Line #260 Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garthmarenghisdarkplace.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: Be very, very afraid.[[note]] Left to right: [[LargeHam Todd Rivers]] as [[TheLancer Lucien Sanchez]], [[NiceCharacterMeanActor Dean Learner]] as [[BadBadActing Thornton Reed]], [[GiftedlyBad Garth Marenghi]] as [[ParodySue Dr. Rick Dagless, M.D.]], and [[ButtMonkey Madeleine Wool]] as [[HystericalWoman Liz Asher]].[[/note]]]]
3
4	->''"I'm Garth Marenghi: author, dreamweaver, visionary, plus actor. You are about to enter the world of my imagination; you are now entering my Darkplace."''
5
6	In the [[TheEighties mid 1980s]], prolific horror writer Garth Marenghi created a television series so horrifying that it was not until 2004 that it was deemed safe for general release to the British public. The show focuses on Darkplace Hospital in Romford, East London, which is apparently built over [[{{Hellgate}} the very Gates of Hell]]. To be more accurate, the show is about Dr. Rick Dagless, M.D (played by Marenghi himself), [[MartyStu who is the best doctor in the world ever, as well as a crack shot, action hero, and master warlock]]. Dr. Rick Dagless, M.D. and (to a lesser extent) his friends and co-workers are the only hope the planet has against the various evils that rise up in Darkplace Hospital, including [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking mutant eye-babies, angry telekinetic women, and of course, Scotsmen]].
7
8	... okay, so that's not actually true. ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'' is a straight-faced spoof of BMovie horror works and the whole idea of the CultClassic. Its true origins are Cambridge Footlights alumni Matthew Holness and Creator/RichardAyoade's low-budget comedy horror Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows ''Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight'' (2000) and ''Garth Marenghi's Netherhead'' (2001), in which Holness and Ayoade starred alongside fellow Cambridge graduate Alice Lowe in a parody of self-important horror writers and their work, with Holness as fictional writer Garth Marenghi and Ayoade as his partner in crime (in several senses), Dean Learner. Holness and Ayoade reprised their roles in the TV series alongside Lowe as Madeleine Wool and Creator/MattBerry as Todd Rivers.
9
10	The series is a rare example of an ''entire show'' deliberately composed of StylisticSuck tropes, featuring [[BadBadActing terrible acting]] and [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry dialogue]], cheesy plots with {{Anvilicious}} and [[ValuesDissonance dubious morals]] (including AttackOfTheKillerWhatever), many a SpecialEffectFailure, and atrocious camerawork, editing, and audio mixing. Along with the "[[ShowWithinAShow original footage]]", each episode is accompanied by present-day interviews with Marenghi and his co-stars, who cluelessly praise the ShowWithinAShow as ahead of its time, and offer insights into its production and (rather warped) meaning.
11
12	In the UK the series ran on Creator/ChannelFour. In America, the series first ran on the [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci-Fi Channel]], then moved to Creator/AdultSwim. Currently can be seen on Creator/PrimeVideo and Creator/{{Peacock}}.
13
14	The character of Garth Marenghi has been further spun off twice: The first is a series of books (''Literature/GarthMarenghisTerrorTome'' and ''Garth Marenghi's Incarcerat'') purportedly written by Marenghi. The second is the series ''Series/ManToManWithDeanLearner'', which centers on Dean Leaner and has a special appearance of Marenghi in the first episode.
15	----
16	!!Many tropes that get misused get misused here, and to slightly over the top, comic effect. Tropes used include:
17
18	* TwoForOneShow: The "show" is interspersed with interviews with the "actors".
19	* EightiesHair: True to its premise as an obscure [='80=]s show.
20	* ActorAllusion: Invoked. Garth claims in the DVD commentary that the actor playing the Padre was cast as a ShoutOut to the eponymous character he played in the (not actually real) ''Padre'' series of films from the 70s. Todd stubbornly contradicts this, claiming that the actor threatened him with violent reprisals should he not be cast and that this was the sole reason he was given the role.
21	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Played with. Rick will occasionally give his coworkers respect for a witty remark, but he says it so bluntly it comes off as though Garth can't resist praising his own bad jokes.
22	* AnAesop: Parodied in "Scotch Mist." Garth Marenghi defensively claims he wrote it "to heal Britain," and in theory the episode ''is'' about Dagless confronting his prejudices and trying to make amends to the people he's insulted and wronged. But because his vitriolic hatred of Scotsmen is ''so'' over-the-top, and because Marenghi's prejudices still clearly bleed through all over the episode itself, it isn't exactly fit for purpose.
23	* AliensInCardiff: Marenghi's novel ''Afterbirth'' has a mutated placenta attack Bristol.
24	* AllThereInTheManual: While the show interviews give us a glimpse of what the production of ''Darkplace'' looked like, the supplemental interviews and commentary add more pieces to the puzzle, such as explaining that the production started with thirty extras and ended with seven because Dean ran out of money to pay them.
25	* AlternateHistory: It apparently takes place in a universe where Britain joined the Vietnam War, seeing as Dag claims to have "served [his] country" there. It's more than likely that Garth is just genuinely unaware his country didn't actually participate in that conflict.
26	* AlmostDeadGuy: Parodied with [[spoiler: the Temp]], who, as he lies dying, manages to hold on long enough to explain Bermuda's political status in relation to the United Kingdom.
27	* AndImTheQueenOfSheba: This exchange between Liz and Rick in the first episode:
28	-->'''Liz''': I had a vision. I'm a psychic.
29	-->'''Rick''': And I'm Creator/BoDerek.
30	* AndStarring: Dean Learner gets a "And Introducing" credit, given that he's "not an actor". Garth admits in the DVD extras that the casting was less about him seeing (completely unfounded) potential in Dean, and more that Garth couldn't even ''pretend'' to defer to another man as his character's boss.
31	* AngelsPose: A promo shot shows the male cast doing this pose. [[StayInTheKitchen Liz is also in the shot somewhere]].
32	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: [[AmbiguousSituation While this could just be chalked up to misremembering,]] Dean Learner mentions that upon reading the script for the pilot[[note]]and remember, ''Darkplace'' was "made" in the mid 1980s[[/note]], he openly stated it would be "the most significant, televisual event since ''Series/QuantumLeap''", a show that ''premiered'' in 1989.
33	* ATeamFiring: Whenever Thornton busts his shotgun out, he just sort of hip fires it wildly in the general direction of whatever he's shooting at, which is also usually offscreen.
34	* AttendingYourOwnFuneral: During his funeral, Renwick raises from his coffin as an undead.
35	* AuthorFilibuster: The interviews with the (fictional) cast members sprinkled throughout sometimes act as this for ridiculous things (for instance, talking about a foundation to help underprivileged children learn psychokinesis). Also, it's occasionally mentioned that Garth Marenghi fills his novels with them. On one occasion, the show's action stalls to explain the importance of buying brand-name batteries.
36	* BadassesWearBandanas: The Temp wears his tie as a bandana after he TookALevelInBadass.
37	* BadBadActing: Impressively, every character does this in a distinctly different way.
38	** Garth takes a SeriousBusiness approach, [[ChewingTheScenery milking every mundane line as if it's the most terrifying thing in the world.]] He also believes that subtext is for cowards and you aren't a real actor if you have to do a second take.
