“I’m Garth Marenghi. Author. Dreamweaver. Visionary. Plus actor. You’re about to enter the world of my imagination. You are entering my Darkplace.”
Either you will enjoy very much a short-lived BBC [ED. NOTE – Apparently you people have something called “Channel 4” which sounds very much like the BBC’s fourth channel but I will take your word for it] horror parody series about a television show that never ran in the 1980s featuring stage directions like “The shovel he was holding has changed to a cup of coffee” and “cup is now the shovel again,” or you won’t. It’s as simple as that. If you think you might (let’s say you found The Mighty Boosh “too accessible”), the entire six episodes of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is now available on YouTube.
“Something was pouring from his mouth. He examined his sleeve. Blood? Blood. Crimson, copper-smelling blood, his blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. [Checks script]…And bits of sick.”
It’s so joyful! And Richard Ayoade is a delight and a treasure to my heart. I feel a little ridiculous recommending a show that only ran for six episodes – so precious! so pretentious! “The show ran for one episode, which was 23 seconds long. It is generally considered one of the greatest programs in the history of British television” – but I must recommend it all the same.
Such was Darkplace’s Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker-esque zeal for a laugh that even its failure to secure a second series counts as a punchline. Purporting to be the lost TV effort of “author, dream weaver, visionary, plus actor” Garth Marenghi (Matthew Holness), the series doesn’t just parody blowhard literary types like the one played by co-creator Holness—it riffs on the entire “brilliant but canceled” myth. The show-within-a-show structure of Darkplace presents a loser’s history of a lost “classic” that was lost for a reason. In pre-episode introductions and talking-head interludes, Holness’ character claims that his series was buried due to its radical nature and startling predictions, but the evidence on hand argues otherwise. The fictional Darkplace never saw the light of day because it’s terrible, and Marenghi’s just too egomaniacal to acknowledge that fact.
Holness as Marenghi plays Dr. Rick Dagless, M.D., dashing star physician of Darkplace Hospital, a collection of anonymous hallways, offices, and exam rooms besieged by paranormal phenomena. As presented in the series, Darkplace was originally produced in the 1980s, and Holness and his collaborators went to great lengths to sell that origin story: Grainy film stock and a chintzy synthesizer score (“based on melodies originally whistled by Garth Marenghi”) mark the faux-archival footage, in which co-stars Matt Berry and Alice Lowe respectively sport Sonny Crockett’s ’do and Diane Chambers’ blouses.
(Don’t forget Horrifica Illuminata and the DVD extras.) (It’s better than Children’s Hospital, and I say that as someone who loved Children’s Hospital.)
(Don’t tell anyone, but I didn’t think The IT Crowd was very good.)
DARKPLACE DARKPLACE DARKPLACE!
THIS SHOW IS EVERYTHING THAT IS RIGHT IN THE WORLD AND I LOVE IT
I think I watched one about a fungus taking over a hospital or something? seem to recall it being aight.
“I’m a one track lov-ah / On a two-way lane.”
I sang this to my first girlfriend the night we met.
I like this remix that someone made of that song:
https://soundcloud.com/synthiamusic/one-track-lov…
o feel like anyone who writes horror, or genre stuff in general, is always a little worried they might be Marenghi
I work in publishing and can attest that I see more stuff that could be Marenghi outtakes than good stuff come through the slushpile.
Jumping in to say it was channel Four not BBC. And it’s perfect.
“Romford is the cruelest of cities.” Good start. “Beneath its skyline’s tattered shards lay a million broken dreams.” This *is* good. I’ve misjudged the genre like so many.
“let’s say you found The Mighty Boosh ‘too accessible'”
It’s like you’re speaking directly to me.
Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy may be what you’ve been looking for
“I have no truck with snobbery. At all.”
– Richard Ayoade in a self-aware ascot & newsboy cap, holding cigar.
is there anything more perfect?
My vote for more perfect is “I won’t put in semicolons; this isn’t Joyce.”
Garth is the most significant artist that I’ve ever worked with, and I’ve worked with Lulu and four other people. So we’re talking crème de la crème.
“I had a cat once. I dropped a sofa on it, it was a write-off, so I stood on its head.”
Don’t ask me why that’s so hilarious. It just is.
