Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

Imagine a place between tuseday and purple - between the eighties and chest wigs. Now think back to Saphire and Steel, Deathwatch and certain episodes of Dr Who. Welcome... to Darkplace

Dodgy effects (forgivable - and amusing) and dodgy scripts (unforgivable - and hysterical) ruled the roost shamelessly and here they are aped to the max. I've only seen the first episode (as well as the 'Official' Garth Marenghi website) and I screamed in a miasmous catatony - I gaped shudderously at the incomprehousity of the spectacle - I laughed till I stopped laughing. It's looking good - and I hope it's a short run, as these things can be flogged silly.

As it stands, it is refreshingly sarcastic about nerd orientated broadcasting - and amazingly would stand as a series from the period. Whiffs of Michael Mann, William Friedkin, HP Lovecraft, Starsky & Hutch and hospital based soaps should have folk wincing and laughing till doomsday.

Plot snippets so far: the guy went axe happy in a trout farm. Nuff said.

"In the 1980's the horror writing genius and self confessed "sooth" Garth Marenghi penned a ground-breaking series of tele-plays. Of the 64 episodes written, only 50 managed to make it into production during the two-month filming. Marenghi's aim was simple: "To change the evolutionary course of mankind over a series of half-hour episodes". However, Merenghi claims that his series was too ground-breaking, and too shocking for the public, and for the past twenty years direct government intervention prevented the shows from ever seeing the light of day. That is, until now. Channel 4 (and E4) are now for the first time running six episodes from the series, and Garth Marenghi has said he is willing to be personally held accountable to God for the consequences."

Garth Marenghi's Dark Place is a spoof of all horror films, tv and action tv from the 80's. Its set up as if the series was made in the 80's and was banned and is now eventually being shown. Throughout the episodes we get to see the cast and crew's comments on the episode's scenes. This is the best comedy since the office.

9/10 (and I've only seen 3 episodes from the first series so far)

"the pube on the pipe idea came from a real life situation" Garth Marenghi

glad to see here that I'm not the only one already hooked after just 3 episodes.

I've tried to explain to people why they must watch it, but the only way they will understand is to watch it!

Its hilarious: terrible acting, atrocious script, wobbly sets, appalling dubbing, and some very alarming wigs.

And lots of slow motion (well, its hard to fill a half hour slot with story all the time)

I'm looking forward to saying 'I told you so' to lots of people when they 'discover' this show in 6 months!

I wasn't fully sure what to expect and nearly didn't watch it at all, that would have been a mistake. Three episodes in and I'm hooked and I'm slowly working on all my friends too as it would be a shame if this slipped by without getting the audience it deserves. I was a bit concerned after the first episode that the jokes would quickly wear a bit thin but this hasn't proved to be the case. I don't think it will be everyone's cup of tea but well worth trying because if it is you're in for one of the funnier half hours of television you'll see all week.

I watched this show with trepidation expecting it to be another hit and miss, or even plain miss, of a mini-series. I was more then pleasantly suprised when the show proved not only to be hilarious but a much needed break from the vapid 'reality' shows that have come to expunge any palatability from our viewing pleasure. The 'bad acting', or 'showing the truth' as Garth puts it, is amazingly funny. This is especially true in the character of Garth's boss and the chef (The Office's Stephan Merchant). Overall, it can tend to be a bit tedious by the end but at the moment it is hysterical and I can't wait to see where they go from here.