Welcome to the first of many installments of “Better Know a Character.”

Each entry a different character, real or not, from the world of television, film, literature or some other place will be examined. You may have heard of some, but probably not.

The inaugural character is Dr. Rick Dagless from the British TV show, “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.”

Dagless is the premier physician at Darkplace Hospital. Along with saving lives, the Vietnam War veteran must battle the forces of darkness and protect the hospital from evil forces. He is cocky, condescending, brash and a master linguist.

Dagless’s greatness as a character is more evident when he is studied as part of the entire show, which only lasted six episodes in early 2004.

Try and keep up.

Real-life English comedian Matthew Holness plays Garth Marenghi, a fictional horror writer. In the early ‘80s, Marenghi and his publisher created the medical-horror-drama TV series, “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.” But that show never aired. So now, in 2004, Marenghi is airing the episodes for the first time, complete with commentary by the actors who were in the ‘80s TV show.

So essentially, Holness plays Marenghi who plays Dagless.

The show is a comedy that spoofs the horror and sci-fi genre. The best parts of the show are the terrible acting, awful special effects, over-the-top dialogue and surreal storylines.

Here is one of his soliloquies (for added effect, use a British accent):

“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 portals really.”

Dagless also displays illusions of grandeur that lead to some astoundingly sublime lines.

“I’m not Jesus Christ. I’ve come to accept that now.”

“I ran the only way I knew how, by placing one leg in front of the other in quick succession. I had to help Reed, trapped in his office by a desk he could no longer trust. I had to help Sanchez, locked in a primal struggle twixt man and whisk. And I had to help the temp, who was probably doing some filing or data entry. I pressed on, chased by a staple that had my name on it. This was unbelievable; Liz was now turning my own stationary against me.”

The only way to see “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace” on TV is on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim bloc. It is not a regularly scheduled show, so it my take some searching to find any of the six episodes.

I leave you with some parting words spoken by Dagless:

“We laughed to protect ourselves, to mask the awful horror. Each man must acknowledge his beast, whether through sport or violent films. But a man must not let his beast be his master … otherwise you’re no better than Bill Wyman.”

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