The Brittas Empire
Encyclopedia
The Brittas Empire is a British sitcom created and originally written by Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss
. Chris Barrie
plays Gordon Brittas, the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre.
The show ran for seven series and 52 episodes — including two Christmas specials — from 1991 to 1997 on BBC1
. Fegen and Norriss wrote the first five series, after which they left the show.
The Brittas Empire enjoyed a long and successful run throughout the 1990s, and gained itself large mainstream audiences. In 2004 the show came 47th on the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom
poll, and all seven series have been released on DVD.
The creators Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss often combine farce with either surreal or dramatic elements in episodes. For example in the first series, the leisure centre prepares for a royal visit, only for the doors to seal, the boiler room to flood and a visitor to become electrocuted. Unlike the traditional sitcom, deaths were quite common in The Brittas Empire.
) is the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. He trained at the fictional Aldershot
Leisure Centre. Completely tactless, totally annoying and forever coming up with 'half-baked' ideas, Brittas is frequently upsetting his staff, public, and his frazzled wife Helen, often bringing destruction and death into their lives.
Helen Brittas (Pippa Haywood
) finds it increasingly difficult to cope with Gordon, and often turns to pills and affairs with other men to maintain her sanity. She is also helped by supportive friend Laura Lancing (Julia St. John
), Brittas's calm and efficient deputy. Laura (though she is fully aware of his incompetence) has a grudging admiration for Brittas whom she regards as honest and decent - unlike her former husband (who in one episode tries to buy his way back into her affections by making a large donation to the centre).
Brittas's other deputy — the dim-witted Colin Weatherby (Michael Burns) — has several skin allergies and an infected hand. Though he is technically an assistant manager, he works as the centre's handyman-come-janitor. Carole (Harriet Thorpe
) is the unfortunate and often tearful receptionist who keeps her three children in the drawers of reception. Amongst other members of the team is Julie (Judy Flynn
), the fiery-tongued secretary who hates her boss and refuses to do any work. Lively Linda (played by Jill Greenacre), gentle-hearted Gavin (Tim Marriott
), and his paranoid partner Tim (Russell Porter) are more co-operative members of the team.
Outside the staff is Councillor Jack Drugett (Stephen Churchett
), who fails to sack Brittas, despite numerous attempts at doing so.
Cast alterations in the series sees character 'Angie' (Andree Bernard), who appears as a main character in the first series, being replaced by ‘Julie’ from series two onwards. 'Laura' left the show after series five, at the same time as the creators. She is replaced in series six by character 'Penny' (Anouschka Menzies), who did not return in series seven.
. Series one aired in 1991, series two in 1992, series three in 1993, and series four and five both aired in 1994. The Brittas Empire then returned to BBC1 in 1996 and 1997, for two final series, and the cast also performed in the 1996 Royal Variety Performance
. Chris Barrie played Brittas again in the short fitness series spin-off, Get Fit with Brittas.
For the first five series the show's creators Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss co-wrote the show, after which they left, along with actress Julia St John who plays Laura. Series five was originally meant to be the final series, (obvious due to the fact each main character was given a reason for leaving the leisure centre), and Fegen and Norriss kill off Brittas at the end of series five, when he is crushed to death by a falling water tank, but survives and knocks in the inside of his coffin.
However the show's popularity meant the BBC
resurrected Brittas and brought on a team of new writers, who carried the show on for a further two series, including one further Christmas special in 1996. These writers were: Paul Smith
(who also wrote the series seven episode 'Malcom ex' for Andrew Marshall's 2point4 children
), Terry Kyan
, Tony Millan, Mike Walling
, Ian Davidson
and Peter Vincent.
'Curse of the Tiger Women' is the final episode in 1997. This ending claims all seven series were part of a dream that Brittas is having on his way to the job interview for manager of the leisure centre. It is an ending that is regarded as poor by many critics and viewers, and contradicts the 1994 Christmas Special by Fegen and Norriss, showing what happens to the staff post-Whitbury Leisure Centre.
in the United Kingdom by Eureka Video, and also in Australia by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
. The Eureka releases are now out of print. Prior to these DVD releases, the BBC
brought episodes to VHS
in the 1990s.
