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During his long and incredibly prolific career, Stephen King has been involved with a number of things that one could understand he'd either regret and/or would rather forget. One of these regrettable things might be having Stanley Kubrick adapt "The Shining" to the big screen. Another might be the infamous orgy he wrote into one of his magnum opus novels, 1986's "It," a book which continues to be popular even though certain elements — like that moment — have not aged well. Yet another still might be his one and only directing gig on the film "Maximum Overdrive" (1986). While King has proven himself a decent screenwriter a few times over, and has even given a couple memorable turns on screen as an actor, he wasn't very well suited to the director's chair, at least according to the general reception of that movie. While some of us see the charm in "Maximum Overdrive,...

Matt Berry has been a staple of British comedy for two decades, thanks to his memorable roles in shows like “The It Crowd,” “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace,” “Snuff Box” and “Toast of London.”

And although he has been a part of other American productions before, it’s his role as Laszlo Cravensworth in the FX comedy “What We Do in the Shadows” that has brought him acclaim across the pond, including his first Emmy nomination for actor in a comedy series.

Berry is more than just an actor, though. He is also an incredibly accomplished musician, with nearly a dozen albums under his belt. So perhaps it is only fitting he learned about his Emmy nomination while he was in the studio working on his latest.

“I was playing drums, and I could see that something was going on with the phone because it was leaping around the table,” Berry says.

Director Paul King is best known for delivering the first two installments of the charming and delightful "Paddington" franchise. Sadly, he won't be at the helm of "Paddington in Peru," the forthcoming third film in the series, but that's because he opted to step into the sweet world of Roald Dahl with "Wonka." The origin story of the famed chocolatier from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" has become one of the biggest box office hits of 2023, and King is already working on potential ideas for a "Wonka" sequel. But 20 years ago, Paul King was just a scrappy young filmmaker cutting his teeth on a cult favorite comedy series across the pond.

"The Mighty Boosh" is a sketch comedy series from the United Kingdom that debuted on the BBC back in 2004. The series feels like Monty Python meets "Kenan & Kel," with an absurd and musical touch reminiscent of "Flight of the Conchords,...

The Losers’ Club‘s Randall Colburn is joined by one of his favorite songwriters, Zac Pennington (Popular Music/Parenthetical Girls), to unpack the parodic pleasures of U.K. cult hit Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, a loony hospital horror soap that’s maybe-sorta-definitely taking the piss out of Stephen King.

The pair discuss low-rent ’80s horror, hearing Matt Berry’s voice for the first time, and how genuinely strange it is that Darkplace came out just months before King’s own Kingdom Hospital, his short-lived ABC hospital horror soap. Popular Music’s lush and haunting new album, Minor Works, is available now.

Stream the episode below and return next week when the Losers head to Hollywood King. For further adventures, join the Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. You can also unlock hundreds of hours of content in The Barrens...

Another trio of Dark Sky Films titles have made their way onto Screambox, joining previously dropped classics Willow Creek, Minor Premise, and The Deeper You Dig (more details).

Place your bets on who will win in Dark Sky Films’ Ghost Killers vs Bloody Mary, now streaming on Screambox.

Fabrício Bittar’s horror-comedy tells of four YouTubers with expertise in paranormal activity who attempt to tackle the mystery of a ghost that haunts a high school bathroom. This film is batshit insane.

The film is being sold in the spirit of Peter Jackson’s earliest work, “An exercise in hilariously bad taste, featuring gratuitous sex, violence, profanity and one seriously pissed-off ghost.”

The feature directorial debut of Paul Owens, Landlocked is a creative new horror movie that incorporates actual footage in the form of childhood home movies.

Now streaming on Screambox, Landlocked‘s use of a family’s original home videos...

The latest episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" is set on the Ferengi homeworld of Ferenginar, a planet that has long been ruled by an aggressive capitalist philosophy. Everything in Ferengi society revolves around profit and acquisition, and money forms the basis of every one of their major beliefs. In the Ferengi afterlife, one enters Heaven by paying the exorbitant entrance fee. The holiest Ferengi book is a list of 285 money-related aphorisms called The Rules of Acquisition. All of Ferenginar's financial interests are overseen by a Pope-like figure called the Grand Nagus. In the final episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," the largely underestimated and surprisingly compassionate Rom (Max Grodénchik) became the Grand Nagus, ushering in a new era. Rom gave rights to workers, previously forbidden in Ferengi society.

The plot of the new episode involves Lieutenants Tendi (Noël Wells) and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) having to go undercover as...