39	** Dean is (in his own words) "not an actor" and simply blurts out his lines with no understanding of what he's saying. He frequently stares off-camera, presumably at cue cards, or glances down the barrel of the camera itself. He also makes other basic mistakes, such as turning towards the next person to speak before they start speaking. There are also lots of obvious edits in his scenes which make it clear he couldn't manage his longer speeches in one take, and his gestures and expressions are stiff, exaggerated, and completely without force or presence. Making things even worse is how Thornton Reed is given some of the longest, most complicated, and most intensive monologues in the show.
40	** Todd is a "classically-trained actor" who has a habit of [[AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle drawing out vowels]] and [[LargeHam hamming up every line]] like Creator/TomBaker on one of his drunk days. He has a tendency to break LipLock when re-dubbing his lines, pitching his voice nearly a full octave lower in the process. He also strikes a pose whenever entering a room, turning a corner, or even just when standing still; another trait lifted from Tom Baker. His character Lucien is written like an action hero, but in practice this just involves Todd [[AssKickingPose holding his hands in stiff karate poses]].
41	** Madeleine is (relatively) the best actor of the core four and ''really'' commits to the material, but seems to stick precisely to the script and her marks, even when others miss their cues or when the direction she's given is patently ridiculous. Given the way Garth writes women, this means her character Liz Asher responds to everything with breathless shock, admiration, and instant deference to Rick Dagless.
42	** The "labourers" and nameless extras react to everything with [[DullSurprise blank expressions]] and bored voices: "Let's do it here. I'm really horny." They often move mechanically, apparently taking great concentration to hit their marks, and take their cues much too late.
43	** In general, characters talk quickly, rushing through their stilted dialogue. The cook, played by Stephen Merchant, is a notable example.
44	** The Temp in "Hell Hath Fury" is, by comparison, a rather good actor who has simply been given bad material to work with.
45	* BarrierMaiden: Renwick, Dagless's old friend and co-warlock, somehow became a living gateway to hell (or so we're told, mostly he twitches) and him exploding causes the gates to flood wide open. Burning the corpse doesn't seem to really fix matters, since from then on Darkplace becomes a WeirdnessMagnet.
46	* BasedOnADream: In-universe. Garth claims that he uses his dreams for inspiration for his writing... when he's not just [[UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}} stealing from dead authors whose work is out of copyright]].
47	* BeigeProse: Garth's writing style is a bizarre mix of this and ''really'' strained attempts at PurpleProse.
48	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[invoked]] Intentionally invoked with the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3rNBAMt-kg One Track Lover]]".
49	* BigNo: About seven per episode. Sanch's scream when he first shakes Liz's hand is so ridiculously long that even Sanch starts looking bored and glancing around.
50	* BlackComedyRape: The eye-monster that rapes a man, causing him to birth another eyeball monster. The "behind the scenes" interview has Marenghi state that the giant puppet was operated by a man who the victim's actor "had previously trusted," indicating some in-universe EnforcedMethodActing there.
51	* {{Blooper}}: In-universe. Garth's poor direction and editing leads to characters often gaining objects from nowhere or randomly losing things they had in previous shots. At one point Thornton is holding a shovel only to have it wordlessly replaced with a cup in the next shot.
52	* BodyHorror: The eye-creature and its hellish spawn, as well as Dagless' half-grasshopper son, and of course the entire Planet of the Apes episode.
53	* BottomlessMagazines:
54	** Explicitly {{Lampshaded}}-- in one scene Dagless states that he has five bullets remaining in his six-chamber revolver, then in the next fires ''nine'' without reloading.
55	** There's also [[spoiler:Larry Renwick's funeral]], in which Dagless and Reed fire over a dozen shots from a revolver and a shotgun respectively, without reloading.
56	* BreakingTheFourthWall:
57	** As part of Rick's narration at the start of "Skipper the Eyechild", he acknowledges the fact that said child was given birth to by a man, only to then basically break character entirely as Garth openly states they aren't going to explain:
58	--->'''Rick''': (narration) What I couldn't work out was how [the monster]'d managed to make another man pregnant. I guess we'd never know. So, just to restate, that ''is'' something we'll never know, you're not gonna find out later.
59	** On the DVD commentaries, Todd remarks on the Avalon VanityPlate and wonders why he never had any interaction with the real-world production company (Dean Learner produced the show in-universe).
60	* BritishBrevity: ''Darkplace'' ran for only one season with six episodes before getting canceled.
61	* ButNotTooForeign: The Temp from "Hell Hath Fury" is obviously played by an American, but Garth decided to write him as Bermudan for this reason.
62	* TheCameo:
63	** Creator/StephenMerchant (of ''{{Series/Extras}}'' and ''Series/{{The Office\|UK}}'') works in the hospital cafeteria.
64	** The Padre is played by Julian Barratt of ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'' fame. Creator/NoelFielding also cameos as an ape in the monkey episode.
65	* CampbellCountry: The final episode ("The Creeping Moss from the Shores of Shuggoth") provides us with Marenghi's rather unique take on Lovecraftian Horror.
66	* CaptainObvious:
67	** "I ran the only way I knew how. By placing one leg in front of the other in quick succession."
68	** Quoth Larry Renwick as his disembodied head lies in a pool of his exploded insides, "I think I'm gonna die!"
69	** 'I went for a drive to clear my head, which is why I'm in a car.'
70	* CelebrityParadox: People read Garth Marenghi's books in Darkplace. This can be mainly put down to his enormous ego.
71	* ChairmanOfTheBrawl: During the BarBrawl between Rick and Sanch in the last episode, Sanch breaks a bar stool on Rick's back.
72	* CharacterShilling: It'd be easier to list the times Rick Dagless ''isn't'' being shilled to the audience. In the final episode, a line from the Padre seems to suggest that he's a better person than '''[[BiggerThanJesus God]]'''.
73	* ChaseScene: A chase scene on bicycles ensues in the forest between Rick and the Ape Man (and later Thornton). It features an overly [[JitterCam shaky camera work]], [[DrivingADesk fake backgrounds]] and a [[{{Ramprovisation}} ramp]].
74	* ChaseSceneObstacleCourse: Spoofed when a chase scene ends with the MonsterOfTheWeek running through a ''literal'' obstacle course before crashing into a huge mountain of cardboard boxes sitting in the middle of a forest for no apparent reason.
75	* ChekhovsGun: As with many tropes, parodied to hell and back.
76	-->'''Thornton Reed:''' Take this, Dag.\
77	'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' What is it?\
78	'''Thornton Reed:''' ''Something that might come in handy''.
79	* ChinaTakesOverTheWorld: Thornton Reed's TheUnseen boss "Won Ton" is presumably meant to be this trope. It could also possibly be JapanTakesOverTheWorld despite [[InterchangeableAsianCultures wontons being Chinese]]; Garth Marenghi doesn't seem like the type to know the difference.
80	* ChromaKey: Appropriately atrocious blue screening.
81	* CoitusEnsues: Between the doomed patient and nurse in "Scotch Mist" right before the Scotch kill them.
82	--> '''Patient:''' Let's get down to it, I'm horny.
83	--> '''Nurse:''' Yes! Let's make love right here on the moor!
84	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: In "Scotch Mist"
85	-->'''Sinister Phone Message (slowed down 26%):''' Och...kill...Dagless...mon.\
86	'''Dr. Liz Asher:''' What does it mean?\
87	'''Dr. Lucien Sanchez:''' I know "mon" means "man", but I don't think "och" means anything.