OMG I can’t believe this is on The Toast. Two of my favorites colliding. ALSO on youtube is Man to Man with Dean Learner, a spin-off of Darkplace. It’s also brilliant and so much Richard Ayoade (but it’s not enough Richard Ayoade; it’s never enough Richard Ayoade).
That is the only amount of Richard Ayoade there is, I believe. looking that up straightaway.
(I would have been deeply disappointed he was part of a BEN STILLER movie, except the deep unfathomablness of this choice somehow makes perfect sense??)
I saw that movie even though I do not like Stiller (most of the time), Vaughn, or what’s-his-face (Superbad dude) simply because it was Ayoade’s US debut and I wanted it to be awesome. But I suspected (and was right, I believe) that they simply didn’t know how to use him. Ayoade’s comedy is so much different from theirs.
I remember Ben Stiller showing up in The Trip, which was confusing as well. I am crossing my fingers that he turns out to have been completely misleading everyone about his sense of humor this whole time, and will spend his old age spending heaps of money on utterly bonkers productions.
I also did not much like The IT Crowd, but more because even when it was funny the stereotypes of people in tech were exhausting. Regardless, Richard Ayoade is a treasure.
I got to the episode about the main female character being on her period, and just stopped.
Also I second the point on Richard Ayoade.
The Countdown episode is great, because it’s just Richard Ayoade having fun for 20 minutes. The rest is intermittently funny at best.
LOVE THIS SHOW.
I would force more friends to watch it, but it’s very much in a weird place where I don’t want to introduce it to people while I’m there – if they don’t get it immediately, it’s very uncomfortable for the remaining 20 minutes.
I’ve never found friends who appreciate it enough for my satisfaction. And this is why the Toast will always have my loyalty … because every single one of the weird and wonderful things I love eventually turns up on here where other people from around the world express THEIR due enthusiasm. No disappointment.
THIS SHOW IS SO AMAZING YOU GUYS also be sure to read his in-character piece for The Guardian about it.
I’ve been doing repeated re-watches of The IT Crowd because I love it despite all its problematic elements. “The Work Outing” may be one of the funniest episodes of television ever. EVER.
omg is that the one where they go to the awful faux-RENT musical????
YES it’s the one with “GAY! A gay musical” and they both end up using the wrong bathrooms, which means Roy pretends to be disabled and Moss ends up as a bartender.
It is my very favorite episode, especially because the songs are ON POINT.
Willies, Willies, We Love Willies
I’m a friend of Dorothy! I’m a friend of Dorothy! She…is my friend!
I only ever end up rewatching the football episode of IT Crowd, but this makes a compelling argument…
Of course, the football episode is a CLASSIC.
Also worth rewatching: the one with Moss’ bra where they go on the British version of Shark Tank and the one where Moss goes on Countdown.
“Thing about Arsenal is, they always try and walk it in!”
I recently went to the UK and every time my husband and I would pass a disabled bathroom without fail one of us would whisper all high pitched to the other, “I’m disabled!” and giggling would ensue.
I love this episode primarily because of Richard Ayoade’s reactions to everything. And the final sight gag with him destroying a bunch of glasses after his success as a bartender kills me everytime.
Also, Jen’s reactions to A. Moss serving her at the bar (how he softly repeats her order kills me every time) and B. Roy asserting that he’s leg disabled because of acid. Jen has the best reaction faces.
junebug you always read my mind.
“welcome….to the united QUEENdom!”
I love The Work Outing, it’s probably next to Jen the Fredo on my list of favourite IT Crowd episodes. I am disabled and will, when I can get away with it, tell people that I am ‘leg-disabled’ and that it was caused by acid.
This is one of my very favorite shows. I remember the collected works edition that came with its own shelf and was one huge volume. You needed the shelf because it was too heavy to hold.
The IT Crowd was okay until The Speech, I think, which took the old “his girlfriend used to be a M A N” trope and turned it into a literal five or ten minute long brawl between the woman in question and the CEO dude, Douglas.
a n y w a y this reminds me that I want to know what Richard Ayoade is like when he’s not being Richard Ayoade.
If listening to him in interviews is anything to go by he is *adorable* and modest and just the most delightfully human uncomfortable in his own skin.
I think I heard him on the Nerdist ? http://nerdist.com/nerdist-podcast-richard-ayoade… Somewhere podcasty anyways and he was delicious.