There is a scene in the first episode of the fourth season of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" -- called "Twovix" -- wherein the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos has to transport the now-decommissioned U.S.S. Voyager to a museum site. The ship, it seems, has been transformed into a museum, complete with bizarre on-board exhibits, including one devoted to the time Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) surpassed Warp 10 and evolved into salamanders. On the bridge of the Voyager, there are mannequins of the ship's original crew, each wearing their actual duty uniforms. 

Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid), while setting up the diorama, nearly drops a mannequin of Harry Kim (Garrett Wang), the Voyager character who notoriously stayed an ensign for seven straight years without a promotion. On a show where Boimler geeks out about legendary "Star Trek" characters, it's notable that he says nothing of Harry Kim.

This article contains spoilers for the Black Mirror episode “Demon 79.”

Black Mirror Season 6 Episode 5

Here’s another dubiously happy ending to add to Black Mirror’s growing pile: Girl summons demon, girl fails to commit the required number of human sacrifices to avert the apocalypse, demon asks her to spend eternity with him cast into a matterless void, girl says she’ll give it a go.

A matterless void, as protagonist Nida (Anjana Vasan) dryly notes, isn’t a million miles away from the life she was leading at the start of “Demon 79”, which was co-written by Charlie Brooker with new exec producer, Ms. Marvel and Loki’s Bisha K. Ali.

A young Anglo-Indian woman living alone in a drab flat, working a thankless department store job and having to wordlessly absorb the drip-drip-drip of ambient racism in 1979 Britain, Nida’s world didn’t have much to recommend it.

Enter: Satanic minion Gaap.

“Dodger,” the high-octane family drama based on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,” is set to return to the BBC for three specials.

Production has just wrapped in Bristol on the three one-off episodes, which include a Christmas-themed offering, with Christopher Eccleston (“Doctor Who”) returning as Fagin and Billy Jenkins (“Peaky Blinders”) returning as the eponymous child pickpocket.

Also returning for high jinks in Victorian London are Ellie-May Sheridan (“Call The Midwife”), Aabay Ali, Connor Curren, Mila Lieu, David Threlfall (“Shameless”), Alex Kingston (“Doctor Who”), Rhys Thomas (“The Fast Show”), Javone Prince (“No Time To Die”), Lucy Montgomery (“Disenchantment”), Saira Choudhry (“Life”), James Fleet (“Vicar of Dibley”), Lenny Rush (“A Christmas Carol”) and Sam C Wilson (“Hanna”).

They are joined by newcomers to the series Anita Dobson (“EastEnders”), Robert Lindsay (“My Family”), Mark Benton (“Waterloo Road”), Rufus Jones (“Home”), Matthew Holness (“Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace”) and Jane Horrocks (“Absolutely Fabulous”).

“Dodger” will air...

Garth Marenghi fans rejoice! The good author is back at it with a newly announced hardcover, ebook and audiobook release titled "Garth Marenghi's Terrortime." I can sense some of you are politely nodding your heads and shining a "I'm happy that you're happy" smile and otherwise have no idea what I'm talking about. To you good people, I humbly request you seek out the early aughts bit of British weirdness that goes by the name of "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace."

Marenghi is a fictional horror writer played by Matthew Holness whose books are so popular that he's given his own TV show with total creative freedom. Of course he directs and stars despite not having any experience at either and the resulting show is so bad that it never found and audience and was thought lost to time. In the early 2000s, Garth salvages the 20-year-old footage and finally gives it the release it deserves.

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "Possum"

Where You Can Stream It: ShudderThe Pitch: Philip, the world's worst children's puppeteer, played by the always-memorable Sean Harris, carries around the world's scariest puppet: a monstrosity that has giant spider legs and a human-like head that looks a lot like Philip's head. Philip has no friends and the only family member in his life is his cruel uncle (Alun Armstrong). Philip's mental state seems to be incredibly fragile,...

The post The Daily Stream: Possum is An Extremely Creepy Horror Movie From The Creator of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace appeared first on /Film.

This American Horror Story: Double Feature review contains spoilers.

American Horror Story Season 10 Episode 5

As the story picks up steam, American Horror Story taps into some pretty classic horror tropes yet again to enrich its story. One of the things that initially caught my eye about the series when it first hit the airwaves ten years ago was the way in which the show was clearly written by horror fans and went out of its way to reward horror fans with little Easter eggs. Maybe it’s a shot from a classic movie. Maybe it’s a snippet of a score. Maybe it’s a full-on genre rip. Take a little here, a little there, and make a horror stew.

One of the classic themes of the horror genre is the idea of the ‘hysterical’ woman, either pregnant or a new mother or otherwise less able to defend herself, getting...

