little known series - The Brittas Empire (1991) Discussion

[–] analyseme 19 years ago

I agree. The series wa quite big when it was airing, but now not many people have heard of it. The stars, even Barrie, are fading away. It would be nice to see a christmas special or a new series made with the same cast.

SNAPE GETS NO NOOKIE SO HE TAKES IT OUT ON HARRY!!!

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] IridescentTranquility 19 years ago

Does anybody remember that Christmas special they did where it was set in about 2019 or something, and everyone went to see Sir Gordon and Lady Brittas and Gordon just ended upsetting everyone, just like he always had done before?

The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr. Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Perce?

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[–] possiblegod 19 years ago

nope but im told it was crap and certain actors didnt like making it

i'm livin la vida loca

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[–] richard.fuller1 19 years ago

They didn't like it? Amazing.

I recorded Brittas Empire a few years ago when it aired last in my area (American south) and am currently converting the episodes to dvd, and that very episode, "The Last Day" is the one I am currently watching.

I guess the flashback wasn't that much fun, but seeing them all in the future was neat, I thought, anyway.

This was Laura's last episode as well, I believe.

Chris Barrie was the butler in those Lara Croft: Tombraider movies, wasn't he? He hardly stood out.

Of course, he is in episodes of Lenny Henry, Blackadder, and yes, Red Dwarf.

I've seen Laura in the Poirot story, Dumb Witness, but it is surprising that the rest seem to be completely absent.

Carole was on AbFab and also appeared on a Lenny Henry episode.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] staceycarrs 19 years ago

the guy who played colin is friends with my maths teacher rex!! how cool is that?! i was impressed =P

"Come over to the Dark Side.........we have cookies!"

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[–] laura223 17 years ago

hi
i'm looking for brittas on a dvd. how much would you want for copies?
[email protected]

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[–] Startanew 19 years ago

most of the stars were never in much in particular anyway. I'm slowly collecting the dvds to watch at home. I still LOVE it.

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[–] imc9000 19 years ago

Another classic British comedy. They certainly dont make them like they used to.

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[–] possiblegod 19 years ago

wow i didnt think anyone would respond on this thread, people start discussing.

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[–] Startanew 19 years ago

If you check up yahoo groups, there are several for the Brittas Empire... just go in and start posting, and seriously, people wake up and reply to you! Or, there's a couple which are for 'different' comedies in general, they're really good too.

So... want to help me start chatting in this forum?
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[–] possiblegod 19 years ago

thank you

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[–] rogue9000 11 years ago

The actress who played Carole has gone on to be a star in the theatre (well the future episode did say something like that lol)

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[–] littlekaren 18 years ago

Hey, *I* remember it. Watched some old tapes of it recently and the production values were still quite good. So was Pippa Haywood, the perfect foil to Brittas. I've always thought Chris Barrie was woefully underrated. After all, he was an integral part of both Brittas and Red Dwarf, too. Once read that he was, basically, unwilling to work here in the States. Perhaps if he had been, he could've done more, career-wise. Yup, totally underrated.

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[–] HoloDonkeh 18 years ago

From what I've seen and read on interviews, Mr Barrie seems quite content with his life at the moment. A wife, two children, x amount of cars. He doesn't come across as one of those guys who "want to make it big" in the world. He just seems happy to make a couple of films (one due out this year YAY), do his after dinner speeches, attend the Red Dwarf conventions and other misc. signings.

And that, to me, makes him a lot more appealing than if he made a film a blockbuster film a year.

=D

*Squeal* I spoke to Chris Barrie on the phone on 25/11/2005: Gazpacho Soup Day!

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[–] slumdogGal2009 18 years ago

I remember one of the episodes towards the end of the shows run when Gordon Brittas was trying to save receptionist Carol's child (which I think turned out to be his!) and something happened like an earthquake and he was on some sort of toy trike thing. And he supposedly died, then episodes later after wife Helen mourning his death he reappeared unscathed. Can anyone remember why that was and how he came to be alive after having the ceiling collapse on him. I think that's what happened.