Leisure Centre, Hampshire
. The interior shots of the swimming pools seen in the show were also shot here.
The claimed location of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre is 51°35'00"N 2°00'00" W, which places it at Pink Lane, Charlton, Wiltshire, SN16 9, UK.
Andrew Norriss
Andrew Norriss is a British children's author and a writer for television .- Background :Andrew Norriss was born in 1947, was educated at St John’s School, Leatherhead followed by University at Trinity College Dublin 1966-70. PGCE 1973-4. He taught at Stroud School, Romsey and then Peter Symonds...
. Chris Barrie
Chris Barrie
Chris Barrie is a British actor. He first achieved success as a vocal impressionist, notably in the ITV sketch show Spitting Image...
plays Gordon Brittas, the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre.
The show ran for seven series and 52 episodes — including two Christmas specials — from 1991 to 1997 on BBC1
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. Fegen and Norriss wrote the first five series, after which they left the show.
The Brittas Empire enjoyed a long and successful run throughout the 1990s, and gained itself large mainstream audiences. In 2004 the show came 47th on the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
poll, and all seven series have been released on DVD.
The creators Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss often combine farce with either surreal or dramatic elements in episodes. For example in the first series, the leisure centre prepares for a royal visit, only for the doors to seal, the boiler room to flood and a visitor to become electrocuted. Unlike the traditional sitcom, deaths were quite common in The Brittas Empire.
Plot summary
Gordon Brittas (played by Chris BarrieChris Barrie
Chris Barrie is a British actor. He first achieved success as a vocal impressionist, notably in the ITV sketch show Spitting Image...
) is the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. He trained at the fictional Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
Leisure Centre. Completely tactless, totally annoying and forever coming up with 'half-baked' ideas, Brittas is frequently upsetting his staff, public, and his frazzled wife Helen, often bringing destruction and death into their lives.
Helen Brittas (Pippa Haywood
Pippa Haywood
Philippa Haywood is an English actress who trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.Famous for playing the much-put-upon Helen Brittas in the BBC One comedy series The Brittas Empire, Haywood has an extensive television career which includes Julie Chadwick in the BBC Two comedy Fear, Stress &...
) finds it increasingly difficult to cope with Gordon, and often turns to pills and affairs with other men to maintain her sanity. She is also helped by supportive friend Laura Lancing (Julia St. John
Julia St. John
Julia St. John is an English actress. Her television appearances include A Touch of Frost, The Brittas Empire, Agatha Christie's Poirot and Lewis.-Selected film and television roles:...
), Brittas's calm and efficient deputy. Laura (though she is fully aware of his incompetence) has a grudging admiration for Brittas whom she regards as honest and decent - unlike her former husband (who in one episode tries to buy his way back into her affections by making a large donation to the centre).
Brittas's other deputy — the dim-witted Colin Weatherby (Michael Burns) — has several skin allergies and an infected hand. Though he is technically an assistant manager, he works as the centre's handyman-come-janitor. Carole (Harriet Thorpe
Harriet Thorpe
-TV:She was in the mid-to-late 1990s British television sitcom The Brittas Empire, playing Carole Parkinson, the receptionist who was prone to depression and fits of emotion who permanently kept her children with her, in drawers under her desk and would sometimes be seen feeding them or washing...
) is the unfortunate and often tearful receptionist who keeps her three children in the drawers of reception. Amongst other members of the team is Julie (Judy Flynn
Judy Flynn
Judy Flynn is a British actress most notably known for her role as Julie in the sit-com The Brittas Empire.-Filmography:*Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom as Mrs...
), the fiery-tongued secretary who hates her boss and refuses to do any work. Lively Linda (played by Jill Greenacre), gentle-hearted Gavin (Tim Marriott
Tim Marriott
Timothy Marriott is a former British stage and television actor, best known for his role as Gavin Featherly in the 1990s BBC One sitcom The Brittas Empire.-Career:...
), and his paranoid partner Tim (Russell Porter) are more co-operative members of the team.
