Blood? Blood. His blood. Blood.

July 28, 2007 1:27 PM

Garth Marenghi (previously), horror writer, director, and actor. Star of the popular 80's series Darkplace which chronicles the trials a hospital staff must endure when working on the gates of Hell, now available for your viewing pleasure. Or pain. Gripping. Terrifying. Bloody. With bits of sick. (See more episodes on Google )
posted by kindle (25 comments total)

Awesome - excellent post.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 1:42 PM on July 28, 2007

He's smooooooth, like ice, cold to the touch and he isn't very nice!
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 2:05 PM on July 28, 2007

DARKPLACE REVISITATUM:
A PLAY IN ONE ACT BY GARTH MARENGHI
posted by Acey at 2:06 PM on July 28, 2007

...known to thousands as the author of such classic chillers as The Ooze (can water die?), Afterbirth (a mutated placenta attacks Bristol) and Black Fang (rats learn to drive).

Awesome. How have I never heard of this guy before?
posted by brundlefly at 2:26 PM on July 28, 2007

I recommend that everyone purchase the DVD. I don't think it is released in the States yet, so you will need a region free DVD player. You can watch all off the episodes with commentaries of the actual actors(playing the characters who supposedly created the show) talking about the characters in the show.

very good stuff
posted by travis08 at 2:27 PM on July 28, 2007

The Google vid discription: a funny british comedy taking the piss out of programs like murder she wrote

Is there another Murder She Wrote?
posted by brundlefly at 2:37 PM on July 28, 2007

Garth Marenghi...horror writer, director, and actor.

Dude, don't edit perfection. It's "author, dream-weaver, visionary (plus actor)".
posted by The Tensor at 2:49 PM on July 28, 2007

Oooh, I especially loved Hell Hath Fury with its casual mysogynism... and those scenes on the rooftop with their deep, emotional monologues... I really like how neatly Matthew Holness captures the kind of intensive writing that's so prevalent in some bad fiction. And those Dr.-Who-level effects! Just. Wonderful.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 3:01 PM on July 28, 2007

Misogynism, even. I knew I would misspell a word when writing about a show that makes fun of people who use "big words" to show off, yet only expose their own lack of eloquence.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 3:09 PM on July 28, 2007

Is there another Murder She Wrote?

Partly, sage.
posted by rob511 at 3:24 PM on July 28, 2007

jayzus people, go to the source. google and youtube can diaf.

someone 'splain to me again how some copyright violations are somehow less-bad than others? is it like that time it was ok to tell people to scam digicams from amazon 'cos matt told 'em to?
posted by dorian at 4:08 PM on July 28, 2007

Awesome. How have I never heard of this guy before?

My guess is because it's actually a faux-eighties drama from a couple of years ago.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:09 PM on July 28, 2007

You think?
posted by brundlefly at 4:12 PM on July 28, 2007

I think it's because YouTube shares revenue with various media companies. Could be wrong.
posted by djgh at 4:16 PM on July 28, 2007

oh right the lawsuits. I had forgotten about that. sorries.

*runs away*
posted by dorian at 4:23 PM on July 28, 2007

Oh, man. A friend brought this DVD over just the other day on a whim and we spent the evening watching, laughing, slack-jawed with horror.
posted by verb at 4:23 PM on July 28, 2007

Darkplace is glorious. The best is how each mistake - be it a technical mistake, a mistake in tone, a clumsy bit of writing, awkward framing, a wrong expression, or even simply weirdly misinformed misogyny - feels like it has a whole story behind it.

You can just picture a hypothetical DP telling him that there's too much headroom in a shot, to which Marengi would respond with an elaborate explanation of how it's meant to look claustrophobic. Or, when there's a scene where everyone's meant to be just killing time, you can just imagine Marengi telling the woman to "just keep applying lipstick in a circular motion, like women normally would."

Great stuff.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:42 PM on July 28, 2007

I've been waiting for this to be released over here (in the U.S.)! If Little Britain and Peep Show are here, why isn't this one?!
posted by Mael Oui at 8:36 PM on July 28, 2007

Maybe if everyone who'd ever been close to you had died, you'd be sarcastic, too.

I've never heard of this brilliant series before. Thank you so much for this amazing post!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 9:41 PM on July 28, 2007

oooh! i love this show! thanks for the reminder...i think i haven't seen all the episodes yet. *cycles off to video store*
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:13 AM on July 29, 2007

Right then, it falls on me to say - your new favourite show sucks.
posted by asok at 2:42 AM on July 29, 2007

Matthew Holness, Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry can also be seen in the brilliant 'Man to Man With Dean Learner':

Interview with Garth Marenghi
Folk singer Merriman Weir
SF star Glynn Nimron
Bath Buddies with Amir Chanan

Matt Berry is also in Snuff Box with Rich Fulcher (from The Mighty Boosh - full episode here):
Mac vs PC
NSFW
posted by boosh at 2:45 AM on July 29, 2007 [1 favorite]

Right then, it falls on me to say - your new favourite show sucks.

I'm with you, sort of. It doesn't suck, exactly, it just fails horribly to live up to expectations (see also: The IT Crowd, the full-length episodes of Look Around You).

The mistakes that Stitcherbeast talks about above are often wonderfully done, but they don't add up to much: by the 27th variation of a boom in shot gag, or the 93rd time we're bludgeoned over the head with the fact that Garth Marenghi is a no-talent hack who thinks he's a genius, I just gave up watching out of sheer boredom. Shame - the concept is fantastic, and in the hands of better writers and performers, it could have been a truly great show.
posted by jack_mo at 4:23 AM on July 29, 2007

I don't think it sucks, but the TV show was nowhere near as good as the live shows they did; it became far more about spoofing bad production values in 80s TV, and less about the spot on perfect parody of bad horror writing, which is what they're really good at. ("Romford was the cruellest of cities" is completely wasted in the TV version.)
posted by flashboy at 7:56 AM on July 29, 2007

I wish I was more attractive like Dagless. Still, one can only dream.

This show was one of the funniest things to come along in years. But I think you had to have watched a lot of B-grade '80s genre shows to really get it.
posted by Midnight Creeper at 10:12 AM on July 30, 2007