The Genius That Is Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

In case you’ve never heard of this underrated gem, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is a show where we follow the titular character Garth Marenghi (Matthew Holness) along with fellow characters Dean Learner (Richard Ayode) and Todd Rivers (Matt Berry) as they recount the production of the show Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. Each episode has two parts to it: one half has the cast recounting stories about the show’s production while the other half displays the episodes that these characters starred in and are discussing. A large amount of this show’s comedy comes from how horrible the TV series that the actors starred in is and how delusional the actors are about its actual quality in the interview segments. I am truly amazed because so often, something purposefully bad is generally difficult to watch, but this show masters the art writing material that is so bad it’s hilarious. Garth Marenghi stars as Dr. Rick Dagless M.D., Dean Learner stars as Thornton Reed, Todd Rivers stars as Dr. Lucien Sanchez, and fourth co-star Madeleine Wool stars as Liz Asher.

Now, you may be wondering why I didn’t mention Madeleine Wool as one of the other characters who recount the show. Well, that’s because she actually passed away in between the shooting of the show and the recounting of stories from the show. In fact, it’s heavily implied that Dean Learner killed her and that the entire cast of the show had a strong dislike of her. One of my favourite lines from the show involves Liz with a chef (played by Stephen Merchant):

Liz: “Where’s this flippin’ chicken!?”

Chef: “Who said that? Was it you Missy? Get this into your pretty little face, I said ‘5 minutes.’”

Liz: “But-”

Chef: “But nothing! Women like you are the reason this chicken’s late in the first place. You’ll be lucky if you get any of my lovely chicken if you keep up this kind of behaviour.”

Each episode begins with a brief introduction from Garth Marenghi reading excerpts from his books which are all iconic. For instance:

“Something was pouring from his mouth. He examined his sleeve. Blood?! Blood. Crimson copper-smelling blood, his blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. …And bits of sick.”

We then go into the title sequence which is up there as one of the greatest title sequences any show has ever had. Succession doesn’t have anything on this! There are so many great moments in this intro, from the title cards for each actor being completely different from each other to the random shot of Garth doing a frontflip while holding a baby and running from an explosion to the actual theme music itself being a pitch perfect parody of 80s TV themes and still managing to be an absolute banger. There’s even a part of the theme where a satanic sounding group of men just chant the word “Darkplace” again and again! This intro just has it all.

There are so many great bits in this show, and you could honestly watch it 50 times and find new jokes and gags on your 51st viewing. Upon my rewatch, there were moments where I actually had to pause because I was laughing so much. I have to give all the praise in the world to the phenomenal, pitch-perfect writing. I am truly astounded at the world this show creates with only 6 30-minute episodes. Some shows take a long time to fully establish the show and the characters and the world they inhabit, but the amount of backstory this show is able to pack into such a small runtime is a truly impressive feat.

Bringing the incredible comedic writing to life are across the board spectacular performances. Matthew Holness has clearly put a lot of passion and love into his character, which can be seen even now in 2024 with his recent book tour where he participated in Q&As in character as Garth Marenghi. He portrays the arrogance of Garth Marenghi so well, but it never goes too far into making him an unlikable protagonist you can’t stand watching. Weirdly, his ego only makes him more interesting to watch. 

Richard Ayoade is a talent I have always had a lot of love for. I have respected his acting work for a long time, but recently, I have grown to appreciate his writing and direction as well. He’s a truly capable director (with the film Submarine being one of my all-time favourites) and this show is an excellent demonstration of his abilities. The direction is remarkable, and it truly showcases his adeptness at purposefully being so awful it’s incredible and hilarious.

As I touched on in my review of What We Do in the Shadows Season 5, Matt Berry is one of the best comedic actors in the industry. This show uses his talents to the fullest extent. He is always a complete and utter delight whenever he appears in anything, and this just may be his best work (yes, even better than What We Do in the Shadows). There is one episode that allows him to show off his singing chops with the song “One Track Lover” which is simultaneously one of the best parts of the show even if it’s almost too good of a song to be in Darkplace. He has such a unique delivery that allows him to take any mundane line and make it the funniest thing. The man could read the phonebook and make it engaging!

I hope this article has made you interested in checking this show out. The entire show (again, a mere 6 episodes!) is available for free on YouTube right now, so it is neither a difficult find nor a massive commitment.