- #WHO PLAYS THE APE IN GARTH MARENGHIS DARK PLACE SERIES#
- #WHO PLAYS THE APE IN GARTH MARENGHIS DARK PLACE TV#
In particular fans of the more widely known Mighty Boosh or The IT Crowd are likely to enjoy seeing many familiar faces in an even more ridiculous setting. If you like your humour strange, clever and British, you can’t go wrong with Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. “Apes of Wrath “ features some legendarily bad movie-makeup gags of the simian variety and a dirt-bike chase scene that, owing to budgetary issues, utilizes children’s bicycles instead. “Hell Hath Fury “ explores the dangers of fully unleashed telekinetic potential, complete with mundane objects (suspended by wires) terrorizing the hospital wards. Fans of Holness and Berry’s musical talents will be pleased to see both put on a song in “Skipper The Eyechild” and “The Creeping Moss From The Shores of Shuggoth” respectively.
Probably my personal favourite episodes are the first, “Once Upon a Beginning” and the fifth installment “Scotch Mist” where Garth tackles the subject of prejudice with his usual tone-deaf results. The supporting cast is rounded out by a number of appearances by recognizable British faces, such as The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant or Mighty Boosh duo Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. She’s a frequent target of sexist remarks and rarely gets through an episode without a tearful outburst. Liz Asher, who’s capacity for psychic visions are increased by her very presence at the hospital. Alice Lowe as Madeline Wool plays ditzy blonde newcomer Dr. Berry’s comically deep voice makes every line read impossibly funny, and Sanchez oozes cool whether the scene calls for it or not. Matt Berry appears as actor Todd Rivers, who fills the role of Dr. Richard Ayoade plays Dean Learner, Garth’s publisher and in turn Thornton Reed, a shotgun toting hospital administrator at Darkplace: his terrible acting is an ongoing gag. Consequently the character of Dagless demonstrates all these traits in addition to being endlessly feted about his prowess as a doctor, occultist, soldier, et cetera. The lines between Marenghi/Dagless are blurred – the author is conceited, misogynistic and utterly convinced of his talents. Holness portrays both Marenghi and also his in-show analogue, Dr. The creators have weaved in many not so subtle horror genre references and tropes, and one can tell they have an appreciation for the material they are spoofing. The humour is decidedly absurdist in nature and the 80’s camp, poor production values, shoddy special effects, bad lip syncing and synth music are pitch perfect. Every episode centres on a different horror premise, each more ridiculous than the last. Apparently the gates of Hell are located underneath the facility and consequently all manner of disturbing supernatural occurrences are the norm. Dagless is, among his other things, a Falklands War veteran), the “lost” program is set in Darkplace Hospital, in Romford, Essex. Set in an unspecified year in the 80’s (presumably post 1982, as Dr. Garth himself seems to feel the show would have been one of the most significant in the history of television had it not been canned by the oft-mentioned “powers-that-be.” The behind-the-scenes feel adds to the authenticity of the show and if the commentary wasn’t so hilarious one could almost be forgiven for assuming it had been real. Thus each member of the cast is playing both the cast members from Darkplace and the fictional actors who portray them.
#WHO PLAYS THE APE IN GARTH MARENGHIS DARK PLACE SERIES#
Each episode is set up personally by Garth, who is joined with other “actors” that worked on the fictional series in short interview clips about the “production” throughout the runtime.
#WHO PLAYS THE APE IN GARTH MARENGHIS DARK PLACE TV#
Years later the character and related elements were adapted into a Channel 4 production in the UK, a TV series consisting of just six episodes – tragically, owing to a mixed reception and light viewership, Darkplace was not renewed.įramed as a show-within-a show, the premise of Darkplace is of a premier of a long-forgotten 80’s series finally brought to light at the request of its writer, director and lead-actor Garth Marenghi.
The character of Garth Marenghi, a spoof of a pompous, hack horror novelist was the subject of several award winning stage shows in which Holness and Ayoade both performed. I can’t guarantee you’ll like it but if nothing else it deserves a chance to be discovered by those who are more than likely unaware of its existence.Ī parody of a fictional horror program from the 1980’s, Darkplace was created by Matthew Holness and Richard Ayoade, both of whom have appeared in and written for a number of notable British comedy shows. I had the pleasure of seeing the show rebroadcast about a year after its original 2004 release and it remains a favourite for me to this day. If there was ever a television series that is the very definition of “not for everybody”, Garth Mar enghi’s Darkplace would be it.