It's a Wonderful Christmas Carole is a The Brittas Empire fanfic written by quietanalyst set after Series 7. The plot is as follows:
It's Christmas, and Brittas has decided to not close the centre early on Christmas Eve, much to the annoyance of his staff. What follows is a twist on the old Yet Another Christmas Carol trope as the three spirits try to get him to change his ways, only to find out that they're dealing with more than they bargained for....
You can find the fanfic here
This fanfic contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Gender Identity: Implied - when Henry explains to Brittas what would have happened to Carole's children in the timeline where he lets them all go home early, Emily is described using "they" pronouns (keep in mind that their twin sister Jessica is described using "she" pronouns in the same scene). In the series proper, Emily is a cisgender female baby/toddler.
- Adaptation Name Change: Whilst the name of Brittas' mother was never given in the show proper, the tie-in book Gordon Brittas: Sharing the Dream gives it as Jane Brittas. Here's she's briefly referred to as Catherine.
- An Aesop: As noted by the Ghost of Alternative Christmases, do good deeds. They will ripple out and create more happiness and more good deeds.
- Bad Future: This is heavily Implied to be going to happen if the Ghosts can't change Brittas. Mention is made of the screens that Future is viewing through of Brittas' future looking like scenes out of a disaster movie. It doesn't help that they progressively get worse as they try to change him.
- Barred from the Afterlife: As punishment for ruining lives, Brian Kitson is made to Walk the Earth for over a hundred years before he is allowed to enter Heaven. It is stated that unless Brittas changes, this will be the fate that befalls him as well.
- Beyond the Impossible: The Ghost of Christmas Past decides to show Brittas several disastrous moments from his life to highlight how he has not brought peace and harmony to these events. To his shock, he finds that he has been affected by these events as well, despite being an immortal spirit, ending up with askew glasses, messy hair, and a singed jacket.
- Bittersweet Ending: The ghosts are unable to change Brittas, but they're able to secure everyone else's happy endings, and there is still a chance that their message will get through to him someday.
- Bus Crash: Brian Kitson, a One-Shot Character from "An Inspector Calls", is revealed to have been murdered prior to the events of the fic, and his spirit appears to warn Brittas of his possible future fate.
- Butterfly of Doom: Turns out that the simple action of Brittas allowing the staff to go home early has drastic consequences for the future. It's most notable with the final fate of Carole's children - the timeline where he lets them go home early has Ben become a Wealthy Philanthropist, Emily one of the most successful world leaders ever, and Jessica leads the team that produces the vaccine for what is heavily implied to be COVID-19, whilst in the timeline where Brittas doesn't allow them to go early, Ben ends up working at the supermarket, eventually making it to middle management, Jessica spends her time in low-paid lab work, and Emily works in a bank.
- Canon Discontinuity: This fic ignores the events of "Curse of the Tiger Woman", despite being set a year or so after Series 7. This leads to two things - the series is not All Just a Dream, and Brittas never finds out that he's the father of Carole's twins.
- Crappy Holidays: With the exception of Brittas, everyone's Christmas in the timeline where he doesn't let them go early are awful - with Brittas managing to cancel the pub lock-in, Colin is forced to spend it all alone with only his cat for company and loses the potential rekindling of a relationship with Pauline, Julie discovers her boyfriend Alex cheating on her and leaves him for good, Tim and Gavin end up lost and arguing in the cold (a fate bad enough that Present gives them a bit of assistance), Carole forever loses the opportunity to see Matthew, forcing her to spend it all alone in the centre with her children and with not even any presents, comfort or food to give to them, and Linda loses the opportunity to have the Bishop support her application for a scholarship to theological college.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: What is Brittas' response to seeing the Ghost of Christmas Past? Immediately tell him off for being late. The poor spirit's reaction is basically Did Not See That Coming.