88	* ComplimentBackfire:
89	-->'''Dean Learner''': I call Garth the Creator/OrsonWelles of horror, and not just because of his weight.
90	* ContemplateOurNavels: Garth, and by extension Rick, does this ''a lot''. Each episode ends with a long, rambling monologue from Rick about some vague philosophical idea relating to what happened.
91	* CoolCar: Dagless' car is a weak attempt - it has flashing lights, shiny buttons and a go-fast button, but it's still a golf cart pretending to be a sports car. As such, we never actually see it move.
92	* CovertPervert: Reed is seen groping Liz's behind while supposedly comforting her at the end of the first episode.
93	* CrazyPrepared: The three main male characters always seem to have firearms on their person [[RuleOfFunny for some reason]]. Special mention goes to Dagless bringing ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill a flamethrower]]'' to Renwick's funeral.
94	* CreatorBacklash: In-universe, it's strongly hinted that Todd Rivers knows full well how terrible the show is, unlike Garth and Dean who seem to be in total denial. The DVD commentary indicates that he never bothered to actually watch the show and when he finally sees it he's obviously unimpressed.
95	* CreatorBreakdown: In-universe, Garth lets his personal life and issues inform the scripts more than he perhaps should.
96	* CreatorKiller: It's implied that ''Darkplace'' was this for Todd Rivers; it's noted that he hasn't gotten much work since and his interview segments imply he's become [[TheAlcoholic an alcoholic]]. [[invoked]]
97	* CreepyBasement: Rick, Sanchez and the Temp explore the dark basement in the hope to find the killer. They find the mummy of a long-deceased security guard and are chased by {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s.
98	* CreepyTwins: Garth admits in the third episode that he was scared his own twin daughters would be this. Naturally he still finds a way to make it about himself being amazing, claiming that they only avoided this trope because of his good parenting.
99	* CueCardPause: A staple of Dean Learner's [[BadBadActing depiction of the truth]].
100	* DaChief: As part of Garth's ineptitude as a writer, he frequently writes the hospital staff as though they are detectives in an urban police station instead of doctors, with Thornton Reed as their cantankerous boss, regularly berating CowboyCop Dagless for not doing things by the book and under constant pressure from the mysterious "Won Ton" to produce results. Unfortunately, he is played by atrocious actor Dean Learner, whose NerdyNasalness completely undermines his attempts to be overbearing and intimidating.
101	* DawsonCasting: InUniverse Thornton Reed is pretty obviously supposed to be older than the rest of the cast, but Dean Learner looks to be a bit younger than Garth and Todd (in real life Ayoade was the youngest of the main cast, so this was probably meant to be spoofed too).
102	* DeathIsDramatic: The Temp's death. Sappy music plays over Rick screaming out his guts. Too bad Garth [[{{Narm}} overplays the scene completely]].
103	* DelayedReaction: Dean Learner and the extras often miss their cues or forget lines, resulting in awkward pauses in response to events. For example, at one point Dean answers a phone but forgets to say goodbye before setting it down, causing him to sheepishly splutter out a goodbye to the already hung-up phone.
104	* DeletedScene: In-universe. Apparently, Garth was only willing to cut one scene from over 50 episodes of the show he had created. This one scene is a flashback/dream sequence set in a Scottish chip shop.
105	* DemonicHeadShake: Renwick shakes his head uncontrollably in a flashback scene when he gets possessed by evil spirits during an occult ritual gone bad.
106	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
107	** Liz is a graduate of Harvard College Yale. She aced every semester and got an "A."
108	** Dr. Rick Dagless, M.D. expands to "Doctor Rick Dagless, ''Medicinae Doctor''". Doctors in the U.K. don't even use the term M.D.
109	** Also this delightful exchange from "Scotch Mist":
110	--->'''Dr. Liz Asher:''' Look! The mist is retreating!\
111	'''Dr. Lucien Sanchez:''' She's right! The mist is retreating.\
112	'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' You're both right. It ''is'' retreating.
113	* DiedInYourArmsTonight: The Temp dies in Rick's arms.
114	* {{Dissimile}}
115	-->'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' The doors of Darkplace were open. Not the literal doors of the building, most of which were closed. But evil doors. Dark doors. Doors, to the beyond. Doors that were hard to shut because they were abstract and didn't have handles. They were more like portals really.
116	* DoItYourselfThemeTune:
117	** Spoofed as the credits list the opening tune as being "based on melodies whistled by Garth Marenghi".
118	** "One Track Lover", an original song from the broccoli episode, is a straight example, sung by Matt Berry.
119	* DontExplainTheJoke: Marenghi's narration frequently steps in to explain something that only an idiot wouldn't understand.
120	* DoubleEntendre: Quite a few start springing up once the term "Homo Erectus" gets used.
121	-->'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' Sanch is regressing to Homo Neanderthalenis [sic]. Right now, Sanch, you're Homo Erectus, but who knows how long you've got.\
122	'''Dr. Lucien Sanchez:''' I appreciate you being straight with me.\
123	'''Thornton Reed:''' And you and I are Homo Sapiens?\
124	'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' Correct.\
125	'''Thornton Reed:''' But if we're all basically Homos, shouldn't we get along?\
126	[...]\
127	'''Thornton Reed:''' Come on, you two queers! We need to lick this problem before it turns around and slaps us in the nuts!
128	* DramaticDrop: Rick drops a teddy bear in shock when seeing Sanch having mutated into an ape.
129	* DullSurprise: When an actor isn't being a LargeHam or outright ChewingTheScenery, they're this. ''Especially'' true of Dean Learner (who isn't even a professional actor) and the extras.
130	* {{DVD Commentary}}: Done by Garth, Dean and Todd. It quickly becomes evident that Todd has never actually watched the show and only vaguely remembers filming his scenes. He's not impressed by it. They also (loudly) eat toffees and drink beer during the commentary. [[invoked]]
131	* EaglelandOsmosis: Garth has obviously based ''Darkplace'' on American shows he's seen. His character, Dagless, calls himself an M.D. and claims to have fought in 'Nam. Liz went to "Harvard College Yale," where she apparently "aced every semester," and at one point she says she didn't mean to "fall on my fanny" (something an English person would be extremely unlikely to say!).
132	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Todd Rivers doesn't get interviewed until the third episode.
133	* EerilyOutOfPlaceObject: Darkplace Hospital is just sitting in the middle of a giant moor, with no roads or parking lots giving access to it. It seems to do pretty good business anyway.
134	* EmpathicEnvironment: There is rain running down the window when Rick has a bittersweet flashback to his deceased son.
135	* {{Epigraph}}: There is a TitleCard early on in episode one providing a quote from ''Theatre/KingLear'': "This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen." (Garth then cites the page number, which is a basic mistake; citations for Shakespeare plays should instead include the act, scene, and line numbers.)
136	* EurekaMoment: Spoofed in "The Apes of Wrath" when people start devolving into monkeys due to obviously green contaminated water. Dr Dagless suddenly puts all the pieces together -- the fact that his friends turned into monkeys after drinking a cup of water, the only two people who haven't turned into monkeys aren't drinking the water, and that the water's a sickly green color -- [[AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering and concludes that he's thirsty.]]
137	* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Usually happens right before the roof scene (see below), and goes on for awkwardly long.
138	* EvilRedhead: The Scottish spirits are supposed to be this in "Scotch Mist."
139	* FacelessEye: The Eye Monster.
