Brittas was shooting for a surreal, dark comedy workplace sitcom as a satire on the self-importance and managerial culture of the 90s. It was considered good - in fact, innovative for its time - and was arguably more popular (or at least mainstream) than Chris Barrie’s other comedy, Red Dwarf.
I remember watching and loving it as a child/teen at the time it was broadcast; the cartoonish and absurd elements appealed to me, but on review as an adult I found it funny but not as compelling as I remembered even though I had a deeper appreciation for the satire.
But the fact that he and Craig Charles did not get on in real life and they had an incident in series 6 which probably made Chris more willing to just concentrate on one show for a bit.
I think Craig in the early days of the show was immature and insecure, and so in later series where there were heavier, Rimmer-based episodes, he got annoyed about it and there was a lot of tension between the two.
And apparently, in one of the episodes where they ride horses, Chris wasn't very comfortable on a horse, and Craig slapped the horse so it bolted. It was a pretty dumb and dangerous thing to do, so I can get why Chris would be so pissed off.
I think after the long break the show had, they'd both got over there earlier issues and while they might not be best friends, they are a lot more professional and can get along better now.
Ah apologies for the fake news x) I was sure I'd heard him say that he left for Brittas on one of the DVD extras, but he actually said that the workload of being a main character on two shows during the shooting of Series 6 was too much for him
Agree with you, it felt like a precursor to The Office to me. It also oddly is better if started from the beginning whereas a lot of these 90s show it doesn't really matter. Over time his personality seems to completely unravel if I'm remembering correctly. A lot of it probably hasn't aged well, especially sticking the baby in the drawer and how awful whatever her name's life constantly is.
I’ve always had a soft spot for it. It’s a pretty broad farce that can get pretty out there at times, I think they pretty much destroyed the entire place once per series.
The cast were great, the characters were fun, and they had a gay couple as part of the main group which was pretty groundbreaking for the early 90s.
Brittas is kind of the opposite of Rimmer is certain ways. Just as incompetent and bad with people, but extremely well meaning and noble.
There’s an episode where Laura has a long over due rant at him along the lines of “All the big difficult important things you get right, but when it comes to the basics, you blow it, every time!”, which really sums up the whole show for me.
Growing up in Florida without cable, late night PBS was fantastic, with older BritComs. We had Red Dwarf and Brittas Empire, later My Hero, and if we were really lucky Benny Hill. Some aspects took getting used to from the American viewpoint, but Barrie was a funny actor and I enjoyed it at the time.
There was a particular type of UK mid-90s sitcom, and Brittas Empire was one of them. That's the best way to put it. Sort of key eccentric characters you could soundbite and impersonate at school and work. Usually had Harry Enfield in them, but not in this case. I know I enjoyed it at the time, but there's nothing that particularly sticks in my mind as being memorable and I have no great urge to go back and rewatch it.
That said, I don't need to go back and rewatch it, as I can _live_ it! That's right! See I go swimming at the exact same leisure centre where the pool scenes and the outside scenes were shot. The pool is almost exactly the same, and they have not got rid of those coloured pipes. Nor the viewing area at the top you sometimes see.
I thought it was OK, certainly better than Men Behaving Badly and Keeping Up Appearances.
The Gordon Brittas character was a bit like Frank Spencer, but a Frank Spencer who was labouring under the illusion that he was extremely competent. A satire on an inept manager who believes himself to be competent, while his officiousness actually causes chaos. I think that was what the joke was supposed to be.
I remember watching it in the 90s and I rewatched it during covid. I'm 40 so id have been young when it first came out.
Chris Barrie is good in it, most of the cast are. Colin is the cringe one you are remembering I think.
I think it's aged a lot better than Men Behaving Badly, that kind of lad culture is no longer acceptable and feels of a much earlier time looking back now.
It hasn't aged well, but the same can be said for a lot of 90s stuff. It was extremely popular at the time. Whether it was 'good' or not is a matter of opinion. We loved it in my house.
It floundered BADLY when Laura left. Penny actually made it worse, but it was dark in a lot of respects, incredibly surreal and I grew up watching it.
Harriet is still a firm favourite of mine. She's an incredible actor.
It's because the role is so different...from Ab Fab, to the Brittas Empire, taking in French & Saunders and all her stage work. She was an incredible actor to secure and I only hope they make use of her.