Outside the staff is Councillor Jack Drugett (Stephen Churchett
Stephen Churchett
Stephen Churchett is a British actor and writer.One of his most notable roles was as solicitor Marcus Christie in EastEnders, on and off from 1990 to 2004....
), who fails to sack Brittas, despite numerous attempts at doing so.
Cast alterations in the series sees character 'Angie' (Andree Bernard), who appears as a main character in the first series, being replaced by ‘Julie’ from series two onwards. 'Laura' left the show after series five, at the same time as the creators. She is replaced in series six by character 'Penny' (Anouschka Menzies), who did not return in series seven.
Episodes
The Brittas Empire was broadcast for fifty-two episodes between 1991 and 1997, spanning seven series and two Christmas Specials, along with one short episode for Children in NeedChildren in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
. Series one aired in 1991, series two in 1992, series three in 1993, and series four and five both aired in 1994. The Brittas Empire then returned to BBC1 in 1996 and 1997, for two final series, and the cast also performed in the 1996 Royal Variety Performance
Royal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
. Chris Barrie played Brittas again in the short fitness series spin-off, Get Fit with Brittas.
For the first five series the show's creators Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss co-wrote the show, after which they left, along with actress Julia St John who plays Laura. Series five was originally meant to be the final series, (obvious due to the fact each main character was given a reason for leaving the leisure centre), and Fegen and Norriss kill off Brittas at the end of series five, when he is crushed to death by a falling water tank, but survives and knocks in the inside of his coffin.
However the show's popularity meant the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
resurrected Brittas and brought on a team of new writers, who carried the show on for a further two series, including one further Christmas special in 1996. These writers were: Paul Smith
Paul Smith (writer)
Paul Smith is a British television writer best known as creator of the Dawn French series Murder Most Horrid , and as co-creator of the Mel Smith series Colin's Sandwich....
(who also wrote the series seven episode 'Malcom ex' for Andrew Marshall's 2point4 children
2point4 children
2point4 Children is a 1990s British sitcom that was created and written by Andrew Marshall. It follows the lives of the Porter family; an average family that is persistently faced with surreal situations and sheer bad luck....
), Terry Kyan
Terry Kyan
Terry Kyan is a British television writer best known for writing .These include sketches/episodes for such sketch shows as Not the Nine O'clock News, Spitting Image and Alas Smith and Jones, as well as the Dawn French black comedy Murder Most Horrid, and the sitcoms The Brittas...
, Tony Millan, Mike Walling
Mike Walling
Mike Walling is an English comic actor and screenwriter.He began his career as an English teacher at Holland Park School in London. In the mid-1970s, while still a teacher, he won a British TV talent contest, New Faces, with a comedy double act called "Mr Carline & Mr Walling." He immediately...
, Ian Davidson
Ian Davidson (scriptwriter)
Ian Davidson is a British actor and scriptwriter who worked in British television comedies from the 1960s to the 1980s. He appeared in the same Oxford University revue as Terry Jones and Michael Palin of Monty Python, and is probably best known for his numerous appearances on Monty Python's Flying...
and Peter Vincent.
'Curse of the Tiger Women' is the final episode in 1997. This ending claims all seven series were part of a dream that Brittas is having on his way to the job interview for manager of the leisure centre. It is an ending that is regarded as poor by many critics and viewers, and contradicts the 1994 Christmas Special by Fegen and Norriss, showing what happens to the staff post-Whitbury Leisure Centre.
DVD and VHS releases
All seven series were released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the United Kingdom by Eureka Video, and also in Australia by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
. The Eureka releases are now out of print. Prior to these DVD releases, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
brought episodes to VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in the 1990s.
- The VHS title: Brittas Empire - The Stuff of Dreams was released on 7 August 1995, and features the episodes: 'The Christening' (from series four), 'The stuff of dreams' (series three) and 'Not a Good Day' (first of series four).
- Then on 2 April 1997, The Brittas Empire - Laying the Foundations VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
was released; it features: 'Laying the Foundations' (first episode of series one), 'Back from the dead' (first of series two), 'Set in Concrete' (series two), 'An Inspector Calls' (also series two) and 'The Trial' (first of series three).
