Mr. Brittas: No one is going anywhere. There's a force eight blizzard blowing out there, a windchill factor of minus thirty and some of those drifts are over twenty feet deep. Only a lunatic would go out in conditions like that!
Helen: Hello, Gordon? Can you let me in?
— Helen Brittas asking her husband Gordon to let her into the centre from out in a blizzard.
- Date First Aired: 27/12/1994
It's the (then distant) year of 2019 and Laura is being taken by her adult son Barney, to meet up with Brittas for a New Year's Day party, alongside the rest of the former staff. When Barney questions why Laura goes to these, she decides to explain this.
It's the first winter of the leisure centre in 1989 and the weather is so bad that Brittas has decided to not allow anyone to go home. Brittas decides to use the opportunity to bond with the rest of the staff. It doesn't take long however before the centre runs out of coal and is on the verge of losing electricity. Communicating with a scout boy through a torch up on the roof, Brittas finds that the weather is not going to improve for several days.
With this, Code Purple is called and they gather what food they can find to be rationed, which Brittas decides to keep in a triple-locked locker (with a key from each manager). Unfortunately, the next day, it turns out that the room which contained the coat which Colin kept his key in got frozen solid thanks to a broken water pipe. Even worse, Brittas' attempt to have Colin drill in to the locker ends in flames and the loss of the food supplies.
By New Year's Eve, things have gotten desperate enough that the staff are destroying doors for firewood. During the hunt for firewood, the staff discover that Carole has been hoarding baby food and that Carole has been keeping Ben in her drawers (thanks to her and her husband going through a rough patch). As they huddle around the fire, they start to bond and talk about how Brittas has had a positive influence on them.
Thankfully, things begin to improve. Colin is able to make alcohol, and they're able to set up a party from the contents of a lorry which crashed by the centre. Even better, Brittas reports that they should be free to go within the next few days due to the weather sorted. The gang happily ring in the new year and promise to get together for New Year's Eve every year from now on.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The episode is set in 2019, which was 25 years into the future at the time. Apparently, electric cars will be commonplace, along with them having in-built computers, and the Prime Minister will be Sebastian Coe.
- Alcohol Is Gasoline: Inverted - the fuel which Colin has managed to generate can be consumed by the staff as alcohol, although it is very strong and needs to be diluted.
- Audience Surrogate: Laura's son, Barney, is used as a way to get Laura to tell the story of the staff's first New Year's together and ask questions about the past.
- Backported Development:
- The leisure centre looks as it did after it was rebuilt in Series 5 rather than what it looked like in Series 1.
- Laura sports her longer blonde haircut from Series 4 onwards rather than the shorter brown one that she would have had in Series 1.
- Carole acts less like her Inelegant Blubbering Shrinking Violet portrayal from Series 1 and more like her slightly more sure of herself portrayal from Series 5.
- It's a plot point that Carole is hiding baby food in the cupboards behind reception, despite said cupboards not appearing until Series 2.
- Call-Forward: Julie is annoyed at the fact that she has to stay at the Leisure Centre as it means that she won't be able to go to her fancy dress party. Presumably, this eventually became the New Year's Party where Brittas accidentally impregnated Carole.
- Captivity Harmonica: Colin can be seen playing the harmonica as the staff huddle around the fire during the worst parts of the bad weather.
- Christmas Episode: The first of two, although the holiday being celebrated is New Year's Eve.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Brittas, who finds time to hold morning singalongs and team-building exercises while stranded for days in a blizzard with no food, electricity or heat.
- Code Emergency: Code Purple is called when the staff find out they're going to be trapped in the leisure centre for several days.
- Complete-the-Quote Title: The title comes from the biblical quote "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God".
- Continuity Nod:
- Carole's skills as a pianist (previously mentioned in "Mums and Dads") are shown to have finally become recognised.
- Linda has become archdeacon, something which she first expressed a desire for two episodes ago in "UXB".
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Tim spends most of the episode in a panic about freezing or starving to death in the leisure centre.
- Determinator: Helen is so determined to get her pills that she's willing to brave a blizzard just to get to the Leisure Centre where Brittas has them.
- Distant Finale: The Framing Device for the episode takes place in 2019, 25 years after the airing of the episode. Adding to that, the show was intended to be the finale for the series until it was picked up again.