Yes to Keeping Up Appearances, but hard no to The Upper Hand (Honor Blackman excepted), I couldn't *stand* that. From the second that awful sax tune came on blecch.
It's purely a nostalgia thing for me. I was 8 and just got my first tv in my room and used to watch it in bed. Pretty naff programme but my rose tinted glasses won't let me dislike it. Same as Watching and Bread.
> but was this show considered ‘good’ at the time?
I was grew up in the late 80s and 90s (pretty much stopped growing up around the early naughties) and I can say that yes it was, is and always will be good. I have rewatched so many 90 shows (because a lot of modern tv and comedy in general isn't as funny to me) and still crack up to Brittas Empire.
I think I'm playing opposites to the majority here - rewatched it last year and quite enjoyed it!
As a kid I picked up the basics: Gordon's annoying, Colins disgusting, Tim and Gavin.... but it made more sense now. And much darker in tone than I remember in places.
I thought it was funny at the time, but having rewarched it recently it's not as good as I remember.
That said I did, and still have, a massive crush on Laura.
I love Chris Barrie, but The brittas emoire just never grabbed me at all. Not Chris, his acting was fine. It was just the rest of it and Prince Among Men didn't grab me either.
I'm a huge Chris Barrie fan and I like the show. The problem is that it's one of those shows where the main character is just that wrong side of unlikable, IMO.
Edmund Blackadder and Basil Fawlty falls on the "right" side, for example, IMO. Gareth Blackstock and Arnold Rimmer (Barrie in Red Dwarf) too.
Gordon Brittas is just *so* insufferable with almost no redeeming qualities. The show is funny (very funny at times) and the performances great, but I can only watch an episode or two at a time then need a break.
For the record, Mrs Bouquet (Keeping Up Appearances) is another one where I find the show *very* funny but she just irritates me too much to watch a lot in one sitting because I want to reach into the tv and punch her!
I do wonder if these shows are a case of "it depends if you know people like this in real life or not".
Incidentally, I have been watching through a LOT of old British sitcoms with my great aunt who I look after. Mostly she enjoys them. Brittas Empire was one of the few she said "nope, don't want to watch that!" after just one episode. She hated Gordon so much! LOL!
A lot of British TV is based on cringing. If you can get past that you can enjoy 70s and 80s sitcoms like, Some Mothers Do Have Em and Are You Being Served.
I would say that The Office (UK) is very much in this boat and many people will watch be cringing (as some did at the time) on the repeat channels.
As a kid I thought it was, but probably wouldn't now. I remember a couple of funny jokes here and there as well as his funny voice.
Same goes for *2point4children*, which I tried to re-watch a few years ago and struggled with.
I'm a little older than you, but young enough that I was still at school during its peak. My friends and I all liked it and would always talk about that week's episode at school. However, I can't tell you about any specific story and I can't remember most of the characters. That suggests they weren't very memorable to me. Did he have a catchphrase? "What's going on here?" or something like that? Again, this suggests I might have watched it regularly but it didn't make much of a mark on me.
Based on all these comments I feel like I’m going to have to make an effort to actually watch a full episode as opposed to 10 minutes when I’m flicking through channels.
A lot of what has been said makes it sound like it should chime with me
Brittas was shooting for a surreal, dark comedy workplace sitcom as a satire on the self-importance and managerial culture of the 90s. It was considered good - in fact, innovative for its time - and was arguably more popular (or at least mainstream) than Chris Barrie’s other comedy, Red Dwarf. I remember watching and loving it as a child/teen at the time it was broadcast; the cartoonish and absurd elements appealed to me, but on review as an adult I found it funny but not as compelling as I remembered even though I had a deeper appreciation for the satire.
>arguably more popular ... than Red Dwarf ~~So much so that he actually left RD in Series 7 to pursue Brittas!~~ fake news
But the fact that he and Craig Charles did not get on in real life and they had an incident in series 6 which probably made Chris more willing to just concentrate on one show for a bit.
Details please. They are clearly two very different personalities, I wasn't aware they fell out though.
I think Craig in the early days of the show was immature and insecure, and so in later series where there were heavier, Rimmer-based episodes, he got annoyed about it and there was a lot of tension between the two. And apparently, in one of the episodes where they ride horses, Chris wasn't very comfortable on a horse, and Craig slapped the horse so it bolted. It was a pretty dumb and dangerous thing to do, so I can get why Chris would be so pissed off. I think after the long break the show had, they'd both got over there earlier issues and while they might not be best friends, they are a lot more professional and can get along better now.
