The Brittas Empire (1991)

Name: The Brittas Empire
Genre: Comedy
Rating: 7.1
Cast: Chris Barrie, Michael Burns, Julia St. John, Pippa Haywood, Tim Marriott

Comedy

The Brittas Empire is a British sitcom created and originally written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen. Chris Barrie plays Gordon Brittas, the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. The show ran for seven series and 53 episodes — including two Christmas specials — from 1991 to 1997 on BBC1. Norriss and Fegen wrote the first five series, after which they left the show. The Brittas Empire enjoyed a long and successful run throughout the 1990s, and gained itself large mainstream audiences. In 2004 the show came 47th on the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom poll, and all series have been released on DVD. The creators Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen often combine farce with either surreal or dramatic elements in episodes. For example in the first series, the leisure centre prepares for a royal visit, only for the doors to seal, the boiler room to flood and a visitor to become electrocuted. Unlike the traditional sitcom, deaths were quite common in The Brittas Empire.

IMDb rating: 7.1 (4,154 votes)
Seasons: 7
Streaming (US): Britbox Apple TV Channel
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Browse all Big finale seasons in the explorer → Open in Rising Shows app → View on IMDb

Ratings refreshed Jul 3, 2026 · 7 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1991)

7.60 avg 6 episodes 7.1 → 8.0 30 min avg

Big finale

Season 1 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Laying the Foundations	7.1	116
2	Opening Day	7.5	100
3	Bye Bye Baby	7.8	97
4	Underwater Wedding	7.5	95
5	Stop Thief	7.7	94
6	Assassin	8.0	94

Season 2 (1992)

7.97 avg 7 episodes 8.1 → 8.0 30 min avg

Season 2 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Back from the Dead	8.1	82
2	Temple of the Body	7.9	82
3	An Inspector Calls	8.0	83
4	Set in Concrete	8.3	84
5	Mums and Dads	7.6	81
6	Safety First	7.9	79
7	New Generations	8.0	76

Season 3 (1993)

8.00 avg 6 episodes 8.4 → 8.0 30 min avg

Season 3 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Trial	8.4	85
2	That Creeping Feeling	7.6	81
3	Laura's Leaving	8.1	77
4	Two Little Boys	8.0	77
5	Sex, Lies & Red Tape	7.9	77
6	The Stuff of Dreams	8.0	73

Season 4 (1994)

8.09 avg 8 episodes 8.3 → 8.3 30 min avg

Season 4 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Not a Good Day...	8.3	81
2	The Christening	8.0	75
3	Biggles Tells a Lie	8.0	79
4	Mr Brittas Changes Trains	8.3	73
5	Playing with Fire	8.0	76
6	Shall We Dance?	7.8	72
7	The Chop	8.0	76
8	High Noon	8.3	74

Season 5 (1994)

8.04 avg 9 episodes 7.7 → 8.2 30 min avg

Season 5 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Old, Old Story	7.7	75
2	Blind Devotion	8.2	74
3	Brussels Calling	8.1	74
4	The Lies Have It	8.2	74
5	The Boss	7.4	74
6	Pregnant!	8.3	73
7	UXB	8.1	73
8	The Last Day	8.2	72
9	In the Beginning...	8.2	76

Season 6 (1996)

7.49 avg 7 episodes 7.5 → 7.4 30 min avg

Season 6 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Back with a Bang	7.5	62
2	Body Language	7.6	62
3	At the Double	7.0	62
4	A Walk on the Wildside	7.4	61
5	We All Fall Down	7.7	60
6	Mr Brittas Falls in Love	7.8	61
7	Snap Happy	7.4	57

Season 7 (1996)

7.46 avg 9 episodes 8.0 → 7.0 30 min avg

Season 7 episodes — IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
0	Surviving Christmas	8.0	60
1	The Elephants' Child	7.4	57
2	Reviewing the Situation	7.4	56
3	http://etc	7.8	60
4	Wake Up the Lion Within	7.1	56
5	The Disappearing Act	7.3	55
6	Gavin Featherly R. I. P.	7.5	53
7	Exposed	7.6	53
8	Curse of the Tiger Women	7.0	60

The Brittas Empire (1991)

Cast

Seasons

Shows like this