The Brittas Empire Series 7 - DVD Review

A review by DVD enthusiast Warren Saunders

Despite having drawn to a natural close in 1994 after five series, when Gordon is appointed as European Minister for Sport and then assumed to have been killed by a falling water tank, Brittas was back like the proverbial bad penny in 1996 for a further two seasons. Missing the original writers and a main character in Laura, the series otherwise picked up where it had left off – albeit louder, cruder and even more ridiculous than before. Curiously for a series that lasted so long and received consistently good viewing figures it’s not well remembered today, and as such the BBC have handed the honour of releasing it on DVD across to Eureka Video, better known for their exemplary World and Silent cinema releases.

Watching it again today the reasons for it’s lack of longevity are clear, as the writing never makes the characters real enough for the viewer to believe in or identify with. It’s true that Brittas can be seen as an amalgam of classic sitcom anti-heroes such as Basil Fawlty, Martin Bryce and David Brent and like them he is officious, clumsy, rude and completely oblivious to how others view him. But while remaining insufferable, they still manage to evoke empathy from the viewer as they dig deeper and deeper holes for themselves. Where David Brent is constantly belittled both by his management and his head rep Chris Finch, Brittas has no-one to bring him back down to earth, not well constructed enough to have a ‘character’ he acts simply as a catalyst for the farce that engulfs him.

Original writers Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss had long gone by now but, overseen by Ian Davidson, their replacements – Terry Kyan, Tony Millan and Mike Walling, had significant comedy writing pedigree and as such series seven is not without it’s laughs. Davidson acts as script consultant for the whole season but unfortunately his expertise is primarily sketch show rather than sitcom based, so while there are funny moments, there is no cohesion to any of the episodes, which simply play out as a series of situations with no overall linking narrative or character consistency.

That said the whole thing is often done with such enthusiasm that it hardly matters, with an ensemble cast bravely carrying what is sometimes pretty thin material. It’s the regular supporting cast rather than Brittas himself who provide most of what laughs there are in this final series of the show. Mike Burns as Colin and the incomparable Harriet Thorpe as depressed single parent Carole stand out, with Thorpe particularly stealing every scene she’s in. There is also plenty of action for Gordon’s wife Helen, played by Pippa Haywood who delivers a manic and over the top performance, which often renders her more annoying than her husband.

With no well constructed stories and a dwindling budget which reduces the action to three or four sets, the show can get monotonous, although there is some relief when the team go on a training course to Burbidge-On-Sea in episode six. There are funny moments in each episode but it’s the final half hour of the series which works best, as Carole finds out something disturbing about the father of her children and Colin builds a scale model of Noah’s Ark in the car park. The ending is part pastiche of Dallas (with a touch of UK horror anthology Dead of Night thrown in) and part apology for the insanity and lunacy that has preceded it, but sadly it doesn’t quite come off. Having tried and failed to end the show once before, now there really was nowhere left to go – unless they wanted to remake series one.

The Discs

The series is presented on 2xDVD 5, held in a nice solid gatefold digipack. There is no booklet, but the digi includes details of cast, writers and transmission dates. The menu is basic but effective, and the discs include all eight episodes of the series plus the Christmas special that precedes it. Congratulations are due Eureka for including subtitles as well – something which Network have failed to do with many of their recent archive TV releases. Picture quality is uniformly excellent throughout with clear as broadcast Mono sound and a reasonable overall bitrate. There is a tiny bit of blocking here and there, but nothing which seriously impacts enjoyment. I’m not aware of any cuts having been made – certainly none are mentioned on the package, but off air copies were unfortunately not available for comparison.

One small thing that Eureka do need to address is the company ident that pops up at the beginning of all their DVDs looking as though it was created in the mid 80s on VHS, it unfortunately sets things off with a rather amateurish feel. The menu is basic but functional, and a brief photo gallery is also included. The “Get Fit With Brittas” series of 10-minute shows from after this series could perhaps have been included as an extra – there is room on the second disc, and it’s unlikely they’ll get a release on their own. A commentary on one or two of the episodes from stars or writers would also have been nice, but for a niche release on a budget these are well presented discs.

Conclusion

The Brittas Empire is very much of it’s time, combining the 90s comedy obsessions with management speak, European directives and political correctness, all of which now seems slightly dated. Having long since descended into farce, by series 7 Brittas had travelled beyond this into the realms of pure fantasy. Perhaps it would have been better positioned as a family/children’s show similar to the BBCs more recent (and far more appalling) series, "My Hero". Although not great comedy, compared to many more recent sitcoms Brittas actually stands up well, not necessarily funny, but good fun from start to finish. Indeed it could be argued that the surrealism which permeates this season is actually quite brave for a mainstream sitcom, a little like the later episodes of "One Foot in the Grave" or "2 Point 4 Children".

If you’re a fan of the series the above review is going to make little difference to your opinion, and you can be assured that these discs are up to the standard of previous releases. If you’re new to the show this probably isn’t the best place to start, with either series three or four being the accepted high watermark, but there is still some fun to be had here. Personally I’m not sure that people landing head first in a mountain of elephant dung represents a high point in British comedy, but I could be wrong, and whatever you think of the content, Eureka are to be applauded for releasing this series through to the bitter end – something other companies have consistently failed to do (Universal/Playback are you listening!?).

See also: Series 7 Guide / Other Brittas DVDs

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