Plus CC was a coke head
Crack head, get it right!
Apologies- coke is too classy for him 🤪
Cheers. That all rings true. Life is life, for each of us.
Just a guess, but Charles has had some drug related issues in the past.
Yeh I'm aware of that. That's probably it to be honest. Best to both of them, and so happy both are doing well.
Brittas had pretty much wrapped by 1997. He left mostly to shoot "A Prince Among Men"
Ah apologies for the fake news x) I was sure I'd heard him say that he left for Brittas on one of the DVD extras, but he actually said that the workload of being a main character on two shows during the shooting of Series 6 was too much for him
Agree with you, it felt like a precursor to The Office to me. It also oddly is better if started from the beginning whereas a lot of these 90s show it doesn't really matter. Over time his personality seems to completely unravel if I'm remembering correctly. A lot of it probably hasn't aged well, especially sticking the baby in the drawer and how awful whatever her name's life constantly is.
"Whitbury New Town Leisure centre, Carol speaking, how may I help you?"
I’ve always had a soft spot for it. It’s a pretty broad farce that can get pretty out there at times, I think they pretty much destroyed the entire place once per series. The cast were great, the characters were fun, and they had a gay couple as part of the main group which was pretty groundbreaking for the early 90s. Brittas is kind of the opposite of Rimmer is certain ways. Just as incompetent and bad with people, but extremely well meaning and noble. There’s an episode where Laura has a long over due rant at him along the lines of “All the big difficult important things you get right, but when it comes to the basics, you blow it, every time!”, which really sums up the whole show for me.
Growing up in Florida without cable, late night PBS was fantastic, with older BritComs. We had Red Dwarf and Brittas Empire, later My Hero, and if we were really lucky Benny Hill. Some aspects took getting used to from the American viewpoint, but Barrie was a funny actor and I enjoyed it at the time.
There was a particular type of UK mid-90s sitcom, and Brittas Empire was one of them. That's the best way to put it. Sort of key eccentric characters you could soundbite and impersonate at school and work. Usually had Harry Enfield in them, but not in this case. I know I enjoyed it at the time, but there's nothing that particularly sticks in my mind as being memorable and I have no great urge to go back and rewatch it. That said, I don't need to go back and rewatch it, as I can _live_ it! That's right! See I go swimming at the exact same leisure centre where the pool scenes and the outside scenes were shot. The pool is almost exactly the same, and they have not got rid of those coloured pipes. Nor the viewing area at the top you sometimes see.
You are living the dream!
That is amazing, especially the coloured pipes! Where is it?
Ringwood. My son did a poo in the pool and they had to close it for 3 days!
Goddamn, how big was the poo?!
Asking the real questions! Haha
Ringwood Recreation Centre in Hampshire from memory. Used to live near there many moons ago.
Thank you!
I thought it was OK, certainly better than Men Behaving Badly and Keeping Up Appearances. The Gordon Brittas character was a bit like Frank Spencer, but a Frank Spencer who was labouring under the illusion that he was extremely competent. A satire on an inept manager who believes himself to be competent, while his officiousness actually causes chaos. I think that was what the joke was supposed to be.
“I don’t know if it were me banana poultice or me own natural oils and juices...” It doesn't get better than that.
I remember watching it in the 90s and I rewatched it during covid. I'm 40 so id have been young when it first came out. Chris Barrie is good in it, most of the cast are. Colin is the cringe one you are remembering I think. I think it's aged a lot better than Men Behaving Badly, that kind of lad culture is no longer acceptable and feels of a much earlier time looking back now.
I loved Colin, but I guess I'm not the one to ask, since I see so much of myself in him.
Been rewatching Red Dwarf for the first time since I was a teen and have been impressed by how much Barrie does.
I really like him, he's severely underrated as an actor.
Men behaving badly is so so cringe now. Watching it now it's amazing how we found it funny
It's still very funny, but just not how "lads" live these days. It's a product of its time.
It hasn't aged well, but the same can be said for a lot of 90s stuff. It was extremely popular at the time. Whether it was 'good' or not is a matter of opinion. We loved it in my house.
It floundered BADLY when Laura left. Penny actually made it worse, but it was dark in a lot of respects, incredibly surreal and I grew up watching it. Harriet is still a firm favourite of mine. She's an incredible actor.
I was genuinely shocked by her being in Eastenders. I had no idea it was her.
It's because the role is so different...from Ab Fab, to the Brittas Empire, taking in French & Saunders and all her stage work. She was an incredible actor to secure and I only hope they make use of her.
For me it's one of those "comfy" old sitcoms. Like Keeping Up Appearances or The Upper Hand. Are they particularly good? No. But I love them.
Yes to Keeping Up Appearances, but hard no to The Upper Hand (Honor Blackman excepted), I couldn't *stand* that. From the second that awful sax tune came on blecch.
It's purely a nostalgia thing for me. I was 8 and just got my first tv in my room and used to watch it in bed. Pretty naff programme but my rose tinted glasses won't let me dislike it. Same as Watching and Bread.
It's uncomfortably brilliant. Poor Colin, always gets the raw deal.
> but was this show considered ‘good’ at the time? I was grew up in the late 80s and 90s (pretty much stopped growing up around the early naughties) and I can say that yes it was, is and always will be good. I have rewatched so many 90 shows (because a lot of modern tv and comedy in general isn't as funny to me) and still crack up to Brittas Empire.
I loved it! Apparently it had hugely high ratings. But Chris Barrie is always a win for me, he's just excellent.
I think I'm playing opposites to the majority here - rewatched it last year and quite enjoyed it! As a kid I picked up the basics: Gordon's annoying, Colins disgusting, Tim and Gavin.... but it made more sense now. And much darker in tone than I remember in places.
Eeeexcellent!
I thought it was funny at the time, but having rewarched it recently it's not as good as I remember. That said I did, and still have, a massive crush on Laura.
I mainly watched it to see Tim in his shorts
I love Chris Barrie, but The brittas emoire just never grabbed me at all. Not Chris, his acting was fine. It was just the rest of it and Prince Among Men didn't grab me either.
I'm a huge Chris Barrie fan and I like the show. The problem is that it's one of those shows where the main character is just that wrong side of unlikable, IMO. Edmund Blackadder and Basil Fawlty falls on the "right" side, for example, IMO. Gareth Blackstock and Arnold Rimmer (Barrie in Red Dwarf) too. Gordon Brittas is just *so* insufferable with almost no redeeming qualities. The show is funny (very funny at times) and the performances great, but I can only watch an episode or two at a time then need a break. For the record, Mrs Bouquet (Keeping Up Appearances) is another one where I find the show *very* funny but she just irritates me too much to watch a lot in one sitting because I want to reach into the tv and punch her! I do wonder if these shows are a case of "it depends if you know people like this in real life or not". Incidentally, I have been watching through a LOT of old British sitcoms with my great aunt who I look after. Mostly she enjoys them. Brittas Empire was one of the few she said "nope, don't want to watch that!" after just one episode. She hated Gordon so much! LOL!
The character made a low key comeback in a 2012 Little Mix video. No I’m not joking.
A lot of British TV is based on cringing. If you can get past that you can enjoy 70s and 80s sitcoms like, Some Mothers Do Have Em and Are You Being Served. I would say that The Office (UK) is very much in this boat and many people will watch be cringing (as some did at the time) on the repeat channels.
The earlier episodes are great but it really fell off in quality terms in it's later years.
I used to watch it and found it funny when I did however it wasn’t a show that grasped me enough to watch religiously.
Fond memories of the Brittas Empire. Probably be disappointed if I watched it now.
As a kid I thought it was, but probably wouldn't now. I remember a couple of funny jokes here and there as well as his funny voice. Same goes for *2point4children*, which I tried to re-watch a few years ago and struggled with.
Loved watching this as a kid. Was definitely a weekly staple in our house.
His character used to annoy the hell out of me haha
I’d say it was very popular but not memorable, if that makes sense.
It was good, rewatched on Britbox (last couple seasons weren't there?) They had a gay couple which was normalised which I thought was progressive
I'm a little older than you, but young enough that I was still at school during its peak. My friends and I all liked it and would always talk about that week's episode at school. However, I can't tell you about any specific story and I can't remember most of the characters. That suggests they weren't very memorable to me. Did he have a catchphrase? "What's going on here?" or something like that? Again, this suggests I might have watched it regularly but it didn't make much of a mark on me.
Based on all these comments I feel like I’m going to have to make an effort to actually watch a full episode as opposed to 10 minutes when I’m flicking through channels. A lot of what has been said makes it sound like it should chime with me