BBC sitcom The Brittas Empire may have been off-screen for over two decades, however, it was a huge hit during its run and is now firmly a classic British comedy. The Brittas Empire ran for seven series from 1991 to 1997. The sitcom was written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen and followed the antics of leisure centre manager Gordon Brittas (played by Chris Barrie) and his equally incompetent staff.
Each episode saw surreal and side-splitting events occurring as Gordon and co tried to manage things at Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre.
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, star Barrie shared his thoughts on a possible return for the hit BBC series.
Putting on the distinctive nasal voice of Gordon, Barrie said: “Well, I’m ready and waiting for the green light it’s going to happen.”
Before adding: “Look, I’d love to do it. We almost made it onto Comic Relief last year.”
He explained one of the producers of the charity telethon lived near him and they tried everything to get a Brittas Empire skit on the programme, but it wasn’t to be.
“Richard Egen is well open but we’re all ready and waiting. We’d love to bring it back.
“It would be very interesting to set it in the 21st Century. Keep our fingers crossed that it could still happen.”
When Barrie isn’t working, he is taking time out to enjoy life and spending time with his family.
However, these days Barrie is busy working and focusing his energies on his other big hit Red Dwarf.
He, along with his co-stars Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and Robert Llewellyn, are getting ready to shoot Red Dwarf XIII with filming expected to get underway towards the end of the year.
UKTV channel Dave doesn’t yet have an air date for Red Dwarf XIII but the new series is could be hitting screens at some point in 2020.
Before that though, Barrie has reprised his role as the odious yet unfortunate Arnold Rimmer for a Red Dwarf-themed advert for The AA.
In the short commercial, the crew of the Red Dwarf break down on an inhospitable planet and are in need of urgent help.
While Rimmer tries to contact the breakdown services on a telephone, Lister uses his new AA app with help arriving almost instantaneously.
The advert was shot over the course of two days with Barrie explaining: “Obviously in a short space of time, it’s not like doing an episode. I think that they’re expectations will be satisfied.”
Barrie said it was a “completely different experience” to filming the TV show.
“Usually on Red Dwarf we’ve got other actors working with us,” he said.
While co-star Llewellyn added: “I think they can expect essentially a little theme, the various traits they know so well of the four characters in Red Dwarf.”
He equated the advert to an espresso shot of Red Dwarf while a typical episode of the show was more like a latte.
The AA, the UK’s most trusted breakdown provider, launches a new ad campaign featuring the cast of cult TV show Red Dwarf. No matter where you are, you can now report a breakdown and track your mechanic through the AA app. It’s the future of breakdown – today.
