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Gordon Brittas is a leisure centre manager with a dream.
He means well, but unfortunately his only real talent is the
ability to cause total mayhem. Due to the unexplained collapse
of his previous place of employment when he was in temporary
charge, he has been given a glowing reference and "encouraged"
to take up a managerial position at Whitbury New Town Leisure
Centre...
It's amazing to think that the first series of The Brittas
Empire was originally broadcast way back at the start
of 1991. It's even more amazing to think that the series managed
to run for seven years. It's not that The Brittas Empire
is really bad - well, that's part of the problem during this
opening series - but it doesn't help that the show hasn't
aged very well. There are enough homophobic, sexist and racist
jokes (well, one of each actually) to make people "tut" in
these more enlightened times.
You
can see how this programme was originally pitched: "Fawlty
Towers in a leisure centre". The six episodes of Series
One are a little like a cross between Fawlty Towers
and Hi-De-Hi (if you can imagine how truly horrendous
that would be). The visual gags are too in-your-face, and
you can see them coming a mile off. I still love to sit and
watch repeats of Fawlty, but The Brittas Empire
is a lot harder to swallow and I doubt I'll be re-watching
this first part of the box set.
It's a shame that Chris (or, as he is now called in the credits
to the Tomb Raider movies, "Christopher") Barrie is
constantly typecast as an annoying twonk. We already know,
after his appearance as Ace Rimmer in Red Dwarf, that
he can play cool and dashing hero types, but his career seems
to be littered with stereotypical no-hopers (Arnold J Rimmer
in Red Dwarf, Gary Prince in A Prince Among Men,
even his role as Lara Croft's butler has him playing a watered-down
Rimmer.)
The
acting from the majority of the other performers is also quite
poor, with only the regulars Pippa Haywood (better known nowadays
as the loathsome Joanna in Green Wing, playing Helen
Brittas), Michael Burns (as Colin Weatherby) and Julia St
John (as Deputy Manager Laura Lancing) turning in credible
performances.
I
very much doubt that Gordon Brittas would describe this opening
series as: "Semper Omnibus Facultas".
Series
Two starts off on the right track with the staff of Whitbury
New Town Leisure Centre (and me) pleased to hear reports that
Brittas has been killed while on a management course in Bulgaria.
However, every sitcom silver lining has its cloud, so obviously
it's just a mix up, and the staff (and me, again) are soon
wishing he really was dead.
Other
episodes see Brittas receiving an unwelcome visit from an
inspector higher up the corporate ladder, and Laura giving
Gordon some helpful advice on how to read what people really
mean when they say one thing but mean another.
As Brittas, Chris Barrie can be annoying to the point where
you are tempted to turn off the TV set. This was also the
case with his follow-up series A Prince Among Men,
which was truly awful and infuriating (and I even saw one
of the episodes being recorded). It's not even as though he's
in the same league as other irritating sitcom characters who
have gone before (Basil Fawlty, Martin Bryce in Ever Decreasing
Circles, Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances,
etc).
However,
there are some chuckles to be had, and in the end Brittas
is not too tiresome, just incredibly naive and stupid.
First
broadcast in 1992, the second series is a vast improvement
on the first one. Fawlty Towers in a leisure centre
it isn't, but there have certainly been worse programmes.
(Did I mention A Prince Among Men...?)
The third series of The Brittas Empire sees the sitcom
really beginning to blossom. There are some excellent episodes
here, including Two Little Boys, in which Gordon's
twin brother turns up - one Brittas is bad enough, but two
in the same place is a recipe of disaster - and The Trial,
which sees Brittas in court charged with mass murder, possession
of drugs and handling stolen money.
Probably
the best episode is The Stuff of Dreams, which concludes
Series Three. This sees Brittas arrive at the leisure centre
one morning dressed as an old-age pensioner. The reason for
this is that he wants to see whether his centre is really
catering for the older generation. This episode also sees
Gordon and his wife stuck in their car just as the pregnant
Mrs Brittas goes into labour.
