User Reviews

The Brittas Empire is one of my favorite Britcoms. I've never understood why it hasn't been given more attention in the US. It's much, much funnier than Are You Being Served? yet is still unknown here. I had to buy a region-free DVD player & order from amazon.uk so I could watch the show. It's worth the effort and price. Chris Barrie is hysterical as Gordon Brittas,the man you'd like to punch five minutes after meeting him. All the actors play their parts so well. Harriet Thorpe is consistently a riot as the flustered receptionist Carole. So is Julie the cranky secretary who joins the cast in Series 2. Pippa Haywood hopefully won lots of British Emmys for her excellent portrayal of Gordon's addled wife. Even the supporting players had clearly defined characters. Linda was eager to please and a theological student with a weaponry fetish. Tim & Gavin were the gay couple dealing with Tim's hysteria and dislike of management and Gavin's desire to advance in his career by becoming management. Yet they managed to stay together. And as others have said, the character Laura was the calm center of this hurricane. No matter how bizarre a turn events took during an episode, there was still one foot grounded in reality. The character of Laura had a lot to do with that as well as the skill of the writers. For the first five series this show is consistently laugh-out-loud funny, while managing at times to be very tender and explore the characters a little more deeply.

When series six began, Laura was gone as were the original writers. And from the very start the show sucks. The new writers just didn't seem to get it. The show lost its heart. I think the series could have survived the departure of Laura if the original writers had remained. The new writers focused only on chaos and not the warmth underneath. Suddenly there is a LOT of angry yelling going on for almost the entire time. The new character of Mrs. Bidmeade adds nothing to the show, through no fault of the actress. I read once that the original writers said that one main rule was that the chaos must always emanate from Gordon Brittas. No wacky characters coming into the center to create chaos. The new writers ignored that. In one episode some weird cult from Chattanooga comes in to welcome Gordon into their fold and baptize him. They refer to him as "Mr. Bright Ass", which was funny the first time, but not the subsequent seventeen. Colin also becomes more bizarre and everyone just runs around yelling all the time. I was surprised it made a seventh series, but that just went on to prove the writers didn't care about the audience. Brief spoiler: The final episode has Gordon sitting on a bus headed for his new job at a leisure center. It turns out it was all a dream and he was simply imagining passengers on the bus as his staff.WHAT AN INSULT!! Never mind the technical issue of 'well where did Laura come from, she's not on the bus?' but this device is tired and clichéd and smacks of lazy writing. It is an insult to the fans who fell in love with these characters to have hack writers completely negate everything that happened before. It's also an insult to the original writers and all their hard work. Get series one-five and laugh your head off with wonderful characters and funny writing and don't waste your money on series six & seven.

Almost surreal. Completely bonkers scripts. The series is often verging on farce, but has a very spiky, cynical edge to it.

The leisure centre would, of course, run smoothly if Gordon Brittas were not involved. Even in his absence, he is able to ruin things by sheer force of will. Whilst attending a job interview in Brussels, his orders are given by phone: this leads to his leisure centre becoming overrun with rats, and a fertiliser bomb exploding in the bins.

The glorious Harriet Thorpe as Carol, the frantic receptionist, steals every scene in which she appears. Her nervous energy, leading her to call Mr Brittas "Missbriss" throughout, is absolutely infectious. Slamming her babies in desk drawers, doing the ironing whilst on duty, she's a hoot. Likewise, Pippa Haywood stands out, as Helen Brittas: popping pills and flirting through her desperation.

A word also for Tim and Gavin, the gay couple who don't actually seem to like each other. While Gavin is keen for promotion, Tim is consumed with hatred for Brittas.

Plenty of laughs, as the scripts get weirder and weirded. A live broadcast of a religious TV show destroyed by a runaway emu? That'll be The Brittas Empire. The building's structure weakened by the receptionist excavating more space for her children to live, leading to a water tank dropping through four floors? That'll be The Brittas Empire. Quite unparalleled in its strangeness, this show guarantees more belly-laughs than most. Great fun.