Greetings traveler, I have some great news: Garth Marenghi — author, dream weaver, visionary, plus actor — is now on Amazon. After years of being (legally) unavailable to stream here in the U.S., the hilarious cult series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Created by Richard Ayoade and Matthew Holness, the series stars […]

The post The Most Significant Televisual Event Since ‘Quantum Leap’: ‘Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace’ is Now Streaming on Amazon Prime Video appeared first on /Film.

Warning: contains a spoiler for The Haunting of Bly Manor episode 6

When you belong to a cultural superpower, you get used to things being all about you. Wrapped in the soft cotton wool of cultural dominance, you so rarely feel the prick of non-recognition. To grow up the same nationality, race, and on the same patch of land as the planet’s most celebrated writers, artists and musicians is to feel that their stuff is yours too. Unlike other groups, there’s no fight for representation on your hands. The world literally speaks your language. Fiction is your comfort zone.

The extreme and enduring comfort of which must explain why the slightest jolt feels so unacceptable. The British like to think of ourselves as a solid, unflappable people, but really, we’re all paper doilies who tear at the slightest violation. And the worst violation we can suffer is at...

We were already sold on “Truth Seekers” when it was announced last year — reuniting Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on television for the first time since “Spaced” ended is all you had to say. But now we finally have a closer look at the upcoming Amazon Prime comedy and we can safely say we were right to be fully aboard sight unseen.

The first trailer dropped on Thursday during the show’s Comic-Con@Home panel, which featured series creators and writers Frost, Pegg, Nat Saunders, and James Serafinowicz. Watch it above now.

The eight-episode supernatural comedy stars Frost and Pegg alongside Samson Kayo, Emma D’Arcy, Susan Wokoma and the great Malcolm McDowell and focuses on a team of paranormal investigators who stumble on a vast conspiracy with apocalyptic implications. It’s familiar territory for Pegg and Frost, who in addition to “Spaced” starred together in a string of hit comedies...

Continuing our series in which artists suggest self-isolation cinema, the man behind Darkplace on why pandemic-related movies require music documentary offset

The best arts and entertainment during self-isolation

Alas, I watch little TV and rarely stream. My lockdown viewing is largely DVD-based and commences with an immersion in pandemic-related cinema that is sufficiently removed from the current crisis yet close enough in theme to temper my brain between news updates. Foremost among these is Phase IV, an exceptional 1974 science-fiction horror from renowned graphic designer Saul Bass. I pair this with its thematic and technical predecessor, The Hellstrom Chronicle, a 1971 fake “scare doc” employing similar macrophotography of insects, blowing them up, I warn you now, to terrifying proportions. Then, a succession of Shōwa-era Godzilla films, followed by Robert Wise’s sombre 1971 adaptation of the Michael Crichton novel The Andromeda Strain. This, unfortunately, proves an eco-horror too far and I opt instead for escapist fare.

Just in time as Americans — and much of the world — settle indoors in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, “Black Monday” star Paul Scheer has some TV series suggestions to check out.

For the inaugural episode of Variety’s “My Guilty Pleasure,” Scheer sat down with Variety senior editor Michael Schneider to reveal his (1) TV guilty pleasure; (2) the “deep cut” show you probably haven’t heard of but he recommends; and (3) his “show-mate” — in other words, the TV series he couldn’t live without.

Of course, as “Black Monday” returns for Season 2 on Sunday, March 15, it’s also a good time to catch up on the Showtime comedy. Don Cheadle, Regina Hall, Andrew Rannells and Scheer lead the cast of “Black Monday,” an irreverent take on a group of misfit Wall Street traders who help trigger the 1987 stock market crash. (Did we mention it’s now also inadvertently timely?)

The...

Bankside shared a new image from the UK horror film Possum out of the American Film Market, where it’s gone two years without a reported domestic sale. Sean Harris (of Prometheus fame) stars in the film written and directed by Matthew Holness, who is the creator of the comedy series “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace”. The story is about a disgraced children’s puppeteer […]...

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best show currently on TV?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: What’s the best modern show set in the ’80s? (To qualify, the show must have aired sometime 2000-present.)

Alan Sepinwall (@sepinwall), Uproxx

Recency bias would suggest “Halt and Catch Fire,” even though its strongest season, this last one, took place in the 1990s, or “Stranger Things,” which is an extremely fun show but not an all-timer. That leaves two clear-cut favorites: “Freaks and Geeks,” Paul Feig and Judd Apatow’s ode to high school outcasts; and FX’s Cold War spy thriller “The Americans.” The former is one of the great one-season wonders, one of the best shows ever made about teenagers, and — between Feig,...

This week’s list of horror-themed home entertainment releases is almost exhausting, as we have well over 30 titles coming our way on September 12th. For those who may have missed them in theaters earlier this year, you can now finally catch up with both The Mummy (2017) and It Comes At Night, as they’re both headed home on multiple formats.

