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1[[foldercontrol]]
2
3[[folder:Dr. Rick Dagless, MD/Garth Marenghi]]
4[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_52675.jpeg]]
5->Played by: Matthew Holness
6!!Dr. Rick Dagless, MD
7* TheAce: Brilliant doctor, war veteran, skilled musician, master marksman and former warlock. Dag has done it all.
8* AllFirstPersonNarratorsWriteLikeNovelists: Justified in that Marenghi is a novelist.
9* AuthorAvatar: Dagless is a very obvious one for Marenghi.
10* BadassLongcoat: Is rarely seen without his doctor's cape and cowboy boots, even when he's not even wearing pants.
11%%* BlackHoleSue: Invoked.
12* ByronicHero: He spends most of his time angsting about the pain he feels, but when push comes to shove, he always saves the day.
13* CaptainObvious
14--> ''I ran the only way I knew how - by moving one foot in front of the other in quick succession.''
15* CarpetOfVirility: It's the eighties.
16* ChivalrousPervert: What he's supposed to be in theory. In practice, not so much (well, not the chivalrous part).
17* CombatMedic: Due to the frequent supernatural events in Darkplace Hospital, he spends more onscreen time using his revolver than he does actually treating patients.
18* CrazyPrepared: Carrying a revolver at all times in a hospital aside, he brings ''a flamethrower'' to Renwick's funeral.
19* CulturedBadass: A gunslinging occult doctor who coolly quotes Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge.
20* DarkAndTroubledPast: He had a son, who was part-grasshopper, who jumped too high one day and [[HelicopterBlender didn't see the helicopter passing overhead]]. He claims that just about everyone he's ever loved has died, driving him to become the sarcastic, brooding ByronicHero he is.
21* DeadpanSnarker: "Maybe if everyone who'd ever been close to you had died, you'd be sarcastic, too."
22* DelusionsOfEloquence: Garth is quite fond of trying to sound erudite, and failing catastrophically (mostly due to explaining what any remotely exotic word means).
23%%* DontYouDarePityMe
24* EightiesHair: The show is pure '80's kitsch, so this trope is a necessity.
25* FriendToAllChildren: He's shown giving aid to small children around the hospital, ostensibly saving their lives and giving advice.
26%%* GodModeSue: Invoked.
27* HeartbrokenBadass: He claims that he's lost everyone he's ever loved. We don't know what happened to his wife, but we do know that his half-grasshopper son jumped too high one day and was killed by a helicopter.
28* TheHero: ''Obviously''. He's Garth's character, after all. What else?
29* IgnoredExpert: His advice about burning Renwick's body is ignored by Reed, who rants at him telling him that he's a livewire maverick. It's only when Renwick comes back to life that he believes him.
30* InfallibleNarrator: Dag is, of course, never wrong in his narration, thanks to his being Garth's AuthorAvatar.
31* InformedAttractiveness: He isn't ugly, of course, but, by conventional standards, Sanchez is the better looking of the two and just before the musical number, Sanchez wishes he was "More attractive, like Dagless". This can presumably be put down to Garth Marenghi's massive ego.
32* InformedAttribute: DoesntLikeGuns, even though he seems to always have one.
33* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's supposed to be this due to the death of his son (and possibly his wife as well) and with [[FriendToAllChildren his treating of child patients]]. However, the way he treats other hospital staff, he comes across as a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk.
34* LargeHam: He takes a SeriousBusiness approach to every line, treating even the most mundane of sentences as if it were the most important thing in the world.
35* LimitedWardrobe: Invoked in-universe. Dagless simply wears the same clothes as Marenghi does in the interviews, only with a doctor's labcoat instead of a leather jacket—He wears the leather jacket or one suspiciously like it to the funeral in the first episode.
36* MageMarksman: Dag is apparently a former warlock and is shown in a flashback with Renwick in a Satanic ritual. He's also always in possession of a HandCannon, which he tends to use quite a lot.
37* MartyStu: InUniverse. It's telling that being the world's greatest doctor is only the tip of the iceberg.