140	* FailedASpotCheck:
141	** When Dagless and Reed are discussing the notion of telekinesis over the phone, Liz is literally standing right in front of Reed, using said power with various objects floating near her. Reed doesn't even mention this to Dagless, instead just mentioning that "she's got a face like the proverbial" and she's probably on her period. Reed only figures it out when she gets even ''more blatant'' about it and boxes him into the corner of the room with his own desk.
142	** Nobody notices that the water in all the coolers is vivid green in "Apes of Wrath."
143	* FairForItsDay: Discussed InUniverse. Garth Merenghi ''thinks'' he was this when making Darkplace in the Eighties.
144	-->'''Garth:''' I've always been a vocal feminist. For example, I predicted that by 2040, the world would see its first female mechanic. And who knows -- she might ''even'' do a decent job.
145	* FakeNationality (in-universe):
146	** Lucien Sanchez. He even wears some type of eye makeup to make him look like he might be Hispanic.
147	** The Temp is obviously being played by an American man, but a poorly written speech claims that he's from Bermuda.
148	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath:
149	** Such as when Dagless' old college roommate ''explodes'' in the first episode, covering his hospital room in as much gore as the budget would allow. Fortunately, [[NightmareRetardant his head survives]] long enough to [[ICannotSelfTerminate implore Dagless to finish him off with a shovel]].
150	--->'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' Are you alright?
151	** At Renwick's funeral, his corpse, which is somehow intact again (though with the head stitched back on -- nice touch by Deanamatronix), bursts out of the coffin and starts writhing around. Cue Dagless opening up on him with his Magnum with Reed supporting with his shotgun, before Dag whips out [[KillItWithFire a flamethrower]] [[NoKillLikeOverkill to finish the job]].
152	* FantasticAesop: Marenghi says, "My books always say something. Even if it's just something simple, like "don't genetically engineer crabs to be as big as men"."
153	* FauxHorrific: Scotland.
154	* FilmingForEasyDub: There's a sequence in which the camera cuts back and forth between a wall and a potted plant while LoopingLines of the off-screen cast give an InfoDump on the plot so far. It's obviously added in post to correct some serious plot problems.
155	* {{Flatline}}: Linda dies from the broccoli infection on a flatline sound.
156	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Why doesn't Madeleine appear in any of the interviews or commentaries? [[spoiler:She went missing after the filming of the show and is presumed dead.]]
157	** Also, in ''Skipper the Eyechild'': "You're turning into an ape! A wild ape!"
158	* FreudWasRight: An awful lot of the threats facing Darkplace Hospital seem to involve testicles and/or penises. Even the ape-water somehow involved passing radiation through various primate gonads.
159	* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
160	** Watch closely near the end of the first episode and you'll see a fake gravestone next to Rick and Thornton [[StyrofoamRocks wobble from the wind]]. Shortly after, as Rick is walking away, one can see Thornton groping Liz's behind while "comforting" her.
161	** At several points you can see extras in the background moving or standing in amusingly stiff ways in order to hit their marks.
162	* FunWithSubtitles:
163	** If you have closed captioning turned on, when the intro music starts the subtitles display "CHEESY '80S SYNTHESISER MUSIC".
164	** The Scotsmen have all their lines subtitled despite not being very difficult to understand.
165	* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Rather than slapping Liz whenever she's "[[HystericalWoman hysterical]]", Dagless punches her in the face. It's obvious Garth has "issues" with the fair sex. The fact that Madeleine's DullSurprise acting means she looks as hysterical as someone on valium doesn't help much.
166	-->'''Dr. Liz Asher''': Thanks, Rick. I needed that.
167	* AGlassInTheHand: Thornton Reed crushes a styrofoam coffee cup in anger... which is completely clean, and had also been a shovel in the previous shot.
168	* GiantEnemyCrab: The antagonist of Garth's book ''Crabs'', which is briefly mentioned in Episode 5 and appears to be a reference to Creator/GuyNSmith's ''Crabs'' series.
169	* GoshdangItToHeck: Any of Thornton Reed's rants are this. Especially his "You're a flipping fool!" rants from "The Apes Of Wrath".
170	* GothicPunk: Garth tried to make ''Darkplace'' this. [[StylisticSuck Emphasis on]] ''[[StylisticSuck tried]]''.
171	* GoThroughMe: At Renwick's funeral, his mother jumps in the way when Rick tries to shoot the undead corpse. Rick doesn't hesitate to gun her down in order to get to Renwick.
172	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Garth is fond of peppering his speech with foreign words, mostly [[GratuitousFrench French]], (which he then translates) in an effort to make him sound more intelligent.
173	* GratuitousSpanish: The Padre. "''Dios Mio!''"
174	* HallOfMirrors: Clearly the budget wouldn't stretch to an entire hall, but we do get the tense shoot-out in the "water and mirror storage room." Well, where do you ''think'' hospitals store their water and mirrors?
175	* HandWave: As part of Garth's poor writing, blatant plot holes will often have quick, lazy explanations thrown in. Reed only taking a tiny sip of the contaminated water is apparently enough to not be infected, never mind the fact that he apparently went the entire month Dagless was in a coma without drinking any water.
176	* HappyFlashback: Rick has fond memories of playing with his dead boy in the front yard of his house.
177	* HeirClubForMen: Parodied. Garth complains during the third episode about only having daughters and his wife going through menopause, robbing him of a male "heir". His bizarre obsession with having a son bleeds through into that episode's obvious wish fulfillment regarding sons.
178	* HesGotAWeapon:
179	** At Renwick's funeral, Sanchez shouts "Look out, he's got a gun!" when Rick pulls out his revolver.
180	** Some obviously dubbed-in dialogue has Thornton yell, "He's got a stick!" to explain why Dagless is suddenly holding a stick in the next scene. To make the situation even more absurd, the "stick" in question is a thick branch that is completely out of place in a hospital.
181	* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Won Ton, ballbusting boss of the hospital is never seen, only spoken of.
182	* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: The more tasteful (ie: [[PurpleProse purple]]) words to use in a sex scene.
183	* ICannotSelfTerminate: As spoken by [[spoiler:Larry Renwick]], now a bloodied, dismembered head after his body spontaneously explodes in "Once Upon a Beginning".
184	-->'''[[spoiler:Larry Renwick]]:''' Rick, I beg ya, kill me! It ''[[CaptainObvious really]]'' hurts!
185	* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Darkplace. Dagless explains that it's really dark, hence the name.
186	* IgnoredEpiphany: Episode 2, "Hell Hath Fury," is about Liz being so mistreated that her temper flares and begins psychokinetically pelting everyone in the hospital (and everyone really lays into Liz more than usual). Whatever lesson in treating women more equitably may have been learned is watered down into "women are just crazy, compliment them in some vague way every so often to keep them at bay" and Liz is treated with brain surgery rather than anyone else changing their behavior.
187	* IHaveToWashMyHair: When Sanch asks Liz out on a date, she replies with this line.
188	* IKEAErotica:
189	** Episode 6 opens with a hilariously bad sex scene from a Marenghi novel.
190	--->''Mary felt her body burning, even though the room was properly air-conditioned. They tried all the positions: on top, doggy and normal. [[SexSignalsDeath Then, a hell-beast ate them.]]''
191	** Dean Learner later goes on a rant against IKEA Erotica, which instead veers towards PurpleProse.
