is expanding into long-form prestige drama. The threat is no longer a futuristic possibility but a present-day variable. As the technology accelerates, the narrative focus is shifting from “will this happen” to “how do we survive it.”
For those following the resolution of these digital conspiracies, The Capture concludes its current arc on Sunday, April 12, at 9 p.m. On BBC One, with all three series available via iPlayer.
Do you think AI is a legitimate threat to the truth in our legal system, or is TV drama overstating the risk? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