This
is a much better series than the previous two, and there are
plenty of genuinely funny moments. Also, Brittas' character
has chilled out somewhat by this point and he comes across
as a much more likeable chap than before.
My only real complaint is that the person controlling the
boom mic should be taken out and shot - it's visible in so
many scenes that it starts to distract the viewer from the
episodes.
This is a very enjoyable series. While still not as funny
as Fawlty Towers, which was clearly the show's inspiration,
it's still fine entertainment.
Darren
Rea
In
his reviews of the first three series, my colleague and boss
(so I'd better watch what I say here) Darren Rea compares
The Brittas Empire to Fawlty Towers. However,
personally I feel there's a crucial difference between Gordon
Brittas and Basil Fawlty. Whereas Fawlty's defining characteristic
is that he loses his rag at the slightest provocation, the
crux of Brittas' character is that he tends to remain annoyingly
calm and relaxed, whatever the situation. Only when things
turn truly disastrous do we hear a note of tension in his
irritating nasal voice or see a look of panic cross his face
- as happens in the penultimate episode, The Chop.
At least Darren and I agree that The Brittas Empire
improved enormously after its first series. By the fourth
series, the show had moved beyond mere slapstick pratfalls
and cartoon violence (though there are still plenty of those
to enjoy).
What
makes this particular set of episodes so special is the development
of the relationship between Gordon and this deputy, Laura.
Their unspoken mutual love is evidenced in no fewer than four
episodes this series. There are also some remarkably poignant
moments involving other characters, such as when a satisfied
(!) customer tells Brittas how much she and her daughter enjoyed
themselves in Not a Good Day and when Carole (Harriet
Thorpe) yet again fails to find love and happiness in Shall
We Dance?
Andrew
Norriss and Richard Fegen's scripts also break out of the
sitcom norm when The Chop ends on a cliffhanger, which
leads into the - as is traditional for Brittas - spectacular
and calamitous final episode, High Noon.
The programme becomes increasingly plot-driven as it enters
its fifth - and what should really have been its final - series.
Gordon is persuaded to put himself forward for the role of
EU Commissioner for Sport, which means - much to the delight
of most of the staff, apart from the devoted Colin - that
Brittas will be leaving. This development is what propels
the whole series forward.
In
Brussels Calling, Gordon goes for an interview in Belgium,
leaving Laura in charge, yet somehow disasters still seem
to happen, even when Brittas isn't around. In Blind Devotion,
The Lies Have It and throughout the second half of
this series, Gavin (Tim Marriott) climbs the greasy pole of
the management structure, much to the disgust of his boyfriend
Tim (Russell Porter). The final two episodes, UXB and
The Last Day, the latter of which I found genuinely
moving, deal with the respective departures of Carole and
Gordon - but will Brittas really leave?
Interestingly,
Chris Barrie has appeared in two television episodes called
The Last Day, because this was also the title of the
final instalment of Red
Dwarf's
third series.
Another
interesting (maybe) sci-fi parallel involves the Christmas
special, In the Beginning..., which is included among
the special features. Involving a flash-forward to the year
2019, by which point the characters we know and love are all
decades older, this show reminds me of the final episode of
Babylon 5, Sleeping in Light, which flashed
forward to the year 2281, by which point the characters we
know and love were all decades older. Like Sleeping in
Light, In the Beginning... features a "future"
appearance of a main female character (Laura) who would actually
be absent from the show during subsequently produced episodes.
All in all, Series Five is a nine-episode cluster of classics.
Unfortunately, Series Six returns to the dismal quality of
the first one.
It
would have been better to have ended the show after the fifth
series, since it left several of the characters with a distinct
sense of closure, with the pregnant Laura leaving to marry
a millionaire, Julie (Judy Flynn) similarly up the duff and
engaged, Brittas about to become Europe's new Commissioner
for Sport, with Gavin lined up to replace him. Instead Gordon
cheats death - yet again - but as a result misses out on his
chance to move to Brussels, so he is back in charge of the
leisure centre once again.