- Dope Slap: Tim gives a good slap to Gavin after he reveals that he has hidden booze.
- Drill the Lock: The staff are trapped in the leisure centre due to a blizzard, with their remaining food supplies locked with three padlocks in a locker. Trouble is that Colin's key was left in an area of the centre which froze overnight, so Brittas gets Colin to drill around the padlock to get into the locker. Unfortunately, alcohol was being kept in the locker, and it was the drill coming into contact with it which causes the locker to go up in flames, ruining the supplies.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: All of the main cast, but special mention goes to Carole, who after five series of being the Chew Toy, becomes a world-famous pianist.
- End of an Era: The final episode with Laura and the original writers.
- Everyone Knows Morse: Brittas tries getting help by communicating in Morse with a flashlight on the roof. He actually gets into contact with a scout boy, who tells him in Morse about the prospects for the weather.
- Failed Future Forecast: The episode states that by late 2019, Sebastian Coe would have become Prime Minister. By that point in real life, the UK would have Boris Johnson as Prime Minister instead. We would also not have 40 years of unbroken Conservative rule as promised by the episode, courtesy of a Labour win in 1997.
- Finale Credits: Intended to be the final episode, it features more traditional scrolling credits rather than the show's usual Credits Montage.
- Flashback: Most of the episode is flashbacks to the staff's first New Year's together in 1989.
- Flat Character: Barney's only role in the episode is to be the Audience Surrogate.
- Framing Device: Laura telling Barney about why the staff get together every New Year's.
- Frozen Body Fluids: Brittas notably has frozen icicles poking out of his nostrils after he is frozen, which Helen removes before warming him up.
- Gay Conservative: By 2019, Gavin would not only be still with Tim, he would also become a Government Minister under Conservative Prime Minister Sebastian Coe.
- Grand Staircase Entrance: A butler introduces Sir Gordon and Lady Brittas as they majestically walk arm-in-arm down a massive staircase in a Scottish castle.
- Harmless Freezing: Brittas is frozen almost to the point of becoming a Human Popsicle, but is at most a bit red-looking after being warmed up.
- Hope Spot: Just as it seems that the staff are going to be stuck for some time, a helicopter flies over the centre with the hope of supplies and even help. Too bad they're only here to drop off supplies for an animal farm.
- Human Popsicle: Brittas briefly becomes one when he attempts to escape the snowed-in leisure centre.
- Idle Rich: Barney acts completely incredulous at the idea that his incredibly rich mother Laura once had a job when she mentions her previous time as a Deputy Manager at a Leisure Centre.
- Irony: Gordon Brittas, the man who has perfected causing fights to break out into an art form, apparently has become a UN Peace Envoy by 2019. He’s not much better by then either.
- I Should Write a Book About This: By the time 2019 rolls around, Tim has written a book based on his experiences at the leisure centre.
- Killed Offscreen: Linda's boyfriend Edward is mentioned to have died by the time 2019 rolls around, although the nature of the episode does allow for him to be mentioned as still alive in later episodes.
- Knighting: Brittas is now referred to as Sir Brittas in 2019, suggesting that he was knighted between 1994 and 2019. A poster during the scene at Carneige Hall also refers to Carole as a Dame, suggesting that she went through the same process as well.
- Last Episode, New Character: Intended to be the final episode, the show uses the opportunity to introduce Barney, the future child of Laura and Michael, who serves as a Framing Device for why the staff get together every New Year's Eve.
- Literary Allusion Title: Overlapping with Complete-the-Quote Title, the name of the episode is taken from a quote from The Bible.
- Locked in a Freezer: The staff are trapped in the leisure centre with no food or electricity, but end up bonding together as a result of the experience.
- Misery Builds Character: Laura's view of how Brittas trains his staff is that whilst the situations he puts them through (deliberately or not) are quite extreme and stressful, they are making the staff stronger, even bringing up how she used to be annoyed at everything, but hasn't since she became Deputy Manager under him. The future segments of the episode show that this actually worked, as the staff at Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre have ended up with prosperous careers as a result.
- Modern Stasis: Outside of a reference to electric cars being more common, the future of 2019 looks identical to that of 1994.
- New Year Has Come: Although promoted as a Christmas Episode, the plot hues closer to this. It features the former staff of Whitbury Leisure Centre coming together to celebrate New Year's Eve 2019 whilst flashing back to the time when they spent New Year's Eve 1989 snowed in the centre.