192	* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: Just to hammer in Garth's [[SmallNameBigEgo bloated sense of self worth]], the proper title of the show is "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace". His name is also in bold print above the titles of any of his books.
193	* {{Infodump}}: Played for comedy in "The Apes of Wrath" where the plot was so badly written that by the end of the show Garth has to talk non-stop for nearly a minute in order to explain what the hell has been happening. Made even more hilarious when it becomes obvious that this scene was never filmed, as we hear Garth delivering a voiceover at breakneck speed whilst the screen displays stills of inanimate objects from Thornton's office.
194	* InformedAttribute: We're repeatedly told Dean Learner's acting is horrifically bad. While that's definitely true when the show wants to make a joke out of it, other times (such as "Skipper the Eyechild"), his acting is no worse than any of the others, and is actually on-par with Ayoade's other comedy roles of the period like [[Series/TheITCrowd Maurice Moss]] or [[Series/TheMightyBoosh Saboo]].
195	* IsTheAnswerToThisQuestionYes: Inverted, after Larry messily explodes (in slow motion) in 'Once Upon a Beginning'.
196	--> '''Dr. Rick Dagless, MD:''' Are you alright?
197	* InsistentTerminology: Rick/Garth continually refer to the [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] as "Scotch" rather than "Scots".
198	* KillItWithFire: Dag's solution to dealing with [[spoiler:Renwick's reanimated corpse]]. This after shooting it several times with both [[RevolversAreJustBetter his revolver]] and [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter Reed's shotgun]].
199	* LetMeGetThisStraight: Sanchez drops this line before summarizing what he learned from Liz about the vision she conceived from [[{{Psychometry}} shaking his hand]].
200	* LipLock: The actors frequently lose lip sync in their poorly looped dialogue. A good amount of dialogue seems to have been added or rewritten after filming.
201	* LittlestCancerPatient: About OnceAnEpisode, made all the more hilarious in one instance where the kid is a heroin addict.
202	* LivingProp: An extra with noticeable red muttonchops serves a number of different bit roles throughout the show.
203	* {{Lobotomy}}: Apparently, Sanch gave one to Liz to heal her from her [[PowerIncontinence out-of-control telekinesis]]. This has no lasting effect on her faculties or even her other psychic abilities, as she's still able to read Dag's mind in a later episode.
204	* [[invoked]] LoopingLines: Often featured and played for comedy. The looped lines are much louder than the normal dialogue and stuck in regardless of whether they match the actor's lips or if his mouth is even moving at all. Most of the additional dialogue seems to be added to add exposition or address continuity errors.
205	* LoveTriangle: Sanchez likes Liz, but she's clearly enamoured with Rick. Unfortunately, Rick is already in love with himself.
206	* MajorInjuryUnderreaction:
207	** [[spoiler:Renwick]]'s recently disembodied head telling Dagless, "It really hurts."
208	** Sanch getting his face burned by a hot iron in the CreepyBasement doesn't elicit any sign of pain from him. What's more, the burn marks [[UnexplainedRecovery are gone in the next scene]].
209	* {{Malaproper}}: Garth gives [[Series/TrailerParkBoys Ricky]] a run for his money in this department, for example saying the network "pulled the ax" on the show instead of "pulled the plug".
210	* MauveShirt: Jim. A redheaded doctor and peer of the core cast. He appears in multiple episodes and often doubles as the ChewToy.
211	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In "Skipper the Eyechild," none of the characters are fully sure if the eyechild brainwashed Dagless into adopting it or he was just projecting his emotional damage onto it (or both). He ''does'' completely ignore everything else (including the rape victim) once he lays eyes on it and immediately begins thinking of it as his baby, and assaults his friends when a "vision" warns him of them. Of course, since Darkplace is poorly-written in the first place, that would be ascribing subtlety to a writer who thinks it's "for cowards."
212	* MercyKillArrangement: Sanch asks Rick to kill him if his transformation into an ape goes too far.
213	* MiniatureEffects: The hospital is one of these. It's an awful one with model railway trees, shot with a lens that makes it extra unconvincing.
214	* MissingEpisode: Implied to be a reason why only six episodes were shown. After Channel 4 cancelled the series, Garth Marenghi stated that he may have taped over one of the 44 or so remaining in-universe episodes with one of ''Series/TheThornbirds''. [[spoiler: The DVD bonus interviews reveal that half of the show was destroyed by accident when Dean Learner accidentally tossed their master tapes into the River Thames during a customs raid on his London offices.]]
215	* MissingTrailerScene: Invoked. The exploding ambulance from the opening credits is conspicuously absent from any episodes in the series. The commentary track lampshades and handwaves this by claiming that it cost so much to blow the ambulance up in the first place that it took up the entire budget for the episode it was supposed to feature in.
216	* MisterSeahorse: "Look at that poor man, he's been screwed by a giant eyeball and now he's giving birth."
217	* MoodWhiplash: Hilariously frequent due to terrible [[BadBadActing acting]] and [[StylisticSuck editing]].
218	* MotherlyScientist: Rick develops feelings for the Giant Eye baby and protects it from [[TheyWouldCutYouUp being dissected]]. His [[ReplacementGoldfish behavior]] is explained by his DarkAndTroubledPast with his deceased son.
219	* MusicVideo: "One Track Lover" in episode 6.
220	* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Reed consistently addresses the three main doctors as "Gentlemen and Liz".
221	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: When affectionately stroking Skipper the Eyechild, it bites Dagless. In response he goes crazy and beats the creature to death, only afterwards going all TheseHandsHaveKilled and breaking down.
222	* MysteriousMist: The "Scotch Mist".
223	* {{Narm}}: [[invoked]] All of the dramatic moments deliberately invoke this.
224	* NarratingTheObvious:
225	-->'''Sanchez:''' Look, it's Jim! He's been hit by the mist, though he's still alive, unbelievable as that seems!
226	* NarrationEcho: In "The Apes of Wrath":
227	-->'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' ''[narrating]'' Reed told me everything. How the monkeys now ruled Darkplace. How they'd taken over.\
228	'''Thornton Reed:''' ''[flatly]'' They've taken over.\
229	'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' Oh no. Oh Jesus. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment They've taken over. They've taken over!]]\
230	'''Thornton Reed:''' I know!
231	* NationalStereotypes: A deliberately bad one of Scotland; their ghosts all wear kilts and [[Series/RabCNesbitt string vests]], have killer [[EverythingsLouderWithBagpipes bagpipes]] in tow (which rip off your trousers, [[CerealInducedSuperpowers make your legs glow orange]] and dye your hair ginger), talk in "[[SubtitlesAreSuperfluous indecipherable]]" accents and are placated with shortbread. His description of [[ViolentGlaswegian non-phantasmic Scottish people is even LESS complimentary]]. At his most charitable, Garth seems to view the Scottish as some sort of NobleSavage.
232	* NegativeContinuity: While the in-universe series "Darkplace" has loads of intentional continuity errors as part of its parody, the show itself can't keep straight how bad of an actor Dean Learner is supposed to be. He veers between "bad, but on par with everybody else" to "the worst actor in human history" depending on the joke -- sometimes even in the same scene. For instance, in TheTag to "Skipper the Eyechild", he delivers a perfectly-serviceable monologue to Liz and Sanchez about the Eyechild taking over Dag's heart, which is then capped off by the most awkward "No" in televisual history.
233	* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Garth and Dean both play heroic characters, and Dean always looks so out of his depth as an actor that he can come across as adorable. However, in the behind-the-scenes retrospective, it's clear that they're both extremely shady and creepy guys.
