If you have never seen the Brittas Empire I wish I was you because I'd love to laugh at it again for the first time. Chris Barrie brilliantly represents the kind of officious but well-meaning twerp that the world is now infested with, believing in the words of his wife that he is the oil that greases the machine, when really he is a big bag of grit. I think you can see his influence elsewhere with Alan Partridge and David Brent just a couple of characters with a bit of Brittas in them.
The other characters are well represented with the permanently afflicted Colin and his pill-popping wife standing out in particular. The episode in which Brittas closes the Leisure Centre in order to find a stolen £5 note and imprisons the near-incontinent Colin in a locker to catch the culprit unawares is a particular favourite.
Some of the later episodes are a bit weaker but the writers on the whole do a good job of thinking up ways for Brittas to inflict misery on the staff and patrons of Whitbury Newtown Leisure Centre.
It is a shame we don't see a lot of Chris Barrie these days as he has obvious talent as a comic actor as well as an impressionist.
The other characters are well represented with the permanently afflicted Colin and his pill-popping wife standing out in particular. The episode in which Brittas closes the Leisure Centre in order to find a stolen £5 note and imprisons the near-incontinent Colin in a locker to catch the culprit unawares is a particular favourite.
Some of the later episodes are a bit weaker but the writers on the whole do a good job of thinking up ways for Brittas to inflict misery on the staff and patrons of Whitbury Newtown Leisure Centre.
It is a shame we don't see a lot of Chris Barrie these days as he has obvious talent as a comic actor as well as an impressionist.