- Noodle Incident: An explanation is given for why the staff can't have the food from the canteen...Julie: Well why can't we use the canteen?Mr. Brittas: If you remember, Julie, the canteen was sealed by the police until after the inquests.Gavin: But if there's food in there...Laura: I spoke to one of the forensic scientists, Gavin. You wouldn't want to touch it.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: If there is one thing that Helen likes about being stranded in the Leisure Centre with no heat or electricity, it's the fact that she at least doesn't have to spend it with her husband's family.Helen: Normally I have to spend New Year’s Eve with Gordon’s family... it’s rather nice being with people I like!
- One-Shot Character: Barney; Laura and Michael's son and Derek.
- One-Steve Limit: Although spelt differently, Derek is also the name of Carole's ex-husband.
- Retcon:
- Julie is depicted working for the staff in the first weeks of the centre, even though she wasn't introduced until later than that. Additionally, Angie is absent, despite being shown to be there when the centre opened in Series 1.
- The centre is depicted as being open in 1989, despite opening in 1991 in the episode "Opening Day".
- Ridiculously Successful Future Self: For a leisure centre in the middle of England, the amount of staff who worked there and who have become rich and successful is shockingly high. Laura's justification is that Brittas' leadership acted as a form of trial by fire and strengthened the staff for their future prospects.
- Season Finale: Of Series 5.
- Series Fauxnale: This was the original finale until Brittas was revived for a sixth series (albeit without Laura or the original writers).
- Shout-Out:
- The scout boy which Brittas communicates with apparently got the weather report from Blue Peter.
- The news that the weather is improving ends up coming from Newsround.
- Watching Brittas recover from his state as a Human Popsicle causes Julie to compare him to Sylvester being frozen in a block of ice and the warm spreading up from his feet upon being defrosted.
- Skewed Priorities: Even though the taps still worked and therefore dying of thirst was not an issue faced by the staff, Tim is furious when he finds Carole has been hiding blackcurrant juice from the others because he's sick of drinking water.
- Snowed-In: The flashback sequences sees the staff stuck at the leisure centre due to a severe winter storm in the final week of 1989. The major source of drama (and comedy) comes from them having to survive when they run out of food and electricity. They ultimately survive the experience and decide to come together every New Year's Eve onward.
- Special Edition Title: The credits for the episode forgo the usual Credits Montage in favour of a more traditional credits crawl overlaid on top of the final shot of the episode (specifically, a shot of Brittas as he appeared in 2019).
- A Tankard of Moose Urine: The alcohol imbibed by the staff near the end of the episode is strong enough to make their voices go all raspy, although they luckily have Carole's blackcurrant juice on hand to ease up the strength. To be fair, Colin had originally produced it as fuel for the generator.
- Title In: Used frequently throughout the episode (via it scrolling from right to left at the bottom of the screen), due to the multiple locations and time periods used throughout the episode.
- The Watson: Much like the audience, Barney is unaware of why the staff are willing to drop everything just to have a party involving Brittas, allowing Laura the opportunity to explain how this came to be.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- Brittas and Helen's children are never mentioned in the future scenes. Whatever happened to them?
- Whilst Julie is seen in the future scenes, the show never explains what she did after she left the centre (although considering the fact that she was last seen getting married to Alex, one presumes that she is living a luxurious life Happily Married to him).
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: We are given a glimpse at what the staff have been up to since the events of the previous episode in 2019:
- Gavin has become a minister under Prime Minister Sebastian Coe.
- Laura is quite rich and, judging by Barney's incredulous reaction, hasn't had a job since.
- Linda was successfully able to become archdeacon.
- Brittas has since become a U.N. Peace Envoy.
- Helen is still with Brittas (although she is at least living a comfortable lifestyle).
- Colin has made a fortune on his herbal remedies, with a company about to go public, and has taken up shooting. He also now lives in The Laird's House.
- Tim has become a successful cook, with a TV show and a novel based on his experiences during his time at the leisure centre under his belt.
- Emily and Jessica are at Cambridge alongside Barney whilst Ben has gone into the Navy to work in submarines.
- Carole has ended up becoming a world famous pianist.
- Whole Episode Flashback: To the last week of 1989.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Brittas asks this about who would go out in the blizzards as seen in the page quote.