Cult film fans should keep an eye out for an array of releases this Tuesday, including The Fox With A Velvet Tail, The Resurrected, the standard two-disc Blu-ray for Dario Argento’s Phenomena, The Creep Behind the Camera, Spider, and Don Coscarelli’s entire Phantasm series comes home in a five-disc DVD set from Well Go USA.

Other notable releases for September 12th include The Ghoul, Dead Again in Tombstone, The Hatred, Ruby, Tobor the Great, and Night Gallery: The Complete Series.

The Fox With A Velvet Tail (Mondo Macabro,...

The winner will be announced during the festival in London

Tom Paton, Dominic Bridges, Joanne Mitchell, Matthew Holness and Danny Morgan have all been nominated for the second Screen International Genre Rising Star Award, in association with Horror Channel FrightFest 2017 (August 24-28).

The award was established in 2016 to celebrate the work of emerging UK genre talent, with the first recipient being Prevenge director Alice Lowe. This year’s winner will be announced on Monday August 28.

Danny Morgan has been nominated for his work on horror comedy Double Date (pictured, top), directed by Benjamin Barfoot. Morgan wrote the screenplay and also stars as hapless 30-year-old virgin Jim, whose desire to find love leads him and best friend Alex (Michael Socha) into danger. Morgan has starred in TV shows like Ideal and features including On The Road, and has written several shorts. Double Date is his first feature screenplay.

Tom Paton has been shortlisted for his second feature [link=tt...

The UK horror film Possum originally hit Afm but is now on its way to Cannes through Bankside. Thanks to our buddy Fabien M., we now have the first image of Sean Harris (of Prometheus fame) in the film written and directed by Matthew Holness, who is the creator of the comedy series “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace”. The story is about a […]...

The Prevenge and Chubby Funny star answered your questions on working with Ben Wheatley, being weird in moon boots and Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace

2.14pm BST

Thanks for all the really funny questions, which had me laughing out loud. It's nice to answer questions about shows I haven't thought about for a while. Thanks for being really lovely - I had a nice time. And for those who haven't watched Prevenge, get a move on - the DVD comes out in June.

2.12pm BST

OzMogwai asks:

Are you as weird in real life as you are on screen?

No, disappointingly, I'm not as weird in real life. I think I'm probably just a deeply pragmatic person. I remember there being an interview with Bjork, who is one of my heroines and I'm not comparing myself to her, but it resonated with me - she said people compare me to a pixie,...

Starring Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley), and featuring a host of British comedy favourites, including the film's co-writer Simon Farnaby (Horrible Histories, Yonderland) and Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge), anarchic comedy Mindhorn follows a broken down former TV detective as he's drawn into a real-life murder case. With its uniquely British style and play on the dated quirks of vintage television, the film is reminiscent of cult favorites like Garth Merenghi's Darkplace. Washed-up Richard Thorncroft (Julian Barratt) peaked with hit 1980s detective show Mindhorn, playing the titular Isle of Man sleuth with a robotic eye that allowed him to literally “see the truth”. Decades later, when a deranged Manx criminal demands Mindhorn as his nemesis, Thorncroft returns to the scene of his greatest triumphs...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Alice Lowe has long been known to fans of offbeat British comedy for some time, having starred in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, Sightseers (which she also co-wrote), and more. Now her directorial debut, Prevenge, is hitting U.S. theaters. Featuring Lowe as a pregnant woman (with no need of a prosthetic belly, since she was actually pregnant during the shoot) urged to kill people by the voice of her fetus, it’s a darkly humorous romp. We interviewed Lowe over the phone, with her daughter audible in the background, to talk about mythological influences and working under budget constraints.

The Film Stage: The film makes recurring use of images of the furies from 1934’s Crime and Punishment.

Alice Lowe: I studied classics, so I studied Ancient Greek. The fury of the ancient goddesses, in stories of vengeance and revenge, that’s a concept that is thousands of years old.

Alice Lowe spent a decade getting ready to direct her first feature, but after taking two short films to Cannes, she started to worry that the clock was running out. She was pregnant with her first child and had spent the past decade thinking about her first feature in between acting gigs.

“If you’re a woman over 35, no one is going to hand you a free pass,” the actress-turned-filmmaker recently told IndieWire. “You have to work your ass off. That’s what I am doing now.”

The determination led her to complete “Prevenge,” a black-as-night horror-comedy in which she also stars. Lowe plays the heavily pregnant Ruth, who has recently lost her partner (and the baby’s father) in a seriously weird climbing accident. And while Ruth isn’t necessarily bent on revenge, her unborn child sure is, and the expectant mother comes to believe that her little bundle...