What
is even more unlikely is the reintroduction of receptionist
Carole. At the end of Series Five, she was all set to finally
have some happiness in her life by becoming the nanny to Herr
Von Trappe (Peter Cleall). However, her hopes of romance are
dashed when the Austrian marries a nun instead.
The much-missed Julia St John is replaced by a bland new character,
Penny Bidmead (Anouschka Menzies), who has taken over the
Sauna and Solarium complex with a view to privatisation. Don't
lay too much blame at the door of the new actress, though
- the writers just don't give her any opportunities to be
funny. Meanwhile, the gay staff members Gavin and Tim become
ever more childish. Fortunately, two other characters are
always worth watching: the disgusting Colin and the unhinged
Helen.
I
suspect that a major cause of this series' lapse in quality
is the departure of its writers/creators Norriss and 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, sees 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.
The seventh and final series is a slight improvement on the
sixth, thank goodness, though its first two episodes, The
Elephants' Child and Reviewing the Situation, barely
raised a smirk on the face of this reviewer. At least the
production team had the good sense to get rid of the unfunny
Penny Bidmead, who is casually written out by means of a passing
comment that the Sauna and Solarium franchise is up for renewal.
The
hi-tech havoc that ensues in http://etc works rather
better, as do the truly bizarre events that unfold in Wake
Up the Lion Within, The Disappearing Act and Curse
of the Tiger Women. Wake Up the Lion Within sees
the timid Carole unleashing her assertive alter ego. She then
goes on to become deputy manager and eventually replaces Brittas
himself! You think it's all going to turn out to be a dream,
but incredibly it doesn't - that familiar old device is saved
for a later episode. And watch out for the Alice in Wonderland
references in The Disappearing Act.
Curiously,
the best episode on this disc isn't even one of the main features.
It's the Christmas special, Surviving Christmas, which
originally aired a couple of weeks before the seventh series
and which is presented as one of the special features. This
instalment contains some of the series' best lines, including
Gordon's: "You'll have to forgive my wife - she's a woman!"
Why it wasn't decided to list this instalment, chronologically,
among the main episodes I will never know.
Following
in close second place is Gavin Featherly R.I.P., which,
as you've probably guessed from the title, depicts the staff's
reactions when Gavin goes missing, presumed dead.
The
Brittas Empire ends with the characters' situation rather
up in the air. Will they escape the latest calamity? Was it
all just a dream? Will Gordon ever become the EU Commissioner
for Sport?
Though
the seventh series is better than the previous one, it's still
not what Brittas would describe as "ehhhhhxcellent". Therefore,
for a more satisfying conclusion to your box-set viewing experience,
I recommend saving the 1994 Christmas special until last.
Aside from the two Christmas shows, the extra features in
this box set are rather meagre - there aren't even any commentary
tracks. We get some uninspiring stills galleries, web links,
a weak fitness quiz, a text biography of Chris Barrie and
a very poor Royal Variety Performance appearance by
the Brittas Empire cast. Rather more enjoyable are
a Wogan interview with Barrie, out-takes from Series
Four (though strangely these are included with Series Six)
and a very amusing game where you have to search the leisure
centre to find Carole's baby, Ben.
In
terms of presentation, the design of the menu screens for
Series Four can make it hard to see which option you have
selected, while the end credits to Blind Devotion are
interrupted by stray frames from The Lies Have It,
which makes for rather confusing and distracting viewing.
Series Seven is let down by some dodgy encoding, which causes
the picture to lose resolution on several occasions, seemingly
as a result of rapidly changing light levels.
However,
there's no denying the bargain value of this box set's price
tag. £69.99? That works out at just less than a tenner per
series. Ehhhhhxcellent value!
Richard
McGinlay
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