Limited series · Channel 4
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
FROM THE BEST-SELLING MASTER OF DARKNESS
Who's in it
Cast
The principal ensemble across the run of the series.
Matthew Holness
Garth Marenghi / Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.
6 eps
Matt Berry
Todd Rivers / Dr. Lucien Sanchez
6 eps
Richard Ayoade
Dean Learner / Thornton Reed
6 eps
Alice Lowe
Madeleine Wool / Liz Asher
6 eps
Kim Noble
Jim
4 eps
Stephen Merchant
The Chef
2 eps
Julian Barratt
Padre
3 eps
Noel Fielding
Monkey Man
1 eps
Jonathan Edwards Young
Clive The Temp
1 eps
Matt Green
Highlander
2 eps
Graham Linehan
Security Guard
2 eps
Sarah Kants
Larry's Mother
2 eps
Lydia Fox
Rick's Wife
1 eps
Lawrence Michelowski
Larry Renwick
1 eps
Spencer Brown
Patient
1 eps
Richard Thomson
Highlander
1 eps
Tina Tutkova
Nurse
1 eps
Paul King
Techie
1 eps
Adrian Sturges
Voice on Answerphone (voice)
2 eps
Bronwen Davies
Linda
1 eps
Nicholas Ivanov
1 eps
Jerome Smith
1 eps
Samir Haddad
1 eps
Daniel Riste
Boy on Ward
1 eps
Lewis Palmer
1 eps
Stuart Silver
Hospital Worker
1 eps
Kevin Hudson
1 eps
The Nutevio profile
TV DNA
How Garth Marenghi's Darkplace actually feels to watch, measured on the traits our editors track across every series.
Signature profile
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace reads strongest on Bingeability, Spectacle and World Building.
How hard it is to stop after one episode.
Visual ambition — scale, craft and set-piece filmmaking.
The scale, internal logic and texture of the world.
How often an episode ends on a hook you can't ignore.
How often the series is genuinely funny, by design.
How much each hour depends on the one before it.
The sustained pressure the series keeps you under.
How fully written and psychologically layered the ensemble is.
How much the series is designed to affect you.
The story
What it's about
When the Hellmouth opens beneath Darkplace Hospital in downtown Romford, kiddy doctor, Vietnam veteran and ex-warlock Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. is the only man who can close it. Joined by best buddy Dr. Lucien Sanchez, fiery hospital boss Thornton Reed, and woman Liz Asher, Dagless must fight the forces of Darkness while dealing with the burden of day-to-day admin. From the chilling pen of best-selling horror writer Garth Marenghi comes this lost masterpiece of televisual terror. Dare you enter Garth's Darkplace?
Where the series peaks
Best Episodes
The hours that define the show, ranked by audience response and editorial signal.
S01E01
Once Upon a Beginning
New doctor Liz Asher is tipped off by a psychic cat that evil lurks in the cooridors of Darkplace. When a patient mysteriously dies, Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. must scalpel-up and close a standard-sized hell-mouth beneath Romford. Contains mild swearing and the naked top-half of a man.
- Directed by Richard Ayoade
- Written by Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness
S01E02
Hell Hath Fury
The hospital chef is savagely attacked by a ladle and then a fork. Who or what threw one or both of them? And why are objects flying about of their own accord, attacking innocent civillians and disrupting hospital procedure? Meanwhile Dagless has his own problems with a suspicious-looking temp with an attitude problem.
- Directed by Richard Ayoade
- Written by Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness
S01E04
The Apes of Wrath
Monkey business most macabre. A terrible sickness is spreading from ward to ward as humans regress to a primal state. Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. must kill the beast within us, and fast. i.e. before it's too late.
- Directed by Richard Ayoade
- Written by Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness
Recently aired
Latest Episodes
S01E06
The Creeping Moss from the Shores of Shuggoth
- Directed by Richard Ayoade
- Written by Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness
S01E05
Scotch Mist
- Directed by Richard Ayoade
- Written by Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness
S01E04
The Apes of Wrath
- Directed by Richard Ayoade
- Written by Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness
S01E03
Skipper the Eyechild
- Directed by Richard Ayoade
- Written by Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness
S01E02
Hell Hath Fury
- Directed by Richard Ayoade
- Written by Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness
S01E01
Once Upon a Beginning
- Directed by Richard Ayoade
- Written by Richard Ayoade, Matthew Holness
Behind the series
Created by
Showrunners, creators, executive producers and the writers who set the voice of the series.
The craft
Key Crew
Directing, writing, production, camera, music and editing.
Executive production
- Jon ThodayExecutive Producer
- Charlie HansonProducer
- Richard Allen-TurnerExecutive Producer
Writing
- Richard AyoadeWriter
- Matthew HolnessWriter
Direction
- Richard AyoadeDirector
Cinematography
- Martin HawkinsDirector of Photography
Where to watch
Streaming
Availability verified against regional listings.
- Amazon Prime VideoStreaming
- Amazon Prime Video with AdsStreaming
If you liked this
Similar Series
Series that share this one's texture, not just its genre tags.
Ash vs Evil Dead
2015
Epic world building · Sharp comic writing
Stranger Things
2016
Epic world building · Slow-burn mystery
Scream Queens
2015
Slow-burn mystery · Sharp comic writing
Go! Go! Loser Ranger!
2024
Epic world building · Sharp comic writing
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window
2022
Slow-burn mystery · Sharp comic writing
Nyaight of the Living Cat
2025
Epic world building · Sharp comic writing
The Gaslight District
2025
Epic world building · Sharp comic writing
SIN3056843
2025
Epic world building · Slow-burn mystery
Elfen Lied
2004
Epic world building · Slow-burn mystery
Matrix Dreads
2026
Slow-burn mystery · Sharp comic writing
FLCL
2000
Epic world building · Sharp comic writing
Where to go from here
Watch Next
Our editors' suggestion for the show you should start tonight — and why.
Stranger Things
2016
Continue the epic fantasy journey with another world worth getting lost in.
The Walking Dead
2010
Another invented world built with the same seriousness — start at episode one.
Doraemon
2005
If the world-building is what held you, this is the next map to walk.
Teach You a Lesson
2026
A palate cleanser with real writing behind the jokes.
Bleach
2004
Another invented world built with the same seriousness — start at episode one.
Smallville
2001
If the world-building is what held you, this is the next map to walk.
Never stop watching
Related Collections
No related collections yet
This title isn't in a published Nutevio collection yet. It will appear here automatically as soon as it is.
Join the conversation