Black Mirror Season 6: Why Stuart From Episode 2 Looks So Familiar
The second episode of the sixth season of "Black Mirror," titled "Loch Henry," is more based in realism than a typical episode of the tech-centric horror anthology series — but that doesn't make it any less effective. It's a tense, tricky hour of television centered around a largely vacant Scottish town, Loch Henry, that was once a hotspot for tourists... but that all changed when the town was hit with a series of disappearances and brutal murders, tanking the local economy for years. This all ends up changing when Davis (Samuel Blenkin) brings his American girlfriend Pia (Myha'la Herrold) head to the town to visit his mother Janet (Monica Dolan) and uncover a deeply unsettling revelation about those murders.
In the middle all of this is Daniel Portman's Stuart, an old friend of Davis who runs the town pub and is more than happy to help Pia and Davis as they investigate the scene of the crime. So who is Daniel Portman, and where have you seen him before? Well, if you're a fan of "Game of Thrones," you'll definitely remember Portman from his scene-stealing supporting turn.
Daniel Portman played Ser Podrick Payne on Game of Thrones
Daniel Portman certainly made a name for himself on "Game of Thrones" as Podrick Payne, who begins the show as a somewhat inept squire who ends up saving just the right person at the right time. During Season 2's Battle of the Blackwater Bay, he defends Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) from an attack that disfigures Tyrion, but he emerges as the hero of the hour and with the conniving, powerful Tyrion as an ally. After serving Tyrion — more accurately, after Tyrion is falsely imprisoned for murdering his nephew King Joffrey Baratheon — he begins serving Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) as she pledges her own loyalty to the Stark family.
Podrick, thanks to a joke where a brothel full of sex workers awarded to him by Tyrion return the money because he was apparently such a capable lover, became a fan favorite and stuck around until the (bitter) end of "Game of Thrones," fighting alongside everybody else in the Battle of Winterfell against the incoming White Walkers. When all is said and done — meaning, King's Landing is destroyed by Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), who is then killed by her nephew-lover Jon Snow, and everybody left alive picks a new leader in Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) — Podrick is named to the Kingsguard, earning the title of Ser. Considering how few people survive until the end of "Game of Thrones, Portman's Podrick definitely fared pretty well.
Beyond Game of Thrones, Daniel Portman has been in a handful of projects
Besides "Black Mirror" and "Game of Thrones," Portman hasn't acted in a ton of projects, but he's been in a handful of projects between the big and small screen. Portman started his time on "Game of Thrones" in 2012, and while he was playing Podrick Payne, he also showed up in a few movies, like 2016's "The Journey" alongside Timothy Spall and 2018's Crackle original "In the Cloud," which also starred Gabriel Byrne. Just after "Game of Thrones" ended in May of 2019, Portman also popped up in "Robert the Bruce," which came out in June of that year.
As for television, all of Portman's work came after "Game of Thrones" aside from an appearance in the soap opera "River City" in 2010 — which is understandable considering the intense shooting schedule. Portman appeared in two miniseries in 2021 and 2022, "Vigil" and "The Control Room," and in 2022, he also showed up in the crime drama "Karen Pirie."
What happens in Loch Henry?
When all is said and done, Daniel Portman's Stuart ends up playing a decently large role in the events of "Loch Henry." After Pia and Davis decide to make a film about the Loch Henry murders carried out by disturbed Iain Adair — who trapped his victims in a sort of torture chamber beneath his home — Stuart happily joins them, even going into the basement with them to get on-the-ground footage, going "proper 'Blair Witch.'" After the three of them get in a car accident on the way back, Stuart, Pia, and Davis join Stuart's agitated father Mr. King (John Hannah), who starts to tell Davis about some suspicions before the camera cuts to Pia alone in Davis' room.
As the tape they created runs out, the footage continues, as the three had taped over reruns of "Bergerac," a fictional detective show beloved by Janet and her late husband Kenneth. Though Davis believes that a gunshot from Adair killed Kenneth, Pia discovers gruesome footage revealing that Kenneth and Janet worked alongside Adair to torture and kill the victims.
Pia dies while chased by Janet, and the latter finds a horrifying way to evade justice... leaving a shattered Davis behind. Stuart, though? He's celebrating the documentary focuses on the Loch Henry murders winning a BAFTA, and his pub is overrun with customers. At least someone in Loch Henry gets a happy ending, right?