Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (2004)

Marenghi, Learner and Rivers recorded over 200 hours of interviews prior to the 2004 re-release of Darkplace. What follows is a selection of the least angry.

Marenghi saw cutting any scene as an admission of weakness. Several episodes of Darkplace were never broadcast because running times would regularly exceed the 9 hour mark. However, it seems that this next sequence was originally intended for inclusion within the 'Scotch Mist' episode.

A set of videos hidden on the DVD release. The first is a video of Learner introducing "Channel Ladykiss", followed by a video of a Darkplace patient frantically reading Marenghi's novels, followed by a hidden interview with Todd Rivers discussing method acting.

Although the following interviews were conducted for the re-release of Darkplace, the respondents' propensity to rant about completely unrelated subjects meant that they were not included in the final shows. However, they form a fascinating insight in to the Mind Marenghi.

Garth's wife, Pam, was regularly on set to make sure that the writer had his morning pie on time. She also brought her film camera, and the following footage paints a delightfully off-guard portrait of the Great Imaginer.

Marenghi meticulously planned each spectacular sequence of the show on the back of his breakfast napkin. These storyboards are a testament to the Splattermeister's visual artistry. What follows is a selection of the cleanest.

Many will not know that Garth Marenghi's Darkplace was shot twice. 43 episodes had been recorded when Dean Learner decided that he didn't like his hair style and demanded everything be re-filmed. All of this material was thought lost until this scene was uncovered in a routine customs and excise investigation at Learner's London mansion.

The sound to this footage has been lost.

New doctor Liz Asher is tipped off by a psychic cat that evil lurks in the cooridors of Darkplace. When a patient mysteriously dies, Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. must scalpel-up and close a standard-sized hell-mouth beneath Romford. Contains mild swearing and the naked top-half of a man.

The hospital chef is savagely attacked by a ladle and then a fork. Who or what threw one or both of them? And why are objects flying about of their own accord, attacking innocent civillians and disrupting hospital procedure? Meanwhile Dagless has his own problems with a suspicious-looking temp with an attitude problem.

The past is stirring in the halls of Darkplace, and for Dr. Rick Dagless M.D., that means Trouble. With a capital T (the rest of the letters lowercase). A giant eye has been born on 'B' Wing. Winner of the Prix de L'Oeil International Opticians' Television Award for Best New Drama.

Monkey business most macabre. A terrible sickness is spreading from ward to ward as humans regress to a primal state. Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. must kill the beast within us, and fast. i.e. before it's too late.

A lethal mist surrounds Darkplace, tartanning the hides of unwary travellers, while phantom bagpipes play on regardless. Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. must face more than the music as he unravels the secret behind its sudden appearance. The truth, when it comes, lies as a little too close to home, even though Romford would seem a safe enough distance from Glenrothes.

Dr. Sanchez falls in love with a patient infected with cosmic broccoli, but when it threatens to spread Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. is forced to intervene. But love is blind, and the only eye Sanchez has open is at the end of a trouser snake. Can Dagless save his buddy and the world? (Yes, he can.)