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Back from the dead and rebuilt by a Swiss clinic, Gordon Brittas
returns to Whitbury Leisure Centre to find a new adversary
in residence: Penny Bidmead, who has taken over the Sauna
and Solarium complex with a view to privatisation. Meanwhile,
Helen Brittas has spent the intervening six months in a psychiatric
institution following the shock of discovering that Gordon
is in fact alive after she has already spent his insurance
money...
Following the very enjoyable third,
fourth and fifth series, Series Six sadly returns to the dismal
quality of the first one.
It
might have been better to leave Brittas (Chris Barrie) for
dead at the end of the previous run, since the show had left
several of the characters with a distinct sense of closure.
Instead Gordon, who returned from the dead once before, has
been reconstructed following his accident with a collapsing
emergency water tank. This unlikely circumstance might have
been worthwhile if someone had thought to cast Brian Blessed
in a guest-starring role to utter his famous Flash Gordon
line, "Gordon's alive!", but evidently no one did think of
that!
Even
more unlikely is the reintroduction of receptionist Carole
(Harriet Thorpe). At the end of the fifth series, she was
all set to finally have some happiness in her life by becoming
the nanny to one Herr Von Trappe. However, her hopes of wedded
bliss are dashed when the Austrian marries a nun instead.
The much-missed Julia St. John is replaced by the bland new
character of Penny Bidmead (Anouschka Menzies). Don't lay
too much blame at the door of the new actress - the writers
just don't give her any opportunities to be funny. Meanwhile,
the gay staff members Gavin (Tim Marriott) and Tim (Russell
Porter) become ever more childish. Fortunately, two other
characters are always worth watching: Mike Burns as the disgusting
Colin and Pippa Haywood (better known nowadays as the loathsome
Joanna in Green Wing) as Helen.
I suspect a major cause of this series' lapse in quality is
the departure of its writers/creators Andrew Norriss and Richard
Fegen, who are replaced here by a rotating team of scribes.
However,
things do pick up considerably in the final three episodes,
We All Fall Down, Mr Brittas Falls in Love and
Snap Happy. These all feature the classic Brittas
formula of cartoon-style accidents waiting to happen. We
All Fall Down, written by Ian Davidson, has the electrocution
of a circle of innocent bystanders. Penned by Terry Kyan,
Mr Brittas Falls in Love involves a mix-up between
a dolphin and a shark, which ends up scaring the living daylights
out of a party of families and traumatising a lisping teenager.
Snap Happy, scripted by Paul Smith, ends the series
with a bang, with the catastrophic combination of explosive
demolition and an English Heritage inspector of a nervous
disposition.
This
seven-episode series is accompanied by only two special features:
a stills gallery and out-takes from Series Four. Why weren't
these out-takes included on the Series Four DVD, for heaven's
sake?
For die-hard Brittas fans only.
Richard
McGinlay
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