Fun:Garth Marenghi

“”I know writers who use subtext, and they're all cowards. Okay, what I was asking in that scene is what if politicians continue to pay doctors peanuts, could they literally turn into monkeys? And no one's asked that before!

—Garth Marenghi, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

“”I'm one of the few people you'll meet who's written more books than they've read.

—Garth Marenghi, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

Garth Marenghi is a fictional parody of bad prolific horror novelists of the 1980s. The character, created and portrayed by Matthew Holness, is the central character of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, a comedy series on Channel 4 in Britain. The series features a show-within-a-show, with Marenghi portraying Dr. Rick Dagless, a doctor in a haunted hospital.

Marenghi has stated that he has written more books than he's read. This likely makes him Andy Schlafly's hero.

Controversy (in universe)

Garth Marenghi (and by extension the character he portrays Dr. Dagless) is biased against Scottish people in the show, referring to them exclusively as the "Scotch" even when corrected. Hilariously, the episode which tackles the issue is just the writer Garth trying to portray himself as some kind of Saint who learns their lesson and overcomes their own internal biases, all while the show continues to stereotype the Scottish. It is an excellent parody of defensive authors who try to masquerade as forward thinking thinkers while being about as backward as they come.