Also LOL forever at The Mighty Boosh being “too accessible” for someone
“It’s so hard to watch this episode, knowing that she’s now missing, presumed dead, with the presumption heavily on dead. I don’t think they’ll find anything. But, then again she was like a candle in the wind… unreliable.”
Darkplace!!! Collision of interests!! I’m always like, ‘yeah, The Toast just gets me.’ And then sometimes, like now, it’s, ‘Argh, The Toast gets me too much, I’M FRIGHTENED.’
“YOU AND HE WERE [dramatic pause] BUDDIES, WEREN’T YOU??”
Buuuut if you and he wish to be best buddies again, I won’t stand in your waaaay…
“What if rats could drive?”
ALICE LOWE MY SWEET PRECIOUS BABY
I love everything she graces her presence with. She was the best Emily Wilding Davison in Horrible Histories.
She was so great in Sightseers.
You could combine Darkplace with Snuff Box and really make a bizarro British night of it.
The moment I saw the words “Richard Ayoade” I was sold. I’m gonna marathon this at some point! Let’s see how interesting an experience that is.
She was like a zoo–in a woman.
Also, agreed about IT crowd–there was a whole episode about how crazy women are about shoes! And then an episode about how all women want is a man who will treat them badly because nice guys finish last (barf).
Darkplace is my favourite thing that an otherwise entirely forgettable date introduced me to. Cackling helplessly for hours over the entire series makes for a very positive evening, who knew. I don’t think Richard Ayoade has ever done anything that I haven’t regarded with a golden retriever look of bemused joy.
Thank you
I was just swooning over this show the other day! So damn good.
Also on Youtube: Ayoade and Barry’s parody of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqygOjPNIoY
(oh and THIS, too) :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWQRlvy5Gv4
Brilliant show! You might also like Matt Berry’s “Toast of London.” (Because, hey, Toast!) My favorite part of Darkplace is the commentary on the disappearance of the actress who plays the blonde doctor.
Darkplace is one of the best comedies ever made and the reason why, whenever I talk about my friends, a little part of my brain always says ‘We’re good buddies although we sometimes have punch-ups’. Every time.
I loooooove Dark Place so much. My husband introduced me just a few months ago and I tried to make all my friends love it too but it didn’t quite take. “oh it is kind of fun.” NO IT IS THE BEST FOREVER!! Alas. Alack.
Darkplace is my favourite thing that my partner made me watch when we got together. Two of my favourite joke concepts ever are deliberate continuity errors and repetition to absurdity. So…heaven.
I felt muscular and compact, like corned beef.
I don’t know which pleases me more: This information, or the fact that I first found out about it here.
I’M ONE OF THE FEW PEOPLE YOU’LL MEET WHO’S WRITTEN MORE BOOKS THAN THEY’VE READ.
Alas this was a Channel 4 show, the BBC – Boosh was on BBC2
The funeral scene, you guys. The priest’s speech about the Lord moving in mysterious ways … kills me. Also the quick assessment of the guts-splattered room: “I’ll get a mop”.
"I've lost confidence in how it's pronounced myself."
"We used to all hang out together, all the Norwegian-Nigerian kids…It's very fun when N comes around in the Olympics."
<3
ARGHHH there’s a point where you stop going THIS IS RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS and genuinely start to be concerned about the toast’s mind reading abilities ARE YOU READING MY BROWSER HISTORY? WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?!
(sorry for shouting i love the toast please continue invading my brain this is A++ content i love it)
Anyone else regularly get the urge to fire a double-barreled shotgun in the air and bark “knock it off you two, this is a [workplace]!”? Pretty much a daily occurrence in libraries I’ve found.
I just logged in to say the IT crowd is awful.
“I think it’s disgusting that we had to pixellate out an erection. I mean we’ve all got one. I could have one right now and you wouldn’t know. [Beat] I mean, I don’t.”
This, and the part where Dagless is running down the corridor in slow-motion, and says he feels “powerful and compact, like corned beef.” Sublime.
(I’m paraphrasing these, I’m sure.)
not to mention the show also had the long running gag that the actress playing the female character went missing and is presumed dead after the show ended.
Thank you so much for embedding Horrifica Illuminata. For as many times as I’ve watched the Dark Place episodes I’ve never seen these bits! HOORAY