The director dishes on industry bias, ‘Taxi Driver’ and turning a perceived setback into opportunity.

The buzz surrounding Prevenge, the pregnancy revenge horror film written, directed and starring Alice Lowe, is well-deserved. Prevenge follows Ruth (Lowe), a grieving woman who embarks on a killing spree and believes that her unborn child is guiding her in this quest for revenge after the loss of her partner. Chock-full of biting British humor, this mother-to-be’s rampage is both relatable as well as a refreshing new twist on the sub-genre that has often been plagued by rape plot lines. But most of all, it’s wickedly funny, which comes as no surprise considering Lowe’s remarkable career in comedy across the pond.

Although Prevenge is her directorial debut, Lowe has worked alongside some of the biggest names in British comedy for the better part of fifteen years, including Rob Brydon’s Annually Retentive, Horrible Histories...

Pop culture frequently depicts pregnant women as beatific fertility goddesses, flush with hormones and the unparalleled satisfaction of fulfilling their biological destiny. (See: Beyoncé’s pregnancy photos.) Either that or they’re fragile vessels, their “condition” rendering them vulnerable to not only the cruelties of men but also the whims of the life inside them. Writer-director Alice Lowe—the co-writer of Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, who’s probably best known in the U.S. for her roles in Hot Fuzz and on Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace—skewers both of these viewpoints in Prevenge, a wryly misanthropic slasher comedy about a woman whose fetus commands her to kill.

Lowe, who was actually pregnant during filming, stars as Ruth, a seemingly rootless woman who lives out of a hotel room and stalks the streets of an anonymous city searching for what at first seem to be random victims. Her only regular human...

Gem Wheeler Jan 12, 2017

Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone are comedy trio The Lonely Island. Here are just some of their finest songs and sketches...

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping was – yep, it’s time to call it - the funniest film of 2016. For those who blinked a little too long and didn’t catch it on its brief appearance in UK cinemas, the DVD release is your chance to find out what you’ve missed: a hilarious parody of current pop music’s excesses that blends acerbic criticism of predatory gossip shows and social media mobs with a sweet story of three feuding rappers struggling to mend their friendship. The fact that this touching tale also features Seal fending off a pack of wolves, Justin Timberlake dressed as a fish, and a bagpiper playing a lament at a beloved pet turtle’s Viking-inspired funeral comes as no surprise...

Australia’s premier genre festival – Monster Fest – has unveiled its final wave of films for the 2016 festival, which is set to take place November 24-27 at the Lido Cinemas in Melbourne.

The team of features programmers – which includes festival director Kier-La Janisse, Monster Pictures co-founder Neil Foley, Boston Underground Film Festival Director of Programming Nicole McControversy and writer/programmer/punk legend Chris D. – vetted over 600 features in selecting the 2016 Monster Fest lineup, which includes new crime films Dog Eat Dog and The Hollow Point from Paul Schrader and Gonzalo López-Gallego respectively, gory slasher throwback The Windmill Massacre (reviewed here), the hometown premiere of epic period western The Legend of Ben Hall with cast in person and acclaimed Tiff selections Prevenge and Interchange alongside Fantastic Fest faves such as the Aussie-made yuletide thriller Safe Neighbourhood and the devastating – and polarizing – Playground.

From the press release:

Select panels for the Swinburne University...

Exclusive: Bankside boards sales on UK horror film backed by Ingenious, Creative England.

‘71 and Prometheus star Sean Harris is to lead the cast in UK horror Possum, which Bankside is to launch at the Afm.

The film marks the directorial debut of British actor and writer-director Matthew Holness, who is best known for co-creating the Channel 4 comedy series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.

Shooting will kick off on November 28 in Norfolk with additional cast members yet to be announced.

Producers are James Harris, Mark Lane, Robert Jones and Wayne Marc Godfrey of The Fyzz Facility with production finance from Ingenious and The Fyzz Facility.

Creative England and Bankside Films development of the screenplay.

The story is about a disgraced children’s puppeteer who returns to his childhood home and is forced to confront his wicked stepfather and the secrets that have tortured him his entire life.

Holness said: “Possum is a supernatural horror combining the stark psycho-drama...

Edited by Hans-Åke Lilja, Shining in the Dark: Celebrating Twenty Years of Lilja's Library is exclusive to Cemetery Dance Publications and will feature a Stephen King story that hasn't been released since 1981. We also have updated release details for The Similars, the final wave of films announced at Monster Fest 2016, six photos / details for The Orphanage video game, and a new trailer for Gremlin.

