Garth Marenghi's Darkplace 

This parody series is an unearthed 80s horror/drama, complete with poor production values, awful dialogue and hilarious violence. The series is set in a Hospital in Romford, which is situated over the gates of Hell.

Stars:

Richard Ayoade, Matt Berry, Matthew Holness

Top Rated TV #215 | 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Richard Ayoade	...	Dean Learner / ... 6 episodes, 2004
Matt Berry	...	Dr. Lucien Sanchez / ... 6 episodes, 2004
Matthew Holness	...	Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. / ... 6 episodes, 2004
Alice Lowe	...	Madeleine Wool / ... 6 episodes, 2004
Kim Noble	...	Jim 4 episodes, 2004
Julian Barratt	...	Padre 3 episodes, 2004
Matt Green	...	Chef's Assistant / ... 2 episodes, 2004
Sarah Kants	...	Larry's Mother 2 episodes, 2004
Graham Linehan	...	Security Guard 2 episodes, 2004
Stephen Merchant	...	The Chef 2 episodes, 2004

Storyline

In the 1980s horror writer Garth Marenghi wrote, produced, directed and starred in Darkplace, a groundbreaking series set in a hospital and exploring the depths of the author's imagination. At least that's what Marenghi and his publicist/co-star, Dean Learner, claim in modern-day interviews which both bookend and interrupt the episodes. In fact the show is cheap, chiché'd, full of gaping plot holes and startlingly misogynist. Garth Marenghi is a creation of comedian Matthew Holness, who won a Perrier award with the character at the 2001 Edinburgh festival.

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Plot Keywords:

hospital | interview | 1980s | tv producer | television | 

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Taglines:

From the best-selling master of darkness

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

Avalon Television Channel 4 [UK]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 January 2004 (UK)

Also Known As:

Darkplace

Filming Locations:

Romford, Essex, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avalon Television,Channel 4 Television Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Every actor in this series, even the extras, also appear in The Mighty Boosh, except for Matthew Hollness (Garth Marenghi). Matthew, however, was the original actor for Dixon Bainbridge in the Mighty Boosh live shows before it was adapted to TV.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Dr. Rick Dagless: My name is Doctor Rick Dagless, M.D.

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Crazy Credits

During the closing credits of each episode the music featured in that particular episode plays, most notably in episode six "The Creeping Moss from the Shores of Shuggoth" when the song "One Track Lover" plays during the credits.

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Connections

Spin-off Man to Man with Dean Learner (2006)

User Reviews

The BEST COMEDY since The Office

"In the 1980's the horror writing genius and self confessed "sooth" Garth Marenghi penned a ground-breaking series of tele-plays. Of the 64 episodes written, only 50 managed to make it into production during the two-month filming. Marenghi's aim was simple: "To change the evolutionary course of mankind over a series of half-hour episodes". However, Merenghi claims that his series was too ground-breaking, and too shocking for the public, and for the past twenty years direct government intervention prevented the shows from ever seeing the light of day. That is, until now. Channel 4 (and E4) are now for the first time running six episodes from the series, and Garth Marenghi has said he is willing to be personally held accountable to God for the consequences."

Garth Marenghi's Dark Place is a spoof of all horror films, tv and action tv from the 80's. Its set up as if the series was made in the 80's and was banned and is now eventually being shown. Throughout the episodes we get to see the cast and crew's comments on the episode's scenes. This is the best comedy since the office.

9/10 (and I've only seen 3 episodes from the first series so far)

"the pube on the pipe idea came from a real life situation" Garth Marenghi