THE MOVIE

Chris Barrie returns as Gordon Brittas, the bumbling manager of the Whitbury Leisure Centre in the complete second series of The Brittas Empire. The series also stars Philippa Haywood as his wife Helen, Julia St. John as his assistant Laura, Harriet Thorpe as receptionist Carole, Michael Burns as Colin, Gary Whitaker as Neil, Russell Porter as Tim, Jill Greenacre as Linda and Tim Marriott as Gavin. This DVD features seven 30 minute episodes, here is a more detailed look at each episode.

Episode 1
Helen has some bad news for the staff at the Leisure Centre, it seems that Mr Brittas has been crushed to death in a car factory in Bulgaria. Some of the staff don’t believe he’s dead and want proof. Meanwhile, business is absolutely booming, that is until Mr Brittas shows up. Unfortunately, Helen will now have to call off her second wedding.

Episode 2
Mr Brittas has found some underpants down the back of the sofa in his office so he has drawn up a new roster. No male and female staff members will be allowed to work together at night thereby avoiding any hanky panky. He’s keen to catch the guilty parties but gets himself into trouble instead. Little does he realise the pants actually belong to his wife.

Episode 3
A government inspector is planning to visit the Leisure Centre and Mr Brittas wants to impress so he’s makes everyone work overtime to ensure the place is spick and span. Unfortunately there is a pigeon in the gym that is intent of causing problems. Mr Brittas wants it gone before the inspector arrives so they call in a professional bird handler.

Episode 4
Mr Brittas needs to find a solution for the fighting patrons at the Leisure Centre, he thinks the building is sick so he calls in a specialist to diagnose the problem. Colin spends the day wheeling Mr Brittas around on a trolley because his feet are stuck in a block of concrete. Apparently a group of angry Rotarians are responsible.

Episode 5
Gordon’s father pays a visit to the Leisure Centre and wants a tour, but Mr Brittas has a few things to sort out. He’s arranged a piano recital by the Russian composer Vladimir Petrov but they’re having trouble shifting the piano from the reception area to the gymnasium. The real question though is whether Vladimir will have any fingers left for the performance.

Episode 6
Mr Brittas has closed the Leisure Centre for three days to carry out fire drills, but it seems none of the staff are prepared. How will they cope when Gordon factors in the outbreak of a contagious disease into the scenario as well. Helen then inadvertently starts a fire when she hides a lit cigarette in a purse that winds up in lost property.

Episode 7
Mr Brittas asks that the cow in the car park be relocated to the rear of the complex. He also asks that Colin’s figwort be removed from the reception area, it is taken out the back only to be eaten by the cow. The cow and Carole both go into labour, but there is a mix up and the vet ends up delivering carol’s baby and a gynaecologist delivers the calf.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The Brittas Empire - Series 2 is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. The visual transfer is quite good and it’s certainly on a par with the first series. The level of detail is surprisingly good on the brightly lit sets, especially during the close up shots of the actors. The transfer is also free of film grain and MPEG artefacts, although there are several minor incidences of highlight overload. Colours are nice and bright and flesh tones appear realistic. This is a dual layer (DVD9) disc but the layer change was not evident.

Audio:

The Brittas Empire - Series 2 comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 channel soundtrack. The audio transfer is more than adequate for a sitcom. Dialogue is clearly audible throughout all seven episodes and the audience laughter did not interfere with the delivery of the punch lines in anyway. Furthermore, there didn’t appear to be any noticeable audio synch problems. Unfortunately this DVD doesn’t have any subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Quiz
Here you can take the Brittas Mental Fitness test. Answer a random selection of multiple choice questions and see your total score out of 10 at the end of the quiz. The questions relate to events that take place throughout the series.

Good Morning Interview
This is an excerpt from an English morning television program where John Leslie visits the set of The Brittas Empire. This behind the scenes featurette includes interviews with producer and director Mike Stephens, actors Julia St John, Michael Burns, Chris Barrie. This featurette is presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Running time is 4.23 minutes.

Barrie’s Bulletin Board
This is apparently a extra feature that can be accessed if you have a DVD-ROM drive in your computer. I’m not entirely sure what you’ll find in here as I couldn’t get the InterActual player to install on my computer.

Picture Gallery
The picture gallery contains a selection of still photographs taken during the filming of Series 2 of The Brittas Empire. There are a couple of dozen photographs in this static gallery.

Pippa Haywood Biography
Here you will find numerous pages of textual information about actor Pippa Haywood who plays Helen Brittas in this comedic television series. The biography includes her television and theatrical performances.

SUMMARY

Chris Barrie returns as Gordon Brittas, the bumbling manager of the Whitbury Leisure Centre in The Brittas Empire - Series 2. Patronage at the Leisure Centre picks up when Mr Brittas is mistakenly assumed to be dead, a government inspector pays a visit and the Leisure Centre also holds a recital by a Russian composer. The DVD has a satisfactory visual and audio transfer and there are also a couple of interesting extra features.