Cemetery Dance Publications' Shining in the Dark Anthology: From Cemetery Dance: "Shining In the Dark: Celebrating Twenty Years of Lilja's Library edited by Hans-Åke Lilja.

About the Book:

Hans-Ake Lilja, the founder of Lilja's Library, has compiled a brand new anthology of horror stories to help celebrate twenty years of running the #1 Stephen King news website on the web!

This anthology includes both original stories like the brand new novella by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In) very rare reprints like "The Blue Air...

Egomaniac director Kate Shenton wins special mention.

British filmmaker and actress Alice Lowe has won the inaugural Screen International Horror Rising Star Award at Horror Channel FrightFest (Aug 25-29).

The award, celebrating the work of emerging talent in genre cinema, was presented at the festival in London on Sunday evening where the star of Sightseers and the forthcoming Prevenge accepted the trophy.

Lowe said: “I’m really excited that horror is being recognised because it’s very close to my heart. I’d like to thank Screen International and FrightFest, who have given me the most amazing support over the last few years.”

Interview: Alice Lowe, Prevenge

After working for years in TV comedy such as cult series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, Lowe came to the fore as killer caravenner Tina in Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers (2012), which she co-wrote.

Following her short horror Solitudo, Lowe has written, directed and starred in Prevenge, which will world...

From the creator of "Darkplace' Matthew Holness's comes the violent crime thriller 'A Gun for George,' about a pulp fiction writer who decides to avenge his brother's death at the hands of gangsters, produced by Warp and Film4.

Terry Finch - a man alone. Forgotten author of The Reprisalizer, Britain's toughest pulp paperback vigilante, Finch pens tall tales of brute force and rough justice from his isolated caravan, treading a thin line between reality and fantasy in an attempt to exorcise painful memories of his brother's death. When his ailing writing career grinds to a final halt, Terry’s compulsive and cathartic visions of violent retribution refuse to die with it, and a dark new chapter in the story of The Reprisalizer unfolds - where actions speak louder than words...

Stars: Ana Paula Redding, David Landry, Lillian Pennypacker, Michael St. Michaels, Nancy Wolfe | Written and Directed by Jason Bognacki

There’s a joke in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, the under-seen but superlative comedy about the making of a fictional eighties horror programme, that is too good not to repeat at any given opportunity. In it, the show’s producer, played by Richard Ayoade, claims that due to episodes running far too short, any scene without dialogue was considered for slow motion. Given its own brief running time of just eighty minutes and its predilection for the special effect, one wonders if Mark of the Witch was produced under a similar ethos.

Mark of the Witch portrays Jordyn (Ana Paula Redding), a young woman who keeps having weird and wacky experiences of a not entirely pleasant nature. Turns out, she’s being harassed/possessed by a demonic presence. There’s not...

Two of the best Big Shouty Men in the business, Matt Berry and Brian Blessed, are teaming up for series three of Channel 4 sitcom Toast of London.

Blessed will play the father of Berry's character, Steven Toast, in an episode that also has a cameo from Jon Hamm, the Radio Times has revealed.

That's right: Brian Blessed and Jon Hamm will feature in the same episode of Toast of London. Fingers crossed they get in the recording booth and shout "Fire the nuclear weapons!" while Clem Fandango looks on.

For those not in the know, Toast of London is a thoroughly bonkers sitcom that sees Matt Berry (The It Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, The Mighty Boosh) as a bumbling actor whose distinctive voice sets him apart from pretty much everyone - apart from Brian Blessed, that is.

Jon Hamm, incidentally, will play himself in the show, with the joke...

Louisa Mellor Aug 22, 2016

You've heard of Breaking Bad, Orange Is The New Black & House Of Cards, what about Danger 5, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Darknet and more?…

Quite understandably, column inches can't fill up quickly enough with praise for the likes of Netflix original series House Of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul and Marvel's Daredevil. What though, about some of the lesser-known series available on the UK streaming site?

Sweeping past the well-publicised riches of Doctor Who, Sherlock, Arrested Development, Community and the like, we've ventured into the slightly dustier shelf of TV shows available on Netflix UK that may be lesser-known or less widely celebrated than the big hitters out there, but are still richly deserving of your time. Some are new, some are old, some were cancelled long ago, some are ongoing, several are from outside the UK and Us.

From supernatural, sci-fi,...

Channel 4 knows it's onto a good thing with Matt Berry's Toast Of London, which has just been renewed for series 3...

Here's some cheering news for comedy fans: Matt Berry's ace, critically acclaimed sitcom Toast Of London is returning to Channel 4 for a third run.

The series, which has been an awards magnet since its one-off debut episode arrived as part of Channel 4's Funny Fortnight in 2012, follows the adventures of actor Stephen Toast (Berry) and co-stars Doon Mackichan, Robert Bathurst, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Harry Peacock.

