Garth Marenghi could return to television says Matthew Holness
The portal is open for Garth Marenghi's return to television, creator Matthew Holness has said.
Appearing on Richard Herring's RHLSTP podcast, Holness, who starred as the hack writer in the horror parody Garth Marenghi's Darkplace on Channel 4 in 2004, and who created the character with Richard Ayoade for the Edinburgh Fringe show Garth Marenghi's Fright Knight in 2000, with its sequel, Garth Marenghi's Netherhead, winning the Perrier Award the following year, revealed that he is open to bringing Marenghi back to screens, if afforded creative control.
"There's every chance" he told Herring. "If someone said 'yes, there's the freedom to do what you want with it', then yes, I would, of course.
"But if people are going to say: 'we want a team of writers and ...' No thanks, bye, can't be bothered."
Darkplace, which co-starred Ayoade, Matt Berry and Alice Lowe attracted poor viewing figures when it first aired, but spawned a 2006 spin-off spoof chat show focused on Ayoade's character, Man to Man with Dean Learner, and has since acquired a cult reputation.
Holness was speaking to Herring to promote the recently published Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome, the first book he has written in the character of Marenghi. It focuses on horror writer Nick Steen, who gets sucked into a cursed typewriter by the terrifying Type-Face, Dark Lord of the Prolix, causing the hellish visions inside his head to be unleashed for real.
And he disclosed that he's currently working on a follow-up.
"I'd like to do more" he said. "I'm writing one as we speak. Not as we speak but I am writing one at the moment."
Since Man To Man, Holness' highest profile project has been the 2018 psychological horror film Possum, which he wrote and directed. He has also written several short stories, including the one Possum is based on and made several guest appearances on television comedies, including Back, Year Of The Rabbit, Toast Of London, We Are Lady Parts, Bloods and Life's Too Short.
Marenghi briefly appeared on television in December, to read a festive message on The Russell Howard Hour.
Holness told Herring that he was frustrated that he hadn't been able to make a second series of Darkplace, as he believed it would have made getting his other projects greenlit easier.
"It's been difficult" he said. "I've done projects that I'm really pleased with inbetween. But they've taken so long to get up and running, so long between.
"I do think that if Garth had done a little bit more, maybe it would have been a little bit easier to do other stuff and maybe I could have produced more because there was more interest there perhaps, But, you know, whatever, this is the way of this business."
Holness is currently performing live as Marenghi on his TerrorTome book tour until April 8th.
Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome
Dare you crack open the TerrorTome? (Mind the spine)
When horror writer Nick Steen gets sucked into a cursed typewriter by the terrifying Type-Face, Dark Lord of the Prolix, the hellish visions inside his head are unleashed for real. Forced to fight his escaping imagination - now leaking out of his own brain - Nick must defend the town of Stalkford from his own fictional horrors, including avascular-necrosis-obsessed serial killer Nelson Strain and Nick's dreaded throppleganger, the Dark Third.
Can he and Roz, his frequently incorrect female editor, hunt down these incarnate denizens of Nick's rampaging imaginata before they destroy Stalkford, outer Stalkford and possibly slightly further?
From the twisted genius of horror master Garth Marenghi - Frighternerman, Darkscribe, Doomsage (plus Man-Shee) - come three dark tales from his long-lost multi-volume epic: TerrorTome.
Can a brain leak?
(Yes, it can)
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'Reads like Garth's classic oeuvre of paperback horrors crossed with The X Files, Faustian myth and bits of Manimal. Plus the cover is embossed with genuine foil at his insistence and at your expense'
Ken Hodder, Head of Hodder
'These three tales of terror by Garth Marenghi are... quality'
Queen Fang, NosFor(at)um.com
'A strong beginning, deepening intrigue and a knockout ending'
How to Write Magazine
First published: Thursday 3rd November 2022
- Publisher: Coronet
- Catalogue: 9781529399400
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- Published: Thursday 25th May 2023
- Publisher: Coronet
- Pages: 304
- Catalogue: 9781529399424
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- Publisher: Coronet
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.
- Publisher: Coronet
Buy and sell old and new items
Search for this product on eBay
BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.