Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

[dean]

Well this is damn interesting.  Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

I turned on the TV last night, and after another funny episode of South Park came this new series which had me laughing a hell of a lot.  I didn't catch all of it but the parts I did watch would fit right in with this crowd.  Basically it's a British 'horror' series which is very low budget, has a lot of 'dramatic zooms' and kind of reminds me of a British Outer Limits rip off type show, but very funny because of it's crapness.  It's also a documentary [or mock one] about the show itself at the same time and as such it has 'interviews' with the cast members talking about the show cut in every now and then.


IMDB Link

If you didn't read the article on the fist link above, the basic plot is this:  "Set in a hospital in Romford, Essex, that happens to be built above the gates of hell, the lead character in Darkplace is Dr Rick Dagless, played by Marenghi. In each episode, Dagless is pitted against the forces of evil unleashed in the hospital."

This weeks episode had the basic plot of: one of the doctors drinks contaminated water from the cooler and turns into a half-man/half-ape creature.  Some highlights include the many 'dramatic zooms' and long expository monologues which doesn't show a character, but just close-ups of various objects in the office, like plants, and a chase scene which takes place on bicycles with motorbike sounds put in, extreme braking noises included, and ends in a climactic chase sequence across a playground and into some boxes.

Dean Lerner has some especially fantastic lines and plays the 'implacable, shotgun-toting hospital boss Thornton Reed.'  Just a great character.

Here's some other great lines I just read from IMDB, some were in last night's episode:

Dr Liz Asher: [talking about a patient that has turned green] Apparently she was in for a routine operation to get her toe shortened which was really long like a finger, the next thing she knew this happened. All in all you could say that she's a little off color.
[Thorton, Liz, and Dagless all laugh]
Dr Lucien Sanchez: [shouts] You shut your mouth Liz!
Dr. Rick Dagless: No you shut your mouth Sanch, that was funny.

Lucien: Not my fault. Monkey bastard hands!

Garth Marenghi: With this show, I wanted people to laugh and cry... and s**t themselves all at the same time.

Dean Learner: She was like a candle in the wind... unreliable.

Garth Marenghi: I've always loved the great tragedies, King Lear, The Poseidon Adventure, Superman 2.

Thornton Reed: [after firing a shotgun to break up a bar brawl] Knock it off you two, this is a hospital!



Anyway, if any of you have seen it, tell us what you think, and if you haven't, keep an eye out for it; it's lots of fun.