234	* NightmareRetardant: [[invoked]] Pretty much the whole point of the series.
235	* NightmareSequence: Rick has one after getting knocked out with a club by ape Sanch. He dreams of himself getting chased in the woods by apes. He wakes up noting that he must [[AsleepForDays have been out for a month]].
236	* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: "I believe that no living thing, be it human, animal or plant, should be hurt in the making of a TV show. So I personally feel very bad about that cat we killed."
237	* NoBudget: In-universe.
238	-->'''Dean Learner''': He had a very ambitious script. I said, "Garth, this is a very ambitious script for the money we've got. Seeing as we've got no money, it's extremely ambitious". We were filming it in my garage. I had a big garage, but still it was ambitious to film a TV show in a garage.
239	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Garth Marenghi is like a cross between Creator/StephenKing (King's [[Film/MaximumOverdrive attempts at filmmaking]] in particular), Creator/GuyNSmith, Creator/JamesHerbert and a few other horror writers.
240	* NoKillLikeOverkill: Combined with OneWomanWail and a BigNo. After [[spoiler:Renwick's (somehow reintact) corpse reanimates]], Dag shoots it several times with his revolver, while Reed opens up with his shotgun, before taking a [[KillItWithFire flamethrower to the body]].
241	-->'''Sanchez:''' ...That'll stop him.
242	* NoodleIncident:
243	** The "drink-related mishap in Fulham" which resulted in the footage for the climax of "The Creeping Moss from the Shores of Shuggoth" being lost for all time.
244	** At the end of "Once Upon A Beginning", Dagless is up on the roof of the hospital with his arm in a sling with no explanation as to why.
245	* NoOSHACompliance: Dean Learner notes that two techies died making the fifth episode because the initial mist effect used produced mist that turned out to be poisonous. Garth and Dean also admit that the cat used in the first episode was accidentally killed during filming.
246	* NuclearMutant: The eye monster is apparently the result of a sex offender's eyeball falling into an experimental gamma-ray treatment for a cancer patient.
247	* ObviousStuntDouble: During the chase scene in ''The Apes of Wrath'', Dagless is repeatedly switched with a much slimmer double wearing a [[DodgyToupee bad wig]].
248	* OhCisco:
249	-->'''Liz Asher:''' Just as long as it's not a ''screwdriver''!\
250	'''Thornton Reed:''' Yes, I'd prefer a beer! Dear me... oh dear...
251	* OminousPipeOrgan: The theme music features a chilling organ sound.
252	* OneHandedShotgunPump: Thornton does it at Renwick's funeral.
253	* OneSteveLimit: Amusingly averted; Rick names both his biological son "Skipper" then later names the eyeball monster baby the same thing, having to note which one he's referring to a few times. The end of the episode reveals that both were named after Garth's deceased dog, Skipper.
254	* OneWordTitle: ''Darkplace''. Also most of Marenghi's novels including ''Slicer'', ''Aftermath'', ''Juggers'', ''Slasher'' and ''R.I.P.P.E.R''.
255	* [[invoked]] OutOfOrder: In episode five, Thornton Reed mentions that Dagless opened the gates of hell "last week", meaning the episode was either supposed to be the second one broadcast, or the previous three episodes happened in just seven days.
256	* {{Overcrank}}: {{Lampshaded}} when it was explained that the excessive use of slow-motion was because the episodes were so poorly scripted and paced that they frequently ran ''under'' time by up to eight minutes; and instead of doing reshoots, they were padded out in post by "considering any scene that didn't have dialogue for slow-mo".
257	* OverlyLongScream:
258	** Sanch when shaking hands with Liz in the opener. At one point, he looks around with a "How much longer do I have to keep this up?" expression.
259	** Rick and the Temp when the latter gets pierced in the torso with screwdrivers.
260	* {{Padding}}: In-universe. Dean Learner states that so much slow-motion footage was used because the episodes often ran several minutes short and had to be padded out somehow, so "any scene without dialogue was considered for slow-mo". The fact that most of the dialogue is delivered in a rushed garble probably explains why each episode winds up short.
261	* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Very little doctoring is seen.
262	* {{Pixellation}}: The Eye Rape scene. Parodied when Dean then goes into a long rant about it: "I think it's disgusting that we had to pixellate out an erection. I mean we've all got one. I could have one right now and you wouldn't know. I mean, I don't, but..."
263	* PlaceWorseThanDeath: Scotland, according to Garth Marenghi.
264	* PlantHair: Linda sports broccoli hair during the final stage of her infection.
265	* PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou: Rick offers his life to the three Scotsmen by kneeling down and baring his chest. This act impressed the Scotsmen enough to abstain from further revenge.
266	* PlotHole: The entire show is something of a gaping plot chasm, but even Garth seems aware of his lack of scope.
267	-->"What I couldn't work out was how he'd managed to [[MisterSeahorse make another man pregnant]]. I guess we'll never know. So, just to [[HandWave restate]], that is something we'll ''never know''. You're not going to find out later."
268	* PoliceAreUseless: The authorities seem to have absolutely no interest in exploding patients, ape outbreaks, cosmic killer broccoli and murderous Scottish ghosts, leaving our heroes to get on with fighting the next MonsterOfTheWeek.
269	* PowerFloats: Liz, at the height of her anger induced telekinetic tantrum. This meant Dag could see up her skirt, and when he tells her to 'hide her shame' he gets an extinguisher in the face for it.
270	* ProductPlacement: During one episode, the characters go into a [[OverlyLongGag lonnnnnng tangent]] about the superiority of name-brand batteries such as Duracell or Eveready over cheap "£1 bags" of batteries. Note that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom Ofcom]] didn't like this kind of thing at all.
271	* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: As befitting an obvious GaryStu, the story bends over backwards to make Rick Dagless be in the right. The Chef is an AssholeVictim for making misogynistic comments to Liz and slapping her tray out of her hand, but Dagless does the exact same thing seconds beforehand and is depicted as being entirely in the right. [[invoked]]
272	* PstandardPsychicPstance: Liz strikes this pose when getting a psychic vision.
273	* {{Psychometry}}: Liz has a vision of Renwick's demise in room 213 when shaking hands with Sanchez.
274	* PsychoStrings: They play when Liz uses her [[MindOverMatter telekinesis powers]] on the chef.
275	* PurpleProse: The passages read at the beginning of each episode.
276	* PuttingOnTheReich: When Dag awakens from his coma, he looks outside Reed's office to see two jackbooted apes wearing Stahlhelms and carrying [=MP40s=].
277	* PuttingTheMedicInComedic: The TV show is a downplayed example. Although the show isn't a comedy about doctors, the situations that the doctors get into (such as a monster invasion) are strange enough to be hilarious.
278	* RapidFireTyping: An episode shows Liz looking up data on a computer, with the typical rapid clicking sounds, but then cuts to a shot of her fingers which are barely moving.
279	* RecklessGunUsage: As seen in the photo above, nobody seems to know what "trigger discipline" is.
280	* RedShirt: Clive the temp, who [[LampshadeHanging wears a red cardigan]].
281	* RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear: Happens during a phone conversation regarding the broccoli infection between Rick and Gavin, the hospital's gas expert. First, the trope seems to be averted as there is a long pause of Rick listening to the other side but then it turns out nothing was said during that time. Played straight afterward when Rick repeats what the expert has to say on the subject.
