Helen: Is this the front of the queue?
Mr. Brittas: Yes it is my darling, if you'd like to go to the back of the queue please.
Helen: I'm not going to the back of the queue, I'm your wife!
Mr. Brittas: Wife or no wife Helen, you gotta wait your turn like everyone else please.
Helen: What is the point of bein' married to the manager if you can't even jump a flippin' queue?!
— Gordon Brittas stopping his wife Helen from jumping a queue.
- Date First Aired: 16/04/1996
We open on Brittas getting something from the aquarium, as well as relaxing to the sounds of the sea, a fact which has not gone unnoticed by the staff. Apparently, he's returned from a Brussels' fact-finding tour of European leisure centres, and it was on the Norwegian part of the tour that he and Helen were invited to swim with a dolphin named Ingrid. This inspired him so much that he plans to have a dolphin day, where everyone gets to swim with a dolphin. However, Linda is against the idea and plans to protest against it. Before the meeting is adjourned, Brittas announces that for the time being, Tim will take over the running of the canteen.
Dolphin Day comes a-knocking, and Penny shows up with a young girl with a lisp. Apparently, this girl, called Rosemary Rawlinson, is from Whitbury Comprehensive, and she's here for work experience. Whilst she is being shown around, Tim tries to get some shark steaks ordered for the day. However, Julie's subpar secretarial work leads to a shark being sent to the centre in place of a dolphin. Meanwhile, Linda forms a protest group against the dolphin.
Brittas leads everyone to the pool but finds out the error and gets everyone out of there. Meanwhile, Tim, seeking some chicken for the dinner, gets captured by Linda's group, who's trying to free them, and is put into a cage. Unfortunately, Rawlinson, who's unaware of the mix-up, decides to wash herself off in the pool...
Sometime later, Helen decides to take a swim herself but is chased out by the shark. Unfortunately, they find signs that Rawlinson may have been eaten by the shark. Brittas is left to the unfortunate task of telling her parents of this factoid. Thankfully, Penny finds the young girl crying under a staircase. At the same time, Linda's group gets the shark freed and frees Tim. It's long too long before Brittas is swamped with the financial consequences of the day, although Rosemary's mother has decided to drop all charges due to the lisp being scared out of Rosemary.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Alliterative Name:
- The event being celebrated at the centre is Dolphin Day.
- One-Shot Character Rosemary Rawlinson.
- Amusing Injuries: Tim is injured enough that he has to spend 10 weeks in traction as a result of his period of time as a Distressed Dude.
- Animal Wrongs Group: The group that Linda forms, considering the fact that they were willing to lock Tim in a cage to prove a point.
- Artistic License – Marine Biology: The Tiger Shark in the pool growls at Helen. In reality, Tiger Sharks have no vocal cords, preventing them from making such a sound.
- Beast in the Building:
- Brittas is inspired from swimming with dolphins to do a "Dolphin Day" in the centre and put a dolphin in the pool. Unfortunately, a combination of Tim's desires for gourmet food and Julie's poor secretary skills lead to a shark being put there instead.
- Tim leaves several chickens in reception for the purposes of making Spanish omelettes, annoying Carole as she is trying to put her children to sleep. Linda later frees the chickens outside the centre, although one of them wanders back into the centre, ending up getting eaten by the shark in the pool.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: A poor choice of words leaves Tim and Julie to believe Brittas and Helen are in love with a dolphin. After being told otherwise, Julie jokes that Brittas will be having sex with sheep next.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Linda locks Tim in a cage to prove a point about animal cruelty.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Ben's behaviour has worsened to the point that Brittas is unwilling to let him out into the general public, and he finds it perfectly normal to dangle his Montessori teacher out of a window.
- Bullying the Disabled: Brittas is not exactly sympathetic to Rosemary's lisp.Mr. Brittas: Colin, be a bit sensitive. She's got a hideous speech impediment.
- Call-Back: Tim's obsession with the quality of his cooking is a reference to "In the Beginning...", which stated that he was due to become a successful chef in the future.
- Chekhov's Gun: Tim mentions doing lobster bisque as part of his seafood menu for Dolphin Day. Colin later reveals that the cause of the blocked toilets and malfunctioning taps (which led to Rosemary having to go to the pool to clean herself off and unintentionally putting herself at risk of being eaten by a shark) came from a lobster which had escaped the canteen and ended up nesting on the water tank.
- Continuity Nod: Brittas is unwilling to let Ben out into the public due to his record, referencing his off-screen biting incidents in "We All Fall Down".
- A Day in the Limelight: Linda finally gets an episode with her as a major character. Here she stages several protests about Brittas' "Dolphin Day" event.
- Distressed Dude: Tim becomes one when Linda locks him in a cage to protest for animal rights.
- The Dreaded Toilet Duty: The centre's idea of work placement is sending Rosemary off to watch Colin do the toilets, much to her disgust.
- Flashback Stares: At the end of the episode, Brittas asks Linda what happened to the shark she liberated from the centre. She replies that the world may never know as she stares off into the distance and an image of the shark swimming away comes over the screen.
- Free the Frogs: Linda is against the idea of dolphins being used as entertainment and protests against it. She ends up freeing several chickens and a shark by the end of the episode as well.
- French Cuisine Is Haughty: Tim apparently went on a trip to Bordeux in France, where he learned at least one of the gourmet meals he intended to promote to the staff (filet