- Flash Forward Fic: This fic takes place a year after the final episode of the series,
- Future Loser: In the timeline where Brittas doesn't let the staff go home early, Carole’s children struggle to study under a life alternating between the centre, Brittas’ garage, and various bedsits. By adulthood, they’ve already been burnt out, and end up taking menial jobs - Ben for instance works in a supermarket, Emily a bank, and Jessica in low-paid lab work. This is contrasted to their fates in the timeline where the staff get to go home early, where they end up in very successful careers that allow them to change the world for the better.Mr. Brittas: And what is wrong with those jobs? They sound like perfectly valid contributions to society to me.Henry Parkes: Yes, but compared to what they could have become, the waste is enormous. Think how many other lives they could have gone on to improve if they’d achieved their full potential.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Brittas' anger at Matthew is partially fuelled by the fact that he is friends with Michael T. Farrell III, who managed to win Laura away from Brittas.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Past's response after trying to change Brittas is to immediately down several glasses of whisky once he returns. Present does the exact same when she returns from trying to do the same. In fact, by the time that Henry Parkes shows up after his failed attempt, all three ghosts are drinking because of Brittas.
- Noodle Incident:
- Brittas once closed the leisure centre because a boy's hamster got loose on the squash court.
- Julie's stash of alcohol has become depleted following a "Brown Owl Incident".
- Ridiculously Successful Future Self: Ben ends up following in Matthew's footsteps and promotes charities aimed at letting children play outside every day, Jessica becomes a leading vaccinologist and spearheads the creation of what is all but stated to be the COVID-19 vaccine whilst in her late twenties to early thirties, and Emily becomes one of the most successful world leaders ever and wins a Nobel Prize. Notably, this only applies in the timeline where they're allowed home early - in the timeline where they're not allowed, their final fates, whilst not horrific, are rather menial.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: In the timeline where Brittas doesn't close the centre early, Alex cheats on Julie with a woman named Caroline. Although Brittas is annoyed at this, Present notes that it was only done out of depression and self-destruction and that he wouldn't have done it otherwise. Made more notable as Alex weakly mutters that he loves Julie as she yells at him that he's never going to see her or his child again.
- Tap on the Head: The eventual solution to the Spirits' problem is by making it so that Brittas gets knocked out unconscious by a Christmas pudding that fell from a truck. Despite it leading to him being put into an induced coma, however, it's stated to be more out of the doctors' desire to have a normal Christmas instead of any real emergency, and he will recover quickly.
- Two Girls and a Guy: The three ghosts take on this dynamic in the fanfic. The Ghost of Christmas Past is a thin, pale-looking man, Present is a large Valkyrie sort of woman, and Future is an ethereal woman who's also a Living Mood Ring.
- Too Spicy For Yog Soth Oth:
- As in canon, Heaven is not that keen on Brittas. However, mention is made that not even Hell wants him either. In fact, Future mentions hearing a rumour that it was Hell which had nominated Brittas to be visited by the Ghosts, not wanting him to show up and ruin their fun.
- Brittas proves to be so obnoxious that by the time Past and Present are done with him, they immediately hit the whiskey and Future doesn't want to even try to change him.
- The Unreveal: Exactly why Julie decided to get back together with Alex in spite of her distaste for him is never stated - Tim and Gavin are described as trying to convince Julie to open up, but apparently fail to do so.
- Wealthy Philanthropist: Matthew, the man who has taken an interest in Carole, is described as being widely respected for his philanthropic work, using his fortune to set up communities, soup kitchens, and scholarship programs everywhere. His kindness also extends to Carole's children as he treats Ben like the son he never had, which leads to him following in his footsteps and promoting charities that aim to ensure that children get to play outside every day.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": Colin is revealed to have named one of his cats after Brittas, which Present was hoping to use in a bid to change Brittas' opinion. However, the cat is not in the best state, and Brittas is outright offended that he named the "mangy thing" after him.
- Yet Another Christmas Carol: Brittas is visited by the three spirits when he refuses to close the centre early over Christmas Eve, ending up playing the role of Scrooge whilst Kitson plays the role of Jacob Marley. It does take a bit of a different turn; the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present fail to redeem Brittas and they have to send in a Canon Foreigner (the Ghost of Alternative Christmases) to try to redeem Brittas. Even then, he is unable to fix him and they resolve to just knock him out over the holidays to salvage what they can of the future.