- From 2003, Eureka Video began bringing the entire series to DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, in single series box sets. The Brittas Empire - Complete Series One was released on the 21 July 2003, followed by series two on 20 October 2003, and then series three was released on 29 January 2004. Series four was released in the same year on the 29 July, and the final series by Fergen and Norriss, series five, was released on 4 October 2004.
- The Brittas Empire, Complete Series Six was released on 21 February 2005, and the final series along with the 1997 Christmas Special, was released on 23 May 2005.
- The Brittas Empire, Complete Series One-Seven, a set comprising the entire series, was released on 8 October 2007. However the complete series DVD set is no longer in production and is now OOP (Out Of Print). But due to the popularity of the show the boxset fetches upwards of £70 on eBay, almost four times the price it was usually sold for.
DVD Release Dates
| Series DVD | Number of Episodes | Year | Release Date | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 2 | Region 2 Single Disc | Region 4 | ||||
| Series 1 | 6 | 1991 1991 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1991.-Events:*1 January – The Independent Television Commission replaces the Independent Broadcasting Authority... |
21 July 2003 | 7 January 2008 | 4 August 2004 | |
| Series 2 | 7 | 1992 1992 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1992.-Events:*7 January – Debut of Cold Blood – The Massacre of East Timor, an edition of the documentary strand First Tuesday concerning the Santa Cruz massacre.... |
20 October 2003 | 7 January 2008 | 6 May 2005 | |
| Series 3 | 6 | 1993 1993 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1993.-Events:*1 January – Carlton Television takes over the ITV London Weekday franchise at midnight, replacing Thames Television after 24 years... |
19 January 2004 | — | 3 August 2005 | |
| Series 4 | 8 | 1994 1994 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1994.-Events:*13 January – David Dimbleby takes over as host of Question Time*14 January – An episode of the television soap Brookside shows a lesbian kiss between two of its characters.... |
19 July 2004 | — | 2 March 2006 | |
| Series 5 | 9 | 1994 1994 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1994.-Events:*13 January – David Dimbleby takes over as host of Question Time*14 January – An episode of the television soap Brookside shows a lesbian kiss between two of its characters.... |
4 October 2004 | — | 6 July 2006 | |
| Series 6 | 7 | 1996 1996 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1996.-Events:*15 January-11 March – Our Friends in the North, a nine-part serial spanning the 1960s to the 1990s in the lives of four friends, is shown on BBC2.... |
21 February 2005 | — | 7 March 2007 | |
| Series 7 | 9 | 1997 1997 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1997.-Events:* 1 January – ITV introduces a third weekly episode of Emmerdale.* 6 January – Channel 4 closes down for the last time... |
23 May 2005 | — | 3 July 2007 | |
| Series 1-7 | 52 | 1991 1991 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1991.-Events:*1 January – The Independent Television Commission replaces the Independent Broadcasting Authority... - 1997 1997 in British television This is a list of British television related events from 1997.-Events:* 1 January – ITV introduces a third weekly episode of Emmerdale.* 6 January – Channel 4 closes down for the last time... |
8 October 2007 | N/A | N/A | |
Critical response
Critics John Lewis and Penny Stempel commented that:
In its positioning of an incompetent in charge of others, The Brittas Empire mined the traditional vein of TV humour (e.g., Dad's ArmyDad's ArmyDad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
or Are You Being Served?Are You Being Served?Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John...
). Yet it also had an element of absurdism....which gave it an appeal to younger viewers. At a stretch the show could also be viewed as a critique of the managerial class which expanded in the Thatcherite eighties. A show for all the couch.
Setting
The exterior shots of 'Whitbury Leisure Centre' were filmed at RingwoodRingwood
Ringwood is a historic market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, located on the River Avon, close to the New Forest and north of Bournemouth. It has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and has held a weekly market since the Middle Ages....
Leisure Centre, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. The interior shots of the swimming pools seen in the show were also shot here.
The claimed location of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre is 51°35'00"N 2°00'00" W, which places it at Pink Lane, Charlton, Wiltshire, SN16 9, UK.