Recap / The Brittas Empire S6E1: Back with a Bang

Mr. Brittas: Oh! We're home! Wh- (Beat) No we're not, we're in a lake! Helen, I've told you before, I don't approve of your shortcuts!

— Gordon Brittas realizing his wife Helen has crashed the car.

• Date First Aired: 27/02/1996

We open the episode with the staff awaiting Brittas' return back home. As it turns out, just because he had been revived from the dead doesn’t mean his body was restored to how it was before he was squashed flat by a water tank, and he had to undergo massive reconstruction of his body as a result. He’s also lost the Brussels job on account of his failing the physicals (he was dead you see) so he’s come back. Accompanying the staff in preparing for his return is the new solarium manager, Penny, to whom Gavin has taken a liking to. It is also revealed at this point that Brittas not only does not remember his time in the afterlife but that he had even died at all, and he must not know that he was dead.

Meanwhile, Carole’s hopes and dreams are dashed yet again when Mr. von Trap goes off to marry a nun, so she’s back too (as well as having gained a tendency to dry in response to anything von Trap related). Plans are complicated however when Brittas comes back a day early. He immediately puts Gavin in charge (with him as an observer) since he only just came back. Colin and the rest of the staff give Brittas a scale model of the centre, which Brittas will end up sitting on.

Meanwhile, Helen comes into the centre. As it turns out, she hasn't been doing too great during Brittas' stay in hospital and when one means not great, one means spending time in a mental hospital in a straitjacket. She's not actually meant to be out at the minute too, mainly due to the fact that they can't find anyone else for the group therapy who's had their husbands rise from the dead. The main reason for this is because the doctor has sent Brittas an important letter which was written by the wife of one of her doctors, who she tried to seduce, which he hasn't seen yet and she needs to have destroyed.

Tim and Gavin fight over Gavin's feelings for Penny, which end with Gavin in the pool. Meanwhile, Penny tries to bring up Carole's distress (especially in response to anything like von Trap) to Brittas which unfortunately makes things worse. Julie and Colin also have a talk whilst this is going on. Turns out she chucked Alex out for trying to give her elocution lessons, so Colin offers to marry her (although she turns him down).

Brittas has a chat with Drugget, who reveals why he's here - apparently, there was money collected for Brittas' memorial and they would like it back. Oh, and they want the life insurance back too, which has been spent by Helen on a car and through betting on a horse. Just then, he's informed that Helen is on the run and has spent time in a clinic. Helen overheard him making the announcement and decides to have sex, wanting to try out his new body but Brittas doesn’t want to. It’s at this point that Brittas finds out that he was dead, to his shock and necessitating a trip back home. As she does so, Helen finds that they may have a bomb in her car from Colin, leading her to turn the car right into the nearest body of water. This however turns out to be pointless, as the bomb was packed in Gavin's (who has made up with Tim) car instead. On the bright side, the letter she was trying to get rid of has been made incomprehensible by the trip. It should be noted at this point that one can guess what will happen to Gavin’s car.

BOOM!!! Roll Credits.

