The Brittas Empire (1991)
The Brittas Empire is a British sitcom created and originally written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen. Chris Barrie plays Gordon Brittas, the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. The show ran for seven series and 53 episodes — including two Christmas specials — from 1991 to 1997 on BBC1. Norriss and Fegen 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 series have been released on DVD. The creators Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen 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.
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Episode 1 - Back with a Bang
Release Date: 1996-02-27After being crushed to death Gordon Brittas has been returned to earth by St. Peter and rebuilt at a Swiss clinic. He returns a day early and misses the red carpet welcome prepared by his staff.
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Episode 2 - Body Language
Release Date: 1996-03-12Gordon tries to explain benefits of matching and mirroring body language. Colin suspects alien invasion when a green block of ice crashes through the roof, and Helen mistakenly sells the house to a member of the U.S. military
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Episode 3 - At the Double
Release Date: 1996-03-26Gordon invites members of the Ruthenian State Circus to perform at the center. A group of US evangelists want to baptize Gordon in the pool after reading of his coming back from the dead. (
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Episode 4 - A Walk on the Wild Side
Release Date: 1996-04-02Brittas proves he's not always a walking disaster when his new campaign becomes a European Directive
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Episode 5 - We All Fall Down
Release Date: 1996-04-09Whitbury is celebrating World Peace and Hunger Day, Helen plans revenge on a nappy co that didn't use her children in a TV commercial and Tim discovers the rest of the staff earn more than him...
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Episode 6 - Mr. Brittas Falls in Love
Release Date: 1996-04-16Tonight Mr. Brittas falls in love. He believes that swimming with a dolphin at the leisure center will bring peace, relaxation and happiness to all the inhabitants
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Episode 7 - Snap Happy
Release Date: 1996-04-23When Brittas tries to organize a simple staff photograph, what can possibly go wrong? Last in present series.
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Episode 8 - 1996 Christmas Special
Release Date: 1996-01-22It's Christmas time and Gordon has decided, rather than to keep the centre open in the weeks surrounding Christmas, to take the staff on a survival course in Wales. Closing the centre for Christmas angers the usual 'Father Christmas' character, who is told he is out of a job this year. Meanwhile, Colin decides to give out Christmas cards early. Due to a mix-up involving the recycled paper the cards are made of, Helen assumes that Gordon is having an affair with Carole the receptionist. To prevent Gordon from getting close to Carole, Helen decides to join the staff on the survival course. During a constantly interrupted survival briefing, a rock is thrown through the window with the note 'You're going to die' tied to it. Gordon assumes this is all part of the course and continues as normal, but the rest of the group remain shaken and scared. When a survival exercise involving camping in the mountains begins, the group are faced with many life-threatening hazards, all the while Gordon calm with the thought that it is all part of the course.