Television series

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

Name: Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Science Fiction
Released: 2004
Cast: Matthew Holness, Richard Ayoade, Matt Berry, Alice Lowe

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace is a lost 1980s hospital horror show that never existed, unearthed and framed by fake present-day interviews with its magnificently deluded creator. It's less a parody of a genre than a full impersonation of every mistake bad TV ever made — wooden dialogue, wobbly sets, zoom-happy cameras — performed with total, unblinking conviction. Endlessly quotable and gloriously, purposefully stupid, it's one of British comedy's finest sustained jokes.

TVMaze rating

7.9

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Same DNA as Darkplace — a spot-on, straight-faced pastiche of old-school British educational TV, right down to the fonts and the theremin music. The purest version of the format joke you just loved.

But Drier and more fragmented, sketches rather than a full story, so you lose the character comedy and plot momentum.

What We Do in the Shadows2019

Mockumentary format, horror-comedy engine, and a cast of monstrous idiots utterly convinced of their own greatness — basically Darkplace's spiritual cousin with vampires instead of doctors.

But It's a slicker, more polished modern sitcom, without the deliberate cheapness that makes Darkplace so distinctive.

This Is Spinal Tap1984

The mockumentary template Darkplace is built on, and still the funniest. Watching self-important hacks explain their own genius with a completely straight face never stops working.

But It's about rock music, not horror TV, so you lose the specific genre gags that make Darkplace sing.

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Something you would not have found on your own.

Ghostwatch1992

Same trick as Darkplace — a fictional show dressed as a real broadcast, using the format's own credibility against the audience — but played for terror instead of laughs, the other half of the joke.

A fake live BBC broadcast investigating a haunted house, played entirely straight — it terrified a nation on first airing and remains a masterclass in exploiting the trust we place in television.

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The League of Gentlemen1999

British character comedy soaked in horror atmosphere, played by actors who commit completely to grotesque, funny, faintly disturbing characters — a masterclass in taking silly things seriously.

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Toast of London2012

Matt Berry doing what Matt Berry does best — pompous, oblivious, magnificently voiced idiocy. If Todd Rivers made you laugh, this is a whole show built around that register.

But It's about a washed-up actor's ego rather than horror pastiche, so the genre spoofing you came for is mostly gone.

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The direct follow-up — same cast, same fake-documentary conceit, now aimed at Dean Learner's ego instead of Garth's. If you want more of exactly this world, start here.

But Never quite reaches the same heights; it feels more like a victory lap than a fresh idea.

The Mighty Boosh2004

Surreal, low-budget, gleefully committed to its own absurd universe — a kindred spirit in British comedy's love of making something cheap look like a fever dream.

But Much weirder and more fantastical than parody; if you liked Darkplace for the genre send-up specifically, this wanders further afield.

Brass Eye1997

Chris Morris's satire of TV current-affairs shows is deadpan, meticulous and merciless — proof that total commitment to a fake format can be its own kind of comedy genius.

But Sharper and angrier than Darkplace, aimed at real institutions rather than gleeful genre spoofing — less silly, more cutting.

The Day Today1994

The news-parody predecessor to Brass Eye, and one of the sharpest deadpan sendups of broadcast pomposity ever made — total commitment to a fake format, brilliantly done.

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American Movie1999

Garth Marenghi is a joke about a deluded horror auteur convinced of his own genius; this is the same man, but real, unscripted, and quietly heartbreaking rather than hilarious.

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SCTV1976

Same target, decades earlier: SCTV's Count Floyd bits skewer exactly the cheapness and self-seriousness of trashy horror TV that Darkplace would later stretch into a whole series.

Decades before Darkplace, this Canadian sketch show ran a recurring segment mocking cheap horror-host TV — proof the joke about trashy genre television is older than you'd think, and just as sharp.

But It's sketch comedy from the seventies and eighties, patchy in places and very much of its era — you're mining for gold among filler.