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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Comedy
    Comedy TV Shows - 1990s 2 Mins Read

    Brittas Empire, The

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    1 9 9 1 – 1 9 9 7 (UK)
    53 x 30 minute episodes

    Chris Barrie starred as the annoying, pedantic, anally-retentive, incompetent and accident-prone leisure centre manager Gordon Brittas in this 1990s classic.

    The ineffectual staff of the duller-than-dull Whitbury Leisure Centre were plunged weekly into bizarre and outrageous plots.

    Possessed by the jinx-touch, every improvement the pompous, over-zealous Brittas planned for his personal fiefdom ended in comic disaster, usually of epic proportions.

    brittasempire

    In one episode – ‘The Assassin’ – his misguided endeavours filled an entire hospital Intensive Care Unit, which – as his neurotic, pill-popping wife Helen (Pippa Haywood) was obliged to point out – was “a good score, even for Gordon!”

    Those working under Brittas included sensible assistant Laura (Julia St John); tearful and permanently apologetic receptionist Carole (Harriet Thorpe) – who kept her children in a cupboard behind her desk because she couldn’t get childcare; incompetent (and pustulous) Geordie maintenance man Colin Weatherby (Michael Burns); secretary Julie (Judy Flynn); and the fitness and sports coaches, Tim (Russell Porter), Gavin (Tim Marriott) and Linda (Jill Greenacre).

    Gavin and Tim were a gay couple but kept their relationship secret from Brittas.

    Despite his mega-bumbling, Brittas was, at one point, appointed European Commissioner for Sport, before returning to the Leisure Centre (motto: Semper Omnibus Facultas) for more mayhem. A new arrival at the centre was Penny (Anouschka Menzies), boss of the privatised sauna/solarium.

    A spin-off series of 10-minute keep fit segments – Get Fit With Brittas – aired on BBC1 in 1997. Guests included Nicholas Parsons, Lesley Joseph, June Whitfield, Leslie Ash, Kriss Akabusi, and weather forecaster Suzanne Charlton.

    Gordon Brittas
    Chris Barrie
    Helen Brittas
    Pippa Haywood
    Laura Lancing
    Julia St John
    Carole Parkinson
    Harriet Thorpe
    Colin Weatherby
    Michael Burns
    Tim Whistler
    Russell Porter
    Linda Perkins
    Jill Greenacre
    Gavin Featherleigh
    Tim Marriott
    Julie
    Judy Flynn
    Angie
    Andree Bernard
    Penny Bidmead
    Anouschka Menzies

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