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Tropes in this episode

• Actually Pretty Funny: Even Brittas finds Tim's quip about the scale model of him being like him in that he's made out of plastic, waving his hands about and nobody is noticing him to be funny.
• As You Know: Some of the conversation between the staff at the beginning of the episode regarding Brittas' return to the Leisure Centre is framed this way, with Linda needing to be told exactly why Brittas is now back at his old job despite the fact that he was about to become European Commissioner of Sport.
• "Be Quiet!" Nudge: The staff decide not to tell Brittas that he was briefly dead, so when Colin goes to say how the ambulance men thought he was the most dead-looking thing they had seen, Gavin gives him a painful step on the foot. Colin immediately gets the hint and instead tells Brittas that they thought he looked the most unwell.
• Brick Joke: At the start of the episode, Linda expresses a desire to ask Brittas about his experience of being dead in the hope of making a thesis, although this is shot down as soon as Brittas' Death Amnesia comes to light. At the end of the episode, when he regains his memories, the first thing that Linda does is pepper him with questions on the matter.
• Call-Back: The bomb from "UXB" comes back with the rest of the baggage from Brussels and finally explodes in this episode.
• Came Back Strong: Brittas gained super-strength after he was revived, making him able to throw Linda in the air with ease and having a grip so firm he crushes Tim and Gavin's hands.
• Characterisation Marches On: Penny is notably different here from her portrayal as a Brittas-hating Ice Queen detached from the rest of the staff in the rest of her only series, being concerned for Carole's wellbeing, trusting Brittas to help Carole out, and, judging by Gavin's comments about everyone finding her attractive, being seemingly well-liked by the rest of the staff. In fact, the only hint at her seething hatred for Brittas is in the fact that she struggles to say anything nice about him upon first seeing him.
• Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Played With, as Carole is an adult, but Brittas does ask Carole to cover her ears just before he makes an announcement about not saying von Trap-related phases. Unfortunately for her, Helen pulls her hands from her ears to ask for cigarettes, leading to her hearing everything.
• Crushing Handshake: After Brittas is revived, he is shown to have become so strong that a casual handshake from him causes Tim and Gavin to wince in pain and fall to the floor.
• Cyborg: Brittas becomes one of these with his reconstruction, having a lot of metallic and plastic parts placed inside him. One line even suggests he has a bionic butt.
• Damned by Faint Praise: Upon meeting Brittas, the only positive thing that Penny can say about him is that he has very nice eyes.
• Dawn of an Era: The first episode with the new writers and Penny taking over the role of Only Sane Woman that Laura used to fill.
• Death Amnesia: Brittas doesn’t remember that he had even died until he is told that he had in the first place.
• Destroy the Evidence: Helen spends the episode trying to destroy a letter which was written by one of the wives of a doctor she tried to seduce.
• Dog Got Sent to a Farm: According to Helen, she had told the children that their father had gone off on a long holiday after Brittas' temporary death.
  Mr. Brittas: I'm feeling very strange, Helen.
  Helen: Oh no, don't do it again, Gordon, don't die again. I told the children once Daddy had gone on a long holiday, they're not going to believe me a second time.
• Double-Meaning Title: The episode title can be understood both in a literal sense (Brittas is back at his old job after both several weeks of surgery and as a consequence of losing the job at Brussels, and the episode does end with a bomb blowing up) and in a meta sense as well (the show has been revived with new writers after over a year off the air and it certainly involves a bang, what with a bomb exploding in the end).
• Dunking the Bomb: Helen tries to do this with the bomb by driving the car into a lake. Of course, it doesn't work because the bomb was never packed in that car in the first place.
• Everything Explodes Ending: The episode ends with Gavin's car getting blown up.
• Faint in Shock: Brittas falls unconscious after learning of his death in the previous episode, "The Last Day".
• Fire Alarm Distraction: Helen needs to try to get a letter from the wife of a doctor she seduced during the time Brittas was being reconstructed from being crushed by a water tank. At one point, she tries to get everyone out of the building by lighting a cigarette and putting it to a smoke alarm. The building evacuates, but she ends up destroying the wrong mail.