282	* {{Retraux}}: The feel of an '80s tv series is replicated, from synthesizers to audio pitch artifacting, to many of the effects, right down to an old iteration of the Channel 4 logo.
283	* RevolversAreJustBetter: Rick's HandCannon, which he carries at all times.
284	* RewatchBonus: Almost every scene is filled with so many ludicrous mistakes and failures that a viewer will likely rewatch them just to pick out the details.
285	* RiddleForTheAges: In one episode, a man gets pregnant. No answer ever comes about how it happened, but Dagless (and thus Marenghi) makes a long BreakingTheFourthWall diatribe about how it never will, so the audience better stop bothering.
286	* RuleOfCool: Sometimes merely otherwise inexplicable (why are doctors carrying around guns?), sometimes clearly a product of Marenghi's fanboyish replication of US media (the English Dag having fought in Vietnam "for [his] country").
287	* RunningGag: Rick and Sanch play a prank on Thornton in episode four with the result that the latter is constantly pestered by phone calls from clients asking for a massage.
288	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When Dag pulls out a flamethrower at Renwick's funeral, the Padré, quite understandably, flees the scene.
289	* ScullyBox: [invoked] The commentaries reveal Garth is quite insecure about his height and this shows in the editing. Most notably shown in ''Skipper the Eyechild'' when contrasted with the hospital porter Graham. Wide shots show Graham towering over Rick but whenever there's a close-up, Dagless is suddenly of equal or even greater height.
290	* SexSignalsDeath:
291	** The nurse and the patient who are about to make out in the forest in the opening of the fifth episode become MonsterMunch when the Scotch Mist befalls them. They might have been able to avoid this fate if they didn't abruptly stop having sex in one of the hospital rooms to instead have sex on the creepy moor outside.
292	** One of the excerpts from Garth's novels has this happen to a couple.
293	--> '''Garth:''' He whisked off her shoes and panties in one movement, wild like an enraged shark. His bulky totem beating a seductive rhythm. Mary's body felt like it was burning, even though the room was properly air-conditioned. They tried all the positions - on top, doggy, and normal. Exhausted they collapsed onto the recently extended sofa-bed. Then a hell beast ate them.
294	* ShamelessSelfPromoter: Parodied when Dagless [[CelebrityParadox picks up a Marenghi novel]] and spouts off several lines of dialogue concerning how he had "misjudged the genre".
295	* ShapedLikeItself: "The mist rolled [[AccentUponTheWrongSyllable relentlessly]] around Darkplace, much like smoke or fog."
296	* ShellShockedVeteran: [[ExaggeratedTrope All three]] of the main male cast are given backstories of being veterans of war. Bonus points for Dag and Sanchez's backstories not even making sense; Rick claims they fought in [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam]], but they're British and Britain wasn't involved in the Vietnam War.
297	* {{Short Runner\|s}}: Only one series of six episodes was made, and it wasn't renewed due to low ratings, though it did receive a spinoff in ''Series/ManToManWithDeanLearner''.
298	* ShortRunInPeru: Serendipitously the TropeNamer, but only InUniverse. In the first few minutes of the first episode, Marenghi mentions that although the show was never broadcast in its native land of Britain when first produced in TheEighties, it did have "a [[BeamMeUpScotty brief]] run in Peru".
299	* ShoutOut:
300	** Garth's showdown with the Scots is an homage to the finale in ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''. The soundtrack is a bagpipe cover of the film's climactic score, "The Trio."
301	** At the end of the same episode, Dag plays the theme from ''Series/{{Airwolf}}'' on the bagpipes.
302	** One storyline involves an eye-monster getting born from the eye of a sex-offender getting caught up in an experimental gamma-ray surgery procedure. This sounds awfully familiar to the backstory of ''Film/TheFly1958''.
303	** The green ooze in "The Apes of Wrath" that devolves people into hairy apes is lifted straight from the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E4Inferno "Inferno"]].
304	--->'''Thornton Reed:''' You used ''this'' to treat him? Where did you train?
305	** The appalling stunts inspired by some ropey episodes of the ''Series/TheATeam.''
306	** The bizarre long drives the characters take around the hospital are set to musical montages just like ''Series/MiamiVice.''
307	** One piece of background music in the fifth and sixth episodes is literally just a really shitty cover of the ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' theme.
308	* ShovelStrike: [[spoiler:Renwick]] [[ICannotSelfTerminate implores Dagless to end his misery]], and closes his eyes in anticipation. He opens them just in time to [[ThisIsGonnaSuck register that Rick has chosen a shovel to do the job]].
309	* ShownTheirWork: Parodied, when Rick cradles a dying minor character in his arms and it's obvious that the only dialogue Garth could think of was a very skimpy rework of the research he'd done to explain the character's accent:
310	-->'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' ''[tenderly]'' What's your name, son?\
311	'''Clive:''' Clive.\
312	'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' That's a strange name for an American.\
313	'''Clive:''' I'm from Bermuda.\
314	'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' Oh, that explains it. British principality.\
315	'''Clive:''' It's actually a dependent territory.\
316	'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' What's that?\
317	'''Clive:''' The Queen appoints a Governor General in charge of internal security and external defence but she's still the ''de facto'' sovereign.\
318	'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife We had so much to teach each other]].
319	* SignificantAnagram: The name "Garth Marenghi" came from rearranging the letters in the phrase ARGH NIGHTMARE.
320	* SittingOnTheRoof: Every episode ends with Dagless [[ContemplateOurNavels navel-gazing]] on the roof at sunrise.
321	* SniffSniffNom: Rick tastes the substance that was left behind at the crime scene in the forest. It turns out to be porridge pointing Rick into the direction of the Scotch Mist.
322	* SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX: Rick's half-arsed apology to the Scottish spirits in "Scotch Mist" involves insisting that some of his best colleagues have visited Glasgow once or twice during the day and said they'd had a good time.
323	-->'''Scotsman:''' You said some pretty nasty things...\
324	'''Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.:''' Look, [[BriefAccentImitation dinnae git me wrong]], I'm a ''big'' fan of the Scotch people; I love Lulu and, if ''Series/{{Taggart}}'s'' on, I'll tape it.
325	* SoUnfunnyItsFunny: The characters often spout what are supposed to be witticisms, and there are a few moments of friendly playfulness between the doctors that are intended as comic relief. They're all so cliched or poorly executed that it's funny.
326	* SpaceWhaleAesop: "I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards. OK? What I was asking in that scene is: what if politicians continue to pay doctors peanuts, could they literally turn into monkeys? And no-one's asked that before."
327	** "[...]my books always say something, even if it's something simple like 'Don't genetically engineer crabs to be as big as men'. There's always a message or a theme."
328	* SpecialEffectFailure: [[invoked]] Intentional, and [[PlayedForLaughs honed to an art form]].
329	* SpikingTheCamera: Happens from time to time with untrained cast members like the kids or Dean Learner.
330	* SpontaneousHumanCombustion: Rick Dagless's old college buddy spontaneously explodes (though his head survives long enough to ask Rick to finish him off); in the commentary, Dean Learner mentions that while filming the scene it was clear to everyone that "[[WriteWhatYouKnow someone close to Garth had exploded]]" in real life.
331	* StallingTheSip: How Rick and Thornton get spared from the ape mutation. Rick is about to drink the contaminated water but gets interrupted at the last moment. Thornton is overly preparing his glass of water and, [[TravellingAtTheSpeedOfPlot Thank god he only took a tiny sip!]]