Richard Fegen and Andrew Norris' 'The Brittas Empire' ran on the BBC for nearly ten years, yet is barely remembered now. Reasons as to why are unclear. Whatever the reason, it is a shame as 'The Brittas Empire' was one of the finest sitcoms the '90's ever produced. Chris Barrie had became a household name as the grotesque hologram technician Arnold Rimmer in Rob Grant & Doug Naylor's 'Red Dwarf' in the '80's. It was in 1991 that he landed the role as Gordan Brittas, the smarmy manager of Whitbury Newtown Lesuire Centre.

Brittas, though deep down a well-meaning and optimistic person, is a snob and generally tends to put his actions forward before thinking them through properly. He has a receptionist in the shape of Carole, a homeless manic depressive who keeps her son Ben in a drawer behind the desk. Other characters include Gordan's neurotic wife Helen, deputy Laura Lancing, unhygienic handyman Colin and Brittas' snidey secretary Julie.

Barrie is outstanding as Brittas. Many have unfavourably likened him to David Brent from 'The Office'. Nonsense, the characters are poles apart. For one, Brittas' was deep down a good person who just didn't think. Brent, on the other hand, was a bully and a braggart. Barrie played Brittas in such a way that it made him likable. Harriet Thorpe, Julia St. John and Pippa Haywood, three of the most beautiful women ever to grace a television screen also impressed, as did Mike Burns who as Colin made you want to clamp a clothes peg over your nose whenever you watched him.

One of my favourite moments had Brittas being unable to move after having his feet stuck in cement, prompting one of his staff to remark: ''If we put you in a pair of shorts, we'll all be set for a game of Subbuteo!''. Fegen and Norris' clever scripts combined traditional sitcom with black comedy and slapstick - swimmers got electrocuted, old people had the supports of their walking frames sawn off and an old man went crashing through a window in a mobility scooter.

It outstayed its welcome, unfortunately ( it should have ended after series five when Brittas was allegedly killed by a falling water tank ) but all the same it was an excellent show and a re-run is long overdue.

For me this show is comedy gold, and I couldn't get enough of it when it was on the box. It made a pleasant change of venue and characterisation, to other comedy shows.

It was I believe very popular which is why I can't understand, why I have never seen it recycled on any of the available TV channels.

The part of Gordon Brittas, fitted Chris Barrie like a proverbial glove. It was a happy coincidence that the two came together, to make such a perfect fit.

There is a veritable plethora of supporting characters that make up a rather motley crew, to staff the Whitbury New Town Leasure Centre.

All of them are played to perfection by the actors that flesh out their parts, into humorously human beings.

Laura played by Julia St. John is essentially Brittas Chief aid as Assistant Manager, and if she were promoted the Centre would run like clockwork. She seems totally oblivious to the perils, of having a pillock like Gordon Brittas in charge of the Centre.

Colin played by Michael Burns supposedly has medical fitness responsibilities, yet in reality he is about as fit and healthy as I am. Colin is also one of the few people at the Centre, to have any time for Gordon Brittas as the Manager.

Carole played by Harriet Thorpe is the Centre's Receptionist and forced by dint of personal circumstances, into becoming something of a single mum. Carole's parenting problems often place her in an awkward position in relation to her job.

Gavin and Tim are played by Tim Marriott and Russell Porter, they work happily together as essential elements of the Centre's working team. Every other team member seems to be fully happy with their relationship, though Brittas remains blissfully oblivious.

Linda played by Jill Greenacre is seemingly a perpetually happy, and chipper staff member. She is one of the few people who managed to cope with Gordon Brittas as Centre Manager.

Julie played by Judy Flynn is a keen and efficient staff member, with a rather sarcastic turn of phrase when cornered by Brittas.

Thus we have the staff absolutely essential in normal circumstances, with a sensible person in charge to the smooth running of the Centre.

Now we have the dream team the Brittas family they do have a couple of kids though for an unfathomable rationale they are scarcely seen.

Helen Brittas played by Pippa Haywood is a perpetually long suffering spouse, who resorts to whatever gets her through her existence with Gordon.

Last and by all means least is Gordon Brittas played by Chris Barrie, someone with absolutely no people skills. Brittas is resolutely the last person, to ever be put in charge, of anything or anybody.