• A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: After Brittas' death, Helen was given £88,000 as part of the life insurance, which she quickly spends on a combination of an expensive car and betting on a horse. Considering the fact that it wasn't long after she ran out of money that she was sent to the mental hospital, and it was a place where she spent at least the first month during Brittas' two months convalescence at the hospital, this evidently didn't take too long to achieve.
• Fun with Acronyms: C.W.P.A.T.T. (pronounced cowpat), a management tool briefly mentioned by Brittas which means "Consider What Practical Action To Take".
• Give the Baby a Father: One of the reasons that Colin gives for marrying Julie is to give the future child a father.
• Handshake Refusal: When Brittas returns, he tries to give Penny a handshake. Penny, having seen what happened when he shook hands with Tim and Gavin, declines, claiming that her hands are sticky.
• Happy Ending Override:
  • The last time we see Carole in the present time of the series ("The Last Day"), she's about to leave for Austria for a happy ending with Mr. von Trap. However, this episode has her back at the leisure centre after he abandons her to marry a nun.
  • Julie was last seen about to marry Alex, and it was suggested that she was destined to be heading into a happy marriage. Here, we learn that she's kicked him out and is single once again.
  • Brittas was last being seen about to get a cushier job in Brussels. However, here it is revealed that he's lost the job after his time spent dead in "The Last Day", and has to stay at his old job as a result.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Carole is left devastated after losing yet another chance at happiness.
  • Brittas himself briefly undergoes one upon being told that he was dead, to the point of falling unconscious briefly.
• Home-Early Surprise: Brittas returns to the centre a day earlier than expected, ruining both the welcome back ceremony that the staff had prepared and making it harder for Helen to destroy the letter of inclination. He would have been back sooner, but he had issues with a metal detector in Zurich.
• Ignore the Fanservice: Helen dresses herself up and tries to look good for her husband in the hope that he would have sex with her. However, Brittas isn't interested in the slightest and tries to make her see that she's still not mentally well.
• Incompatible Orientation: Penny flirts with Gavin despite the fact he's in a committed relationship with Tim. She does realise this at the end of the episode however and advises that Gavin and Tim go off to the opera.
• Inhuman Human: Although Brittas came Back from the Dead, his body wasn't reverted to how it was before he was crushed by a water tank, requiring a several months stay being rebuilt in a hospital in Switzerland, and having a lot of plastic and metallic bits placed in him as a result.
• Institutional Apparel: Helen is mentioned to have been in a straitjacket for the first month of her incarceration in the hospital.
• It's Quiet… Too Quiet: When Tim praises Carole, calling her a mother figure, and after she suggests that she's happy to cuddle him, Carole nervously realises that it has gone all quiet. Realising that it means that her children had stopped playing to listen in on them, she tells them to get back to their games.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Whilst Gavin wasn't aware of it at the time, he was partially at fault for the bomb making its way to Brussels, since he had hit Colin accidentally in the head with a croquet ball as he was removing it out of the centre, and even tried to shift the blame for it. Here, he gets karmic retribution for it in the form of the bomb blowing up his car.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Brittas has Death Amnesia, and the others agree not to tell him that he died, presumably under the belief that the shock would kill him again. Problem is that Helen, who was away at a mental health clinic, was never let into these plans, and she tells Brittas after trying to seduce him. Not as it would have mattered, as Helen mentions having his death certificate framed.
• Mistaken for Pregnant: Brittas briefly questions why Carole isn't on maternity leave, even though she's not actually pregnant.
• Naked People Are Funny: Helen is mentioned to have escaped from the mental health clinic without wearing any clothes, although she has covered it up by the time she makes it to the centre.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Apparently, Brittas got the orthopaedic and plastic surgeons to play against each other seven-a-side whilst he was recuperating.
  • When Helen crashes into the lake, Brittas tells her "I've told you before, I don't approve of your shortcuts!". When exactly did Helen take a shortcut beforehand which Brittas disapproved of is left unsaid, however.
• One-Steve Limit: This episode marks the debut of Penny Bidmead. However, another member of staff called Penny was mentioned by Brittas back in "That Creeping Feeling".
• On the Rebound:
  • After having been dumped by Pauline, Colin tries to get into a marriage with Julie. He insists however that he's not just getting into this marriage because he's on the rebound.
  • When Tim thinks that Gavin is in love with Penny, Tim tries to get into a relationship with Carole, although he stops doing so after Penny realises that he and Gavin are together.
• The Patient Has Left the Building: By all accounts, Helen shouldn't have left the clinic yet. She's only out because she wants to destroy a letter of inclination. Well, that and they couldn't find anyone else whose husbands have come Back from the Dead to do group therapy with her.
• Personalized Afterlife: Brittas remembers being in a leisure centre in the afterlife (something which he always enjoyed in life).
• Professionals Do It on Desks: Helen tries to screw Brittas on his desk.
• Rejected Marriage Proposal: Colin asks for Julie's hand in marriage, but is turned down because Julie considers him to be too poor and ugly. Not that he seems to mind.
• Rule of Pool: Gavin gets dunked into the leisure centre pool courtesy of Tim.
• Sanity Slippage: Helen has apparently been committed to a mental hospital between Series 5 and 6 (complete with a straitjacket in the first month).
• Scale Model Destruction: Colin presents Brittas with a model of the leisure centre. Later on, Brittas accidentally sits on it and destroys it twice.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Several people parking their cars overhear Brittas announce an evacuation of the building. Realising that Brittas is back, their reaction is to leg it out of there.
• Sequel Reset: Series 5, which had been intended to be the final series, ends with everyone about to have their happy ending and Brittas about to become the European Commissioner for Sport in "The Last Day". However, the show was picked up for a further two series with new writers and as such, some of the fates of the characters had to be reversed in this episode. It's most notable with Brittas, who is confirmed to have lost the job after failing the medical (thanks to his stint being dead at the end of Series 5), and with Carole, who had been due to leave for Austria with Mr. von Trap - she ended up having to return after he ran off with a nun.
• Shipper on Deck: Penny is apparently supportive of the Tim/Gavin ship, as shown in her reasoning for turning down Gavin's ticket.
  Penny: Take Tim.
  Gavin: What?
  Penny: Well, you and Tim are an item.
• Ship Sinking:
  • It's revealed that von Trap (the man who Carole was going off with at the end of "UXB") has run off with a nun and broke up the relationship, much to Carole's despair.
  • Julie is revealed to have kicked out Alex, who was her new boyfriend from "Pregnant!", for trying to give her elocution lessons.
  • Colin is also revealed to have broken up with Pauline (the Crossdresser milkman from "Shall We Dance?")
• Shout-Out:
  • Several references to The Sound of Music are made at Carole's expense.
  • At one point, Carole is seen entertaining her children with hand-puppets of Sooty and Sweep.
• Speak in Unison: Both Helen and Carole say "What are you doing here?" when Helen initially enters the centre.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Gavin's car explodes at the very end of the episode.
• Super-Strength: Brittas develops this after being surgically rebuilt.
• Take That!: Helen tells Carole to never trust Austrian men with moustaches.
• Time Skip: The episode picks up two months after the events of "The Last Day", by which point Helen has been committed to a mental asylum, Brittas went through massive surgery, and Carole has come back.
• Trauma Button: Carole becomes prone to tears when someone mentions anything to do with Mr. von Trap or Austria (e.g The Sound of Music).
• Truncated Theme Tune: From this episode onward, the series' theme tune has been shortened to remove the original writers' credits.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Julie pukes into a bucket in Brittas' office.
• Wacky Cravings: Julie has started getting cravings for the strangest things, including rubber, biro, and coke.
  Julie: Well I'm pregnant, aren't I? I get cravings for strange things.
• We Can Rebuild Him: After his return from the dead, Brittas had to undergo extensive surgery. Although outwardly, he looks no different, he's stated to have a bionic butt, no belly-button, and has enough metal parts within him that it wound up delaying his trip through a metal detector. He's also stated to be much stronger, gaining a Crushing Handshake and at one point lifting Linda up into the air with ease.
  Gavin: Oh, he's been rebuilt, he's not flat anymore.
  Linda: He could be all plastic and metal now, entirely devoid of feeling.
  Tim: No change there then.
• Went to the Great X in the Sky: Brittas refers to his time in Heaven as the "great big leisure centre in the sky".
• What Happened to the Mouse?: So who looked after Brittas and Helen's children whilst both Brittas and Helen were incapacitated?

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