Back in the 1980’s Garth Marenghi wrote, produced, directed and starred in the television series Darkplace, or at least he’d like us to think so. In reality, Darkplace only exists within the confines of the British television series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace created by Matthew Holness (aka Marenghi) in 2004. Starring the fictional, but loveable horror writer Garth Marenghi, his publicist Dean Learner and the actor Todd Rivers, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace captures the seemingly strange events that occur at Darkplace Hospital interspersed with preset day commentary from its cast.
Full of deliberately poor special effects, sub-par acting and that grainy low-budget quality we all secretly love, Darkplace at no 
point takes itself seriously. Instead it’s ransacked with clever and saucy humor about horror films, science fiction, and what becomes possible at the depths of one’s imagination. Surely by now you are wondering why we at Consequence of Sound have chosen to write an article about this. Well, aside from its pure genius Darkplace’s Todd Rivers, otherwise known as Matt Berry, apparently has a musical career of his own!
In the past, Berry has composed soundtracks for many UK television series such as Snuff Box, and AD/BC: A Rock Opera, but it was his song for Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace that made him a YouTube sensation. Appearing in the series final episode, “One Track Lover” is a hilarious spoof of cheesy 80’s love songs. Randomly thrown into the episode about a mysterious broccoli infection, “One Track Lover” plays shortly after Liz refuses a dinner offer from Sanchez.
Very much in the style of Whitesnake’s “Is This Love”, Berry’s track carries strong and witty lyrics about the hot love affair he wishes he could be having with Liz. As the video plays on, a few guest appearances such as Marenghi’s rooftop guitar solo and Learner’s dope rap make the video too hot to handle!
What’s even better is that Matt Berry performed the full version of “One Track Lover” in front of a live audience back in 2007! Donned in a suit and tie, Berry sings his heart out while his backing band helps fill in the gaps. Of course he had to pay homage to Darkplace during his performance; as a projector flashed stills from the show behind him. Unfortunately the only recording of the performance we could find doesn’t have the best sound quality and even Berry’s vocals are a tad off key at times. Regardless, it’s amazing that this exists and even better that Berry breaks off into a cover of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” at 2:27 without a moment’s breath!
Below you’ll find both the original music video that appeared in Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace as well as a live performance of “One Track Lover” in Manchester, UK. So please, sit back and enjoy these two wonderful performances of the cult classic and ultimate smash hit wonder, “One Track Lover”. And with that I leave you with a few words of wisdom from Marenghi himself: “In the end I picked up that pube, and I’m glad I did because it made that gent’s a better place to be in. And that, is my question to the government. (addresses the camera) Are you prepared to get your hands dirty, or are you gonna let things clog up the cistern?”
“One Track Lover”
“One Track Lover” (Live)
