Darkplace, Darkplace, Darkplace, Darkplace!

Debbie and I have watched the first two episodes of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, and I am highly impressed. The pilot episode is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. The premise is that in the 80's, horror writer Garth Marenghi wrote, directed and starred in a show called Darkplace. It was never screened (except for a short run in Peru). Now, due to a shortage of quality TV, it has been resurrected, interviews with the cast have been added, and it's being released to finally get the critical acclaim it deserves. It combines several elements in a genius way: - horror - medical drama - parodying bad 80s TV content - parodying bad 80s TV production values - parodying bad 80s TV acting - retrospective 'making of' pomposity I was nearly paralysed by a line from the show: Garth: "I have never, personally, exploded, but I understand on a deep level what it would be like." Which was followed up with: Dean: "I don't know if it was a close friend of Garth's who exploded, or whether it was a pet, but clearly Garth has experienced closely the pain of exploding. There were tears on the set the day we filmed that - not from Garth, he's far too manly for that, but I'm not afraid to say I wept..." The second episode was good, and had some brilliant slow motion running, but that first episode? Genius. I will report back on later episodes as we watch more. When I get around to ordering Season 2 Fry and Laurie on DVD, I will definitely be adding Darkplace to the order :)