"Actor: Stephen Churchett"

• The Brittas Empire - The Complete Series 6 | DVD | (21/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The complete sixth series of mirthful mismanagement mishaps from the hapless Gordon Brittas! After being crushed to death at the end of the last series Gordon Brittas spent a short time in Heaven which only served to annoy St Peter so much that he sent him back to earth to finish his mission. Gordon has spent the last six months being rebuilt in a Swiss clinic and returns to Whitbury Leisure Centre fighting fit after training runs in the Alps. Unfortunately in true Brittas fashio

• The Brittas Empire - The Complete Series 2 | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The ultimate depiction of workplace perdition has to be Whitbury Leisure Centre in The Brittas Empire, despite the later claim of The Office to the title. And while David Brent seems all too uncomfortably real, Chris Barrie's Gordon Brittas carried the gung-ho officiousness of mediocre middle-management to its surreal conclusion. The Brittas Empire could never quite make up its mind if it was a quasi-realistic sitcom or a fantasy comedy, and it's this uneasy mixture that invites you to question whether there's anything terribly funny about unplanned single parenthood, childcare problems, assault in the workplace and women who are addicted to prescription drugs (see also Waiting for God) because of their partners' behaviour. Then, just as you're pondering all this, Brittas comes out with another mouthful of managerial psychobabble that makes you realise that only this kind of tragi-comic exaggeration is robust enough to stand up to Barrie's monstrous creation. This second series treads a fine line between the merely bleak and the really rather nasty with exquisite precision. It opens with the news that Brittas has been killed abroad in an industrial accident, prompting his tranquillizer-addled wife to mourn him for less time than it takes her to remarry--except, of course, that Brittas is alive and well. Along the way, receptionist Carole attempts to murder Brittas with a JCB when she mistakenly thinks he's assaulted her baby, which she keeps in a cupboard under her desk. On the DVD: The Brittas Empire, Series 2 carries all seven episodes on two discs, together with several extras including a gallery, a profile and a Brittas Management Quiz (don't ask!). --Roger Thomas

• The Brittas Empire - The Complete Series 4 | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A fourth series of leisure centre management mishaps with Gordon Brittas. Episodes comprise: 1. Not A Good Day... 2. The Christening 3. Biggles Tells A Lie 4. Mr Brittas Changes Trains 5. Playing With Fire 6. Shall We Dance? 7. The Chop 8. High Noon

• The House Of Eliott - Series 2 | DVD | (09/01/2006) from £16.88   |  Saving you £43.11 (255.39%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Louise Lombard and Stella Gonet return as the Eliott sisters in the second series of this wonderful BBC costume drama. The House of Eliott is now the smartest most prestigious establishment in London and the Eliott sisters have to contend with the pressures of running their empire as well as the problems in their private lives. Beatrice's devotion to the business puts a tremendous strain on her marriage while Evie embarks upon a liaison which threatens to ruin both her life and th

• The Brittas Empire - The Complete Series 1 | DVD | (21/07/2003) from £12.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (53.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Broadcast between 1991 and 1997, The Brittas Empire is a sitcom set in Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. It stars Chris Barrie as Gordon Brittas, the prattish, blazered manager who remains loudly oblivious to the fact that his high-handed efforts at running the place result in utter calamity. As his gin-supping, nervous wreck of a wife observes, he thinks he's the oil that lubricates the machine but in reality he's "a bag of grit". This first series introduces Brittas, whose arrival at the new Centre prompts a rash of resignations as his petty and pedantic managerial methods constantly rebound on him. Mishaps in these episodes include a malfunctioning set of automatic doors, a disastrous wedding in the pool and a lost baby. Somehow, however, Brittas' strange sense of idealism keeps him bobbing up as all others sink into despair. The Brittas Empire could either be seen as a satire on the new tier of superfluous middle-management types who flourished in Tory Britain, or a 90s update of the old stereotype of the bureaucratic buffoon. Compared to, say, Alan Partridge, Brittas seems a bit broad and one-dimensional, a sketch-show character stretched beyond its limits. The rest of the cast don't offer much in the way of resistance or support and Brittas very swiftly becomes very annoying. Despite all problems, however, The Brittas Empire was an immense success, attracting over eight-million viewers at its peak. On the DVD: The Brittas Empire include some perfunctory, text-only items, including a Chris Barrie biography and a Brittas Fitness Quiz, as well as a sketch performed at the Royal Variety Performance of 1996, in which Brittas reveals himself as an enthusiast for conformity with EEC regulations. --David Stubbs

• The Brittas Empire - Complete - Series 1 To 7 | DVD | (08/10/2007) from £62.89   |  Saving you £-12.90 (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Gordon Brittas (Chris Barrie) is the manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. Although he means well and wants to be a good manager he has a talent for bringing about total disaster. While Brittas is busy dreaming up new ways to make the lives of his staff more difficult his assistant Laura (Julia St John) does her best to keep the Leisure Centre operational. Meanwhile Helen Brittas (Pippa Haywood) tries (unsuccessfully) to retain her sanity as she struggles to cope with her hu

• The Brittas Empire - Series 4 - Complete | DVD | (28/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  A fourth series of leisure centre management mishaps with Gordon Brittas. Episodes comprise: 1. Not A Good Day... 2. The Christening 3. Biggles Tells A Lie 4. Mr Brittas Changes Trains 5. Playing With Fire 6. Shall We Dance? 7. The Chop 8. High Noon