38* MrExposition: He's effectively a mouthpiece for Marenghi's writing, with a heavy level of PurpleProse in his internal monologue.
39* MundaneMadeAwesome: Every word out of his mouth has him describe his every move, such as the quick wash he has before going into the hospital, as if it were relevant to the plot.
40* {{Narrator}}: He narrates the episodes, which makes sense, as Marenghi presumably wrote the script as being from his point of view like a first person narration from one of his books.
41* NobleBigotWithABadge: He hates women and Scottish people, but he's a damn good doctor.
42* ObviousStuntDouble: Dagless has one during the chase scene during "The Apes Of Wrath". Lampshaded, since apparently Marenghi didn't want to overexert himself as he sweats easily.
43* ParodySue: Of both the heroes of old low-budget horror and sci-fi shows and films like Quatermass, and of shows like Casualty or E.R. He is more specifically a parody of a real Sue: Peter Rickman of ''Series/KingdomHospital''.
44* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Rick expresses casually sexist and racist views obviously shared by the (fictional) writer Garth Marenghi himself.
45* PuritySue: Invoked. "You're the most sensitive man I know, and I know God."
46* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: He's a reflection of his (ineptly bigoted) creator's views.
47* RedHeadedHero: Briefly in the Scotch Mist episode. One of the mist's effects is to dye his hair ginger. It's only temporary, as the Scots assure him it'll grow out.
48* RevolversAreJustBetter: It helps a lot that Dag's comes loaded with BottomlessMagazines.
49* TheScrooge: He's tight with money, insisting he be paid back for coffees bought for colleagues and buying off brand batteries for hand fans.
50* ShellShockedVeteran: He states the he fought for [[ArtisticLicenseMilitary his country]] in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.
51* TheSmartGuy: He's the world's greatest doctor and generally is the one who figures out the situation as required.
52* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: His huge tinted eighties glasses aren't quite CoolShades, but they would have been an indicator of his being TheSmartGuy during that era.
53* SmokingIsCool: Smokes in the middle of a hospital cafeteria (right next to a No Smoking sign) and ashes into Sanch's coffee cup on top of it.
54* StepfordSnarker: "Maybe if everyone who'd ever been close to you had died, you'd be sarcastic too."
55%%* SympatheticSue: Invoked.
56* WouldHitAGirl: Punches Liz in the face when he tries to escape from the rooftop with his Giant Eye baby. He also slaps her to calm her down from her hysterics.
57
58!!Garth Marenghi
59* AuthorFilibuster: He regards subtlety as a mortal enemy and is incapable of incorporating his themes in any manner more complex than having the characters spout off long, awkward monologues where they express his exact views. At one point the pacing is brought to a screeching halt so he can explain why buying non-name brand batteries is a bad idea.
60--> "I know writers who use subtext, and they're all ''cowards.''"
61* BilledAboveTheTitle: When it comes to his novels, Garth Marenghi's name is evidently more important than whatever lame OneWordTitle is beneath it.
62* BunnyEarsLawyer: Garth Marenghi is a successful novelist (though it's more down to his talents in self-promotion rather than writing), but he's mad as a brush.
63* CelebrityParadox: At one point, one of his books turns up in the staff room and Dagless ends up reading it as a PsychicBlockDefense against Liz's PsychicPowers. Liz herself mentions that Garth is her favourite writer.
64* ConspiracyTheorist: He believes the government is controlled by rats and that wearing deodorant causes pores to be blocked up, resulting in bad breath and internal sweating, which in turn causes cancer.
65* CopiouslyCreditedCreator: InUniverse. The show credits Garth Marenghi as writer, director, producer, star and even sneaks in a composer credit ("based on melodies whistled by").
66* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: All the time. He seems incapable of writing anything without repeatedly over-stressing the same points until it reaches a point of absurdity.
67-->'''Garth''': (reading an exerpt from one of his own books) ...his eye sockets were filled with maggots. Maggots? Maggots. ''Maggots''.