Toast Of London recently concluded its second series on Channel 4, with its first episode having drawn a consolidated audience of 582k, rising to over 1 milllion with the addition of the Friday night repeat. Those numbers and a heap of goodwill obviously made Channel 4's decision for them, and hooray for that.

Six new episodes written by Matt Berry...

French director Yann Gonzalez’s debut feature is an oddity. At times reminiscent of Kubrickian sci-fi, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, 80s European Erotica, Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, and Giallo films, You And The Night is a meditation on love, sex and death played out in an ‘other’ world.

Gonzalez (formerly of the electronic band M83 who soundtrack the film) has spoken often about how much he likes sex and how it can be tragic, dramatic or comic. You And The Night attempts to portray sex in all of these ways but never really manages to do any successfully through the story of a couple and their transvestite maid attempting to hold an orgy with invited guests only.

One by one the guests arrive; the slut, the teen, the stud and the star. Each tells a personal, fantastical story as the others listen and begin to engage in sexual activity.

We asked Den Of Geek’s writers to recommend brilliant comedy shows that deserve to have more of a fuss made about them. Here they are...

Banging a drum about stuff we love is more or less our remit on Den Of Geek - hence what many readers have started referring to as the ‘inexplicably regular' appearance of Statham, squirrels and Harold Bishop from Neighbours on these pages.

To that end then, we asked our writers which comedy shows (past and present, UK or otherwise, on TV, radio, or online…) deserved more praise, and here are the ones they chose. You might already like them too, or you might discover something new to dig out and enjoy. That’s the fun of it.

Please note that this list isn’t ranked in any order, nor is it exhaustive. It’s compiled from the opinions of a group of different people,...

Should you be watching Matt Berry comedy show Toast Of London on Channel 4? In the words of Stephen Toast... Yes!

Did you know that musical star Michael Ball has double the amount of blood in his body as that of the average human? It's what allows him to belt out those big notes.

If you watched Series 1 of Toast Of London then you'll already know that's true.

But if you didn't know and didn't watch, then that's entirely not your fault. After a strong pilot, Channel 4 took the first series of Matt Berry and Arthur Matthews' comedy about failing actor Steven Toast (Berry) and buried it in the late hour soil of Sunday nights, in a time slot so obscure you'd need a TV guide, compass, shovel, and remote to find it.

Fortunately the Rose D'Or committee still managed to unearth it on 4Od - no doubt...

Digital Spy presents The Best TV Shows You Might Have Missed - a celebration of television's underrated gems, undiscovered wonders and future hits.

Toast of London

The brainchild of Matt Berry and Father Ted co-creator Arthur Matthews, Toast of London largely flew under the radar when it aired on Channel 4 last autumn. With the second series soon upon us, there's no better time than now to take a look back at the funniest sitcom you've probably never heard of.

Berry, a veteran of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and The It Crowd, takes on the lead role of Steven Toast, a British thespian whose best days are long behind him. A vain and egotistical actor, he's at rock bottom thanks to a divorce (Amanda Donohue crops up as his ex-wife) and a starring role in a play that's so offensive the public want to see him dead.

This might sound like...

The guys at Grimm Up North have announced their bloodiest, best, most brilliant Grimmfest line up yet! This year they will be hosting some of the greatest in horror, sci-fi and cult features and short films from around the globe. Says Grimmfest Festival Director Simeon Halligan:

We always try to make each Grimmfest bigger than the last and I think this year has been really strong for independent horror and genre titles, I’m really excited by what were going to screen at Grimmfest, I’m convinced its our best line up yet!

Grimmfest kicks off with opening Gala night: starting the night will be the world premiere of Melanie Light’s ‘Vegan Feminist Horror’ short film The Herd, which will then be sharply followed by the English premiere of Brian O’Malley’s Irish/Scottish Intense Horror Let Us Prey, withdirector and the amazing cast featuring Liam Cunningham...

Last week the opening night events for Grimmfest 2014 were announced, and now we're back with the full lineup, which includes several films we've been keeping our eyes on like Housebound, Zombeavers, WolfCop, Starry Eyes, Coherence, Devil's Mile, Sororal, and Many more!

Grimmfest 2014 takes place in Manchester, England, from the 2nd-5th October.

From the Press Release:

We are proud to announce our bloodiest, best, most brilliant Grimmfest lineup yet! This year we will be hosting some of the greatest in horror, sci-fi, and cult feature and short films from around the globe, playing host to some amazing Q&A’s and appearances from some very, very special guests!

Grimmfest Festival Director Simeon Halligan talks about this year's edition of the annual event being the greatest yet: “We always try to make each Grimmfest bigger than the last, and I think this year has been really strong for independent horror and genre titles.

