Garth Marenghi's Darkplace Review
The Cult Series from Creators Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade
Sep 5, 2008
"This is going to be the most significant televisual event since Quantum Leap. And I do not say that lightly.” - Dean Learner on Darkplace.
In 2004, the UK’s Channel 4 released a six-episode season of Darkplace to less-than-stellar ratings and a second season, tragically, was not commissioned. However, the show developed a strong following on the internet and Channel 4 did commission a DVD release in response, as well as set in motion the means to make a movie based on the series, which remains to be seen.
The fact that there are only six episodes of Darkplace is deeply unfortunate, because it is one of the most original and side-splittingly funny shows ever made. And here’s why.
Darkplace Creators, Cast and Characters
“You’ll know what to do. You’re the most sensitive man I know… and I know God.” - Padre to Dagless.
There’s a dual-layer to the comedy of Darkplace, with the cast and crew themselves being characters-behind-the-characters. So co-creator Matthew Holness plays the fictional Garth Marenghi, a horror writer who penned and starred in Darkplace (which was supposedly made in the 80’s) as Dr. Rick Dagless. Dagless’s character is clearly an extension of Marenghi’s mammoth ego and is presented as a near-messianic figurehead.
Similarly, co-creator Richard Ayoade plays Dean Learner, Garth’s publisher and publicist, who helped produce and film Darkplace, while starring in the show as Dagless’s boss, Thornton Reed (and because the character of Dean Learner is not an actor, his performances as Reed deliberately comprise of the worst acting you could hope to see.)
They are joined by Matt Berry in the role of veteran stage actor Todd Rivers, who plays the part of Dr. Sanchez in Darkplace, and by Alice Lowe as actress Madeleine Wool, a.k.a Liz.
It may sound complicated, but it’s a stroke of brilliance that creates no end of humour as we watch the characters in the show supplimented by brief ‘interviews’ with their alternate characters of Marenghi, Learner, and Rivers.
Darkplace Production
“I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards. Okay? What I was asking in that scene is: what if politicians continue to pay doctors peanuts - could they literally turn into monkeys? And no-one's asked that before.” – Garth Marenghi on Apes of Wrath.
From an exploding patient and a gateway to hell, to "telly kinesis" and a man giving birth to an ‘Eye-child’; a hospital run by apes, then attacked by the spirits of offended Scottish warriors and a potential epidemic caused by broccoli from space, Darkplace is a collage of the wonderfully absurd.
As the show’s premise includes that it was made in the 80’s on a shoe-string budget (using the appropriate Channel 4 logo of the times) everything about Darkplace is intentionally sub-par. The sets look as cheap as can be, the special effects are cheesy beyond belief, the scripts are ridiculous, the acting dreadful and the editing excruciatingly inept.
Make no mistake – it takes a lot of skill to make something so terrible. And it all combines to a re-watch value that will keep you laughing no matter how many times you see Dagless rip his shirt open, or Reed fluff yet another scene, or hear the dubbing on Sanchez’s incredibly melodramatic voice.
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace DVD Release
“He had a very ambitious script. I said: “Garth, this is a very ambitious script for the money we’ve got, seeing as we’ve got no money.” – Dean Learner.
The DVD release is a must for fans of Darkplace. Included among the extras are two half-hour interview sessions held with Garth Marenghi, Dean Learner and Todd Rivers, which are every bit as hilarious as the show itself.
With similar hilarity are composed the commentaries given to each episode, with the three men still in character. These should not be missed.
Also provided is a complete music score to the series by Andrew Hewitt (a.k.a Stig Baasvik), which is expertly composed using the very synthetic sounds of the decade. There is a lot to admire in the comedy value and composition of almost every track, including the Darkplace theme tune (which goes hand in hand with one of the best title sequences in the business) and the fantastic song ‘One Track Lover’ – a piece ostensibly made by the Darkplace team, featuring the vocals of Todd Rivers, Dean Learner and Garth Marenghi.
Even the very short radio-ad promotions for the show will have you laughing.
The Save Darkplace Petition
There was a Darkplace spin-off, the great Man to Man: an Evening with Dean Learner – a spoof chat show in which Holness appears as several different guests, the first being Garth Marenghi. But this was simply not enough.
So popular has Darkplace proven in the long term that there is an online petition to save the show and encourage the go-ahead for yet more episodes.
It’s practically a crime to see the outstanding talent behind this show having to move on to other things, because they might never create anything so utterly madcap and perfectly terrible again. Any show that brings us what must be the single funniest chase scene in film and tv history (involving two pedal bikes no less) is surely worth saving.
The link to the Save Darkplace petition is right below and you better believe that this reviewer’s name is on it:
“…the human spirit cannot be overcome. You know, as a writer, if you took away my paper, I would write on my heart. If you take away my ink, I'd write on the wind. It wouldn't be an ideal way to work…” - Garth Marenghi.
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