68* GiftedlyBad: In case you haven't noticed, he's an utterly atrocious writer whose unwarranted success has driven his ego into the stratosphere, when all is said and done.
69* HellBentForLeather: Always seen wearing a swaggy black leather jacket in line with his bad boy image.
70* HeManWomanHater: Has some pretty obvious problems with women and it bleeds through to the ''Darkplace'' characters, who often make chauvinistic comments totally out of the blue.
71* IJustWriteTheThing: Similar to the reputation of one of his primary inspirations, Creator/StephenKing, Marenghi's splurges out a single draft of a story with total spontaneity, hence his self-proclaimed profession as "The Dreamweaver".
72* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: Marenghi is ''very'' fond of this trope.
73* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Insists he's an [[InsufferableGenius utter genius]] but this series tells otherwise. At the opening of one episode, he says he is "one of the few people who have written more books than they have read".
74* TheNapoleon: Not Dagless, for once. Garth Marenghi insists in interviews that he is six feet tall. Cut to Todd Rivers laughing hysterically.
75-->"He's barely five foot and wears lifts!"
76* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He's a send up of notoriously schlocky British horror writers who were popular in TheEighties, such as Creator/JamesHerbert and Shaun Hutson.
77* PlagiarismInFiction: One of his literary "techniques" is ripping off ideas from dead authors whose work is no longer subject to copyright.
78* RealMenEatMeat: He claims he eats so much meat, he has a "meat tooth" instead of a sweet tooth.
79* SignificantAnagram: His name is an anagram of "Argh Nightmare", which is fitting for a horror writer.
80* SmallNameBigEgo: One of the more entertaining aspects of the show is just how far up his own arse Garth Marenghi is and how outlandish his justifications are.
81* TallDarkAndHandsome: Garth certainly sees himself as this, as he goes out of his way to wear all-black and writes every other character to praise Dag's unrivalled sex appeal.
82[[/folder]]
83
84[[folder:Dr. Lucien Sanchez/Todd Rivers]]
85[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d6af594fd7e3e2b0e395aa8f1c9083a1.jpg]]
86->Played by: Creator/MattBerry
87!!Dr. Lucien Sanchez
88* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: Almost all of his line readings are extremely bizarre and stilted, not helped by the obvious overdubbing leading to a bad case of LipLock.
89* BadassLongcoat: Like Dag, he wears a labcoat around the hospital. Helps him conceal his multiple sidearms.
90* BadassSpaniard: Invoked. Or possibly Argentinian: he fought in the Falklands war.
91* CasanovaWannabe: He's constantly being shot down by Liz. [[InformedAbility He's supposed to have slept with half of Romford, but we see no evidence of this onscreen]].
92* TheCastShowOff: "One Track Lover." Doubles as a BigLippedAlligatorMoment.
93* CrazyPrepared: He carries two pistols at all times; One primary sidearm concealed in his labcoat and a backup in an ankle holster.
94* DashingHispanic: He tries to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this by wearing eye makeup and [[BrownFace foundation]] to make him look like he might be Hispanic.
95* EightiesHair: Like every other character on the show, he sports a mullet.
96* FakeNationality: Invoked. He even wears some type of eye makeup to make him look like he might be Hispanic.
97* FascinatingEyebrow: He does an impressive "Spock Eyebrow Raise" in the first episode.
98* GroinAttack: Sanchez catches a broccoli infection from a woman he sleeps with, necessitating the amputation of his penis when it turns green.
99* TheGunslinger: Supposedly fought in the Falklands War.
100* TheLancer: Best buddies with Dr. Rick Dagless, MD.
101* LargeHam: There is no one hammier than Todd Rivers as Sanchez. "''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6iJRNHUOT4 So what happened between you and this Renwick customerrrrrr?]]''"
102%%* LipLock: The most frequent offender.
103%%* MrFanservice: ''Another'' InvokedTrope.
104* ReallyGetsAround: Implied in the last episode when it's stated that the broccoli infection is sexually transmittable. Also an InformedAttribute as Sanchez is never seen with any other woman apart from the broccoli infection victim and is constantly being shot down by Liz.