Stars: Ana Paula Redding, David Landry, Lillian Pennypacker, Michael St. Michaels, Nancy Wolfe | Written and Directed by Jason Bognacki

There’s a joke in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, the under-seen but superlative comedy about the making of a fictional eighties horror programme, that is too good not to repeat at any given opportunity. In it, the show’s producer, played by Richard Ayoade, claims that due to episodes running far too short, any scene without dialogue was considered for slow motion. Given its own brief running time of just eighty minutes and its predilection for the special effect, one wonders if Another was produced under a similar ethos.

Another portrays Jordyn (Ana Paula Redding), a young woman who keeps having weird and wacky experiences of a not entirely pleasant nature. Turns out, she’s being harassed/possessed by a demonic presence. There’s not really a great deal more to the plot than that,...

You know the hair. The glasses. The voice. The sheer talent. Richard Ayoade spoke to HeyUGuys about The Double, which is out now on DVD and Blu Ray. Other subjects included The It Crowd, a new book, Ingmar Bergman, and trying not to bore audiences.

I’d like to start by going back a little bit to your first feature, which was obviously Submarine. I think for many people, they didn’t realise that a comedy actor was also going to be a great director. So I was wondering, did you feel that was a liberating experience?

Erm, I don’t know. I’d directed TV before – I directed a show called Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, and music videos and things, so the main thing at the time [was I] felt the writing of something that was much longer than anything I’d done, and the structure of doing a film that has ninety minutes to it.

Grimy, bleak, extremely violent and stupidly funny, Wil salutes the genius of Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall's sitcom, Bottom...

Feature

The recent passing of Rik Mayall led to legions of fans hitting up Netflix and Youtube to relive the late comedian’s greatest moments. And while the ground-breaking 80s alternative comedy opus The Young Ones and his turn as Lord Flashheart in Blackadder seemed to be the most quoted on social media, it felt like Bottom, the grisly, profane flatshare comedy Mayall and long time collaborator Ade Edmondson made in the early 90s, was left out of the conversation. Which is a shame, because it might just be their masterpiece.

It’s kind of easy to see how Bottom got forgotten. The Young Ones was capital-i Important, not only in terms of breaking alternative comedy into the mainstream, but also as being as much a time capsule of the...

There’s only so many different ways you can make a romantic comedy. The Apartment started it, When Harry Met Sally and Harold and Maude perfected it, and the whole thing’s been going steadily downhill ever since. It’s the genre that almost killed Matthew McConaughey’s career, it’s the genre where former sitcom stars go to die, it’s a genre that is – arguably – beyond saving. David Wain is aware of this, and They Came Together looks set to be one of the last truly refreshing pieces of intelligence to be plucked from the rom-com bargain basement. Its comedy may be patchy, but there’s sarcastic subversiveness in buckets and enough raw enthusiasm to power through its doldrums and on into the clever – and occasionally bat-shit crazy – waves of meta-humor. Who would’ve thought a romantic comedy that named its male lead Joel could have been such a breath of fresh air?...

This is the Pure Movies review of The Double, directed by Richard Ayoade, and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska, Chris O'Dowd, Sally Hawkins, Gemma Chan, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor, Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige. Fans of British TV comedy will already be familiar with Richard Ayoade, having starred in The It Crowd, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and, more recently, Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn comedy The Watch. With The Double he continues his departure from TV land and builds on his success as a director following on from his superb 2011 debut Submarine. The story follows Simon (Jesse Eisenberg), a clerical worker who lives a life unnoticed until the new guy at work James (also Jesse Eisenberg) challenges him to pursue what he wants out of life - in this case, love interest Hannah (played by Mia Wasikowska).

Director: Richard Ayoade; Screenwriters: Richard Ayoade; Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska, Chris O'Dowd, Paddy Considine, Avi Korine; Running time: 93 mins; Certificate: 15

Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's classic 1846 novella, Richard Ayoade's stunning take on The Double cements his reputation as a director of distinct style and absorbing substance following his impressive debut Submarine. He creates a nightmarish world full of dream logic that's simultaneously seductive and claustrophobic, mirroring the split personality (and body) of Jesse Eisenberg's disturbed protagonist.

The basic premise is a simple but intriguing one, as lonely, unappreciated office worker Simon (Eisenberg) is driven slowly insane by the appearance of his doppelgänger James (also Eisenberg). This lookalike is the polar opposite of Simon in terms of personality, wooing his crush Hannah (Mia Wasikowska) and dazzling his superiors with plagiarised work. As resentment grows and tensions soar, Simon feels increasingly compelled to betray his meek nature and take action.