332	* StandYourGround: "[[ItMakesSenseInContext I can't hold these plates off much longer, Liz]]!"
333	* StayInTheKitchen: Despite Garth's claims to the contrary, it's clear he doesn't think very highly of women. This leaks into Dagless's character (such as hiring Liz as a doctor and telling her to scrub his coffee mug in the same breath), but also in how Liz Asher is written with a scattering of empty "strong female protagonist" tropes ("I aced every semester and I got an A") but otherwise gets dumped on by every single character and event in the story.
334	* StealthParody: What? You thought this was supposed to be serious? Shame on you!
335	* [[invoked]] StuntDouble: Garth uses a stunt double for Rick for the arduous task of... running through some undergrowth. It's heavily implied that this is due to Garth having body odor problems.
336	* StylisticSuck: The entire show runs on this.
337	* StyrofoamRocks: A fire extinguisher thrown at Liz bounces about a foot in the air when it hits the ground.
338	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Dean Learner's comments regarding Madeleine Wool's disappearance. He not-so-subtly suggests that if she'd died she might be found somewhere "buried in the Eastern Bloc. If she got a burial."
339	* TalkingAnimal: "That's strange. That cat just told me to leave." The cat is obviously voiced by Matt Berry. Of all the cast, he has the funniest voice.
340	* TalkingHeads: Parodied. The episodes of the show are intercut with InUniverse interviews of the cast and crew. For the most part, the information they provide paints them all as truly horrible human beings on top of making clear that the production was an unmitigated disaster.
341	* TapOnTheHead: Rick Dagless wins most fights with ''a single punch.''
342	* TechnoBabble: Used frequently to justify the insane plots; most egregiously with Gavin, the hospital gas expert, and in "The Apes of Wrath" to explain how a scientist was able to turn people into monkeys.
343	* ThisIsGoingToBeHuge: Dean Learner, Garth's publisher, believed that ''Darkplace'' would become a bigger cultural phenomenon than ''Series/QuantumLeap''.
344	* ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: Rick decides to take on the Scotch Mist by himself because ItsPersonal.
345	* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Garth's obviously trying his best with his acting, playing everything as dramatically as he can. It doesn't work. Madeline is a decent actress but follows the direction too closely. The guy playing the Temp is a pretty good actor who is clearly struggling to make his terrible dialogue sound good. [[invoked]]
346	* TooStupidToLive: In "Hell Hath Fury", Sanchez fights off the items coming to life with his pistol, which then comes to life. He then wrestles it to the ground, only to pull out another pistol and shoot the first pistol, and then that one comes to life as well and chases him down the hall.
347	* TragicAIDSStory: {{Parodied\|Trope}}; Episode 6, "The Creeping Moss from the Shores of Shuggoth", featuring a sexually transmitted infection that turns its victims into broccoli, is presented as a hard-hitting allegory for AIDS.
348	* TrailersAlwaysLie: The exploding ambulance from the opening credits doesn't appear in show. We can only speculate as to why Dag was running away from it clutching a baby. On the commentary track we learn this is because they sank the budget for an entire episode just filming that single scene. [[ShootTheMoney Which would explain]] why the explosion of the ambulance truck is shown as a RepeatCut.
349	* {{Troperiffic}}: Almost every trope the show invokes is done so deliberately in order to parody it.
350	* [[invoked]] TroubledProduction: The interviews with Garth, Todd and Dean in the DVD extras reveal details about problems on set.
351	* TVTelephoneEtiquette: Parodied in "Hell Hath Fury", among others;
352	-->'''Thornton Reed:''' ''[picks up phone]'' Uh huh. Bye. ''[hangs up]'' [[DullSurprise Good gravy.]] A small bunch of objects are flying of their own accord in E Wing! ''[picks up non-ringing phone, then hangs up without saying anything]'' And apparently more objects are heading this way! ''[hesitantly, in the direction of the telephone]'' Good...bye...
353	* TwoWordsICantCount: Dagless splits "telekinesis" into two words.
354	-->''I've got two words for you, Sanch. [[{{Telekinesis}} Tele. Kinesis.]]''
355	* {{Understatement}}: Sanchez stating, "That'll stop him" after Dagless has just fired [[BottomlessMagazines eleven rounds]] from his HandCannon and used a flamethrower on [[spoiler:Renwick's re-animated, and somehow once again intact, body]].
356	* UnreliableNarrator: Garth states that the show was rejected by Channel 4 due to it being too intense and put it on due to an "artistic drought". Once you see ''[[StylisticSuck Darkplace]]'', it's implied that Channel 4 rejected the show due to quality, or lack thereof and they aired it as either filler or as [[ItAmusedMe a lark]].
357	* UnusualEuphemism: Thornton Reed is prone to making a lot of these. "My arse is grass and he's got a lawnmower, dig?"
358	* VanityProject: InUniverse, the whole show is a Garth Marenghi vehicle.
359	* ViewerFriendlyInterface: The main characters will often hand each other meaningless charts and graphs, usually with the conclusion simply written out on the page in giant letters.
360	* ViewersAreMorons: InUniverse. Garth has a ''very'' low opinion of [[HypocriticalHumour pretty much everyone]] that isn't him, and treats the audience and many of the people he works with like they have single-digit [=IQ=]s.
361	* ViralTransformation: The ape regression mutation and the contagious infection with broccoli spores.
362	* WaterSourceTampering: The epidemic in episode 4 was caused by a scientist who contaminated the water supplies with a serum to turn men into monkeys. Luckily, Rick was able to develop an antidote.
363	* WeHaveReserves: Dean Learner mentions that the fog in "Scotch Mist" was poisonous enough to kill two techies, but he is unrepentant, as he believes that you can always hire more, and one is very much like the last.
364	* WeirdnessCensor: No one seems to notice that the water dispensers at the hospital hold green water.
365	* WhatIf: Garth states that exploring "what if" scenarios was a central theme in the show.
366	* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: The doctors rarely seem to solve problems with anything other than guns, fistfights, or fire. Any actual cures or science are done totally off-screen.
367	* WhenPropsAttack: "Hell Hath Fury", in which the characters are fighting {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s. Including Sanchez struggling with his own gun, then battling a kitchen whisk trying to stab him in the neck, and then wrestling a garbage can.
368	* AWildRapperAppears: Thornton Reed's brief stint as a rapper in the so-Eighties-it-hurts music video "One Track Lover."
369	-->'''Thornton Reed:''' ''She's smooth, like ice\
370	Cold to the touch and isn't very nice\
371	When you left (cold to the touch) alone\
372	You let them treat you badly, leaves you hanging on the phone\
373	Take off (hot enough) shove your loving to the wheel\
374	Put the pedal to the floor, cos you're heading for the hills (we should be making love)\
375	got to get away, can't take it no more,\
376	man you don't need this leave it at the door (we should be making love)''
377	* WouldHurtAChild: Dean Learner admits to backhanding one of the child actors hard enough to leave a mark because he criticized Marenghi's script.
378	* WriterOnBoard: InUniverse. Marenghi's opinions on various subjects are very obvious in his writing.
379	* YourMakeupIsRunning: Liz bursts into (offscreen) tears every time Rick or Sanch says something remotely hurtful. Cut to panda eyes.
380	----

Context Series / GarthMarenghisDarkplace