105* TriggerHappy: At one point pulls out an extra gun to shoot his other gun.
106* VitriolicBestBuds: "He's a good buddy, though we sometimes have punch-ups."
107* WimpFight: He and Dag have one in the final episode.
108* TheWorfEffect: He's often taken out hilariously easily to make Dag look cooler.
109
110!!Todd Rivers
111* TheAlcoholic: Todd Rivers, who hasn't worked since this show. The commentary tracks imply that he was drunk during filming, as he seems to have no memory of making the show and in a number of the interview segments, he's sipping from a glass of whiskey.
112* ClassicallyTrainedExtra: Is a classically trained actor who obviously doesn't think much of the show, which explains why his lines are so often poorly done or dubbed over. In the extras, he talks about the challenges of acting on stage.
113* LoveableSexManiac: Accusations of Todd being a sex pest severely damaged his already fading career, which he seems to be most bitter and stringently in denial about.
114* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: While he's very much his own man, his acting style is heavily based on Creator/TomBaker on his off-days, including [[AccentUponTheWrongSyllable drawing out his vowels]] and striking a pose at any given opportunity.
115* OnlySaneMan: Only when compared to Garth and Dean, of course, but Rivers seems to be the only person involved in the production that realized that it was awful, but is too polite to mention it.
116* TokenGoodTeammate: Garth is a raging misogynist, narcissist, and miser, while Dean is an implied SerialKiller who has a history of child and animal abuse. Outside of being TheAlcoholic, Todd is a reasonably normal guy, and he doesn't say anything negative about ''Darkplace'' despite being clearly embarrassed by it.
117[[/folder]]
118
119[[folder:Liz Asher/Madeline Wool]]
120[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/919d6f816abf70f88609e4b16661fbbe.jpg]]
121->Played by: Alice Lowe
122!!Liz Asher
123* AllWomenLoveShoes: She's the only woman in the main cast, Garth needed to put all these clichés ''somewhere''.
124* AncestralWeapon: In "Scotch Mist", she gives Rick a knuckleduster that was her mother's to defend himself against the Scotch.
125* BroughtDownToNormal: After her psychic rampage, Dag performs a lobotomy on her to disable her telekinetic abilities with no apparent side effects to her intelligence. [[DownplayedTrope However]], she still retains PsychicPowers, such as mind reading.
126* ButtMonkey: Is the victim of Marenghi's very blatantly chauvinistic writing. In one scene she screams and Dagless [[WouldHitAGirl punches her in the face]]. She responds with "Thanks! I was hysterical!"
127* DoesntLikeGuns: Unlike Dag, this isn't explicitly stated, but she is the only member of the main cast not to use a firearm of any kind, unless you count using her PsychicPowers to turn Sanchez's own guns against him.
128* DullSurprise: Tends to blurt out her lines in a fairly flat monotone in what seems to be an attempt to just get them out of the way, though she's not ''nearly'' as bad as Dean as Thornton in this regard.
129* DumbBlonde: Despite the fact she "aced every semester and got an A", she almost always acts as TheLoad. This may have something to do with her lobotomy.
130* EasilyForgiven: After she rampages with her PsychicPowers around the hospital and is given a lobotomy to remove her telekinetic abilities, the rest of the staff make light of the fact that she killed [[RedShirt the temp]].
131* EightiesHair: Par the course with her large blonde perm.
132* FemaleMisogynist: Due to Garth's chauvinistic writing, Liz often makes vaguely sexist comments towards herself, such as thanking the men for taking away her psychic powers and criticizing herself for basically expecting respect from them.
133%%* GaussianGirl: Used in most of her shots.
134* InformedAttribute: She's written as a HystericalWoman, but Madeline isn't very good at hysterics, meaning that her boss's [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan default response]] looks like a serious overreaction.
135* IvyLeagueForEveryone: In her own words, she attended "Harvard College, Yale."
136* MenstrualMenace: When she's on her period and everyone else berates her, her PsychicPowers are amplified to the point where every random object in the hospital is a threat to everyone.
137* NeutralFemale: She just sort of exists, except for the one episode where she went mental and rampaged with her psychic abilities. After that, and her lobotomy, the AbortedArc is never returned to. She's the only main character that isn't always armed.
138* PstandardPsychicPstance: Especially in episode two.
139* PsychicPowers: She can make use of telekinesis until Dag gives her a lobotomy to remove that power when she rampages around the hospital. Afterwards, she still retains some of her powers, such as the ability to read minds.
140* TheSmurfettePrinciple: A symptom of Marenghi's sexist writing.
141* YourMakeupIsRunning: Every single time she cries.
142
143!!Madeline Wool
144* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:The (fictional) actress, Madeleine Wool, disappeared without a trace after the filming of ''Darkplace''. She is (emphatically) presumed dead by her fellow cast members. Dean Learner speculates that she's "buried somewhere in the [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Eastern bloc]]. If she got a burial." The awkwardness of the remaining cast members around the subject and the fact that they're all incredibly shady to begin with suggests that there's a pretty sordid story behind the disappearance.]]
145* NeverFoundTheBody: She disappeared off the face of the earth after the show, though Dean is implied to have killed her and speculates that she's buried "somewhere in the Eastern bloc."
146* NoodleIncident: Madeline Wool is implied to be murdered, and the other actors' hesitance suggests they had a hand in it.
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder:Thornton Reed/Dean Learner]]
150[[quoteright:210:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0fed48a72819767412b6b0d85bc5d484.jpg]]
151->Played by: Creator/RichardAyoade
152!!Thornton Reed
153* SeventiesHair: Dean wears a seventies-style 'tache to make Reed look like he's supposed to be older than the others.
154* AsideGlance: Very frequently, mostly to read cue cards.
155* BadassLongcoat: Wears a long coat from time to time, along with his badass shotgun.
156* CaptainObvious: "I want to see both of you in my office five minutes ago!" -checks his watch- "''So you'd best hurry up!''"
157* CampStraight: Dean Learner [[AmbiguouslyGay maybe]]. Thornton Reed is seen groping Liz's ass at the funeral in the first episode.
158* ColdHam: He ''tries'' to be a LargeHam, but just doesn't have the acting chops.
159* CoolOldGuy: He's ''supposed'' to be one. Despite being the youngest man in the main cast.
160* CovertPervert: Reed is seen groping Liz while comforting her.
161* CrazyPrepared: He brings a shotgun ''to a funeral''.
162* DaChief: Thornton Reed is clearly written this way in spite of being the administrator of a hospital rather than a police precinct.
163* DullSurprise: A side-effect of Learner's complete inability to act with his face.
164* GoshDangItToHeck: Every one of his rants.
165* GroinAttack: Reed apparently lost a testicle in UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar.
166* FilmingForEasyDub: Learner is such a poor actor that his lines are redone constantly, creating visible continuity errors.
167* JiveTurkey: Made hilarious by Learner's nasally English accent. "My ass is grass, and Wanton's got a lawnmower, ya dig?"
168* LargeAndInCharge: Richard Ayoade is 6' 2'' and thus the tallest of the main four. It's not pronounced as much as Dean Learner but as Thornton Reed it's emphasized how much he towers over Dagless and the others. Fitting as he is their boss.
169* LargeHam: Again, he's clearly meant to be played a LargeHam, but Learner is such a hilariously bad actor that it doesn't entirely work.
170* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Thornton Reed is an inept but well-meaning hospital administrator and one of the main heroes of ''Darkplace''. His actor, Dean Learner, is... decidedly less likeable in the reflective interview sections.
171* NotSoBadassLongcoat: Wears one to the funeral. Most likely to conceal his shotgun.
172* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He's probably supposed to be this, but his [[StayInTheKitchen treatment of Liz]] torpedoes any illusions of that.
173* RetiredBadass: In his backstory, he lost a knee and a testicle in UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar and, apparently has been a DeskJockey for the last decade.
174* RidiculousProcrastinator: He takes so long to pour a glass of water that Dag is able to work out that it's the water turning everyone into apes.
175* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: His favorite weapon. He even brings it to ''a funeral''.
176* SoulBrotha: Thornton Reed is probably intended by Marenghi to be played as a Soul Brotha; he says in the first episode that if Dagless doesn't pull through, "My ass is grass! And he (Won Ton)'s got a lawn mower, ya dig?". Dean Learner, due to his monotone, nasal voice and general lack of acting ability, cannot quite pull this off.
177* WaistcoatOfStyle: He's probably the most stylishly dressed character in the show. Dean Learner, [[FashionVictimVillain not so much]].
178
179!!Dean Learner
180* AffablyEvil: If you somehow ignore his torrents of horrible opinions and apparent self-incriminations, Learner almost seems like a harmless dandy.
181* AmbiguouslyGay: Learner is quite camp, but denies in almost a SuspiciouslySpecificDenial that he is gay.
182* BadBadActing: Learner says he's not an actor, and he means it.
183* CigarChomper: Learner doesn't smoke cigarettes, though. He doesn't want to get cancer.
184* {{Jerkass}}: He once punched one of the on-set child actors, and it's implied he murdered the person who financed the show ("Achmed", who was interested in "moving pictures"), Garth's second publicist, and Liz's actress.
185* EvilVirtues: Humility, since he's the first to admit that [[BadBadActing he's not an actor]].
186* FashionVictimVillain: Invoked, namely with his stupid slanted beret. Even the unseen camera crew behind the interview sections insult his ridiculous fashion sense to his face.
187* HeWillNotCrySoICryForHim: Admits to doing this when filming Renwick's death scene.
188--> '''Learner:''' I don't know whether someone close to Garth had exploded, whether it was a colleague or a pet. But you could tell that scene meant a lot to him, there were tears on set. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Not from Garth, he was strong for the crew]]. But I wept, I'm not ashamed of that. It's, I suppose, one of the many burdens he has to bear as an artist in bringing us this gift.
189* NeverMyFault: Complains about the police forcing him to suffer the "indignity" of legal trouble for actions he heavily implies he actually was guilty of.
190* NiceCharacterMeanActor: You may be forgiven for assuming that Dean Learner is just a comically inept actor out of his depth judging by the way he plays LargeHam Thorton Reed, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Learner is an ''extremely'' troubled man with no redeeming traits beyond his childish reverence for Garth. In contrast to his timorous onscreen performance, his demeanour in the interviews is totally self-assured.
191* SissyVillain: He's a prissy, soft spoken dandy who has almost certainly killed multiple people and confesses rather offhandedly to serious acts of child and animal abuse.
192* TheSociopath: Dean Learner indicates that he has no sense of morality and throughout the series implies that he has murdered a number of people in order to stay close to Garth Marenghi. He's proudly vocal about his past acts of animal and child abuse, such as when he stepped on his cat's head after dropping a sofa on it. Worse, he's very heavily implied to be a paedophile as he gives his unpopular opinion that girls who lie about their age should be imprisoned or sent to correctional institutions. This possibly gives context for his status as the worst actor on the show, because he doesn't feel authentic emotions.
193* StalkerWithoutACrush: Is way too into Garth Merenghi to the point that he admits to having punched a child for having disrespected him and its implied he murdered Garth Merenghi's manager in order to stay close to him.
194* UndyingLoyalty: To Garth Marenghi. He's Garth's biggest fan (perhaps the only remaining one in the world) and is constantly hyping up his work as being up there with the literary greats.
195* VileVillainSaccharineShow: ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'' is a light-hearted and goofy satire of cheesy '80s TV, but Dean Learner is all but outright said to be a seriously disturbed murderer and paedophile.
196* WouldHurtAChild: Dean Learner remarks, in a distressingly off-handed manner, that he violently struck one of the child actors who appeared in the show, hard enough to leave a visible bruise. It was photographed and it's strongly hinted to have contributed to the cancellation of ''Darkplace''.
197[[/folder]]

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