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[–] HoloDonkeh 18 years ago

*snort*

I can help you there. Carol was stuck on her son's (Yep, little Ben is Gordon's son) toy car and a couple of floors above her, the floor buckled beneath the a huge water tank and collapsed. Brittas raced down the stairs, saw Carol who couldn't move and knowing that she was going to have a tank fall on her head, rushed over to push her aside. The tank fell on him, killing him. The following scenes have Brittas up in heaven and trying to "organise" everything (as he does) so St Peter, irritated, sends him back to earth with the promise of a long life. And that's how he returns to life. Of course, he's all squashed so in the following episode (beginning of the next series, I think), they go with the story that he was sent to Switzerland (I think) getting a new body constructed. That episode was one of the best =)

*Squeal* I spoke to Chris Barrie on the phone on 25/11/2005: Gazpacho Soup Day!

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[–] Startanew 18 years ago

Ben isn't Gordon's son though, is he? he was the one who was there from the start!

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[–] whizzkid999 18 years ago

Yeh Ben is Derek's son (we see Derek for all of about 45 seconds in one episode). The twins were Brittas' children. I got really confused of the relationship between Helen and Carol after he was told as one second they were friends, the next they wanted to kill each other and the next they were back.

What i want to see is the BBC release a "List of Dishonour" or something like that and name all the people wounded or killed either directly or indirectly by Brittas over the years... might make interesting reading

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[–] rstephenwho 18 years ago

i love brittas empire, carol is fantastic in the later series. i think series 7 is the best, even though it's not really written by the creators.

I think linda was a bit damp, would have been nice to see more tim and gavin things going off but as much as i love julie - brilliant!!! i do like angie alot.

Why did laura leave?

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[–] Startanew 18 years ago

I think they were a little scared to show 'too much' Tim and Gavin. :(

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[–] carterhollister 18 years ago

ive just got all seven series and ive just finshed watched series 5 and watching them again makes me wish they would come back, but maybe it would be a bad thing. ive seen barrie on the discovery channle doing these mega machine type programs, its looks like he's not interested with being a star anymore because im sure the work is there if he wanted it, also dont forget i bet he makes a good few quid out of the red dwarf dvd's. didnt think the future episode was crap, bit far fetched but then its the brittas empire./

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[–] richard.fuller1 18 years ago

Startanew: "I think they were a little scared to show 'too much' Tim and Gavin."
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Wow, what did you want? Kissing, hand-holding, passionate embraces, refences to anal penetration?

ONe of them talking to one of the girls about how unsatisfactory the other one's erection was in bed last night?

I guess the biggest cliche would have been Tim and Gavin . . . . wanting to adopt!!! AWWWWW!

We got Gavin with a long-lost fiancee, Gavin found with a girlie magazine (Tim was hilarious), Brittas accusing Tim of being a woman.

Brittas has a Russian look-alike.

"Imagine having a doppleganger," Gavin says. "I wonder what I would say if I saw my exact twin?"

"He's nice, you'd say. He's very nice," Tim replies icily.

We learned Tim had shock treatment, Tim lied about his personal life. Tim resented Gavin's promotion.

I'd say we learned about as much about Tim & Gavin's relationship as we did Linda's romance, who the father of Julie's baby was or Laura's American boyfriend (tho he was shown for only two episodes).

The show was called BRITTAS Empire, after all.

I guess because the show never went an obvious route and had Tim and Gavin kiss and Brittas see them and react shocked, or Tim and Gavin having other 'friends' showing up, and Brittas querying why they were all male, . . . . hey, snore, snore.

The show didnt do like other programs and have a gay token with just one of them. Even then they could have had two homosexuals working for Whitbury and not been in a relationship, but the depiction of T&G showed that even gay persons could be bewildered by an overbearing boss just as much as all the other employees (and the boss' wife).

I don't see where the show's creators were 'scared' of anything where these two were considered.

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[–] IridescentTranquility 18 years ago

I think they just chose not to dwell on Tim and Gavin. I watched The Brittas Empire when I was about eight and I don't think I'd have been allowed to if there had been really explicit references to them being gay. My DVD box set is only rated PG. And also, with the variety of other characters, there were more than enough other storylines to alternate between.

"If we go on like this, you're going to turn into an Alsatian again."

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[–] Startanew 18 years ago

yeah sure, fair enough. I just liked the characters i guess lol.
And, they DID have references to anal sex. The comments about Gavin's soap on a rope, and their reactions when it's announced that it's missing. Ie, someone stole it/threw it out/it got misplaced, then they ... needed... it... and Brittas must have noticed them looking for it and made them file a lost property form or something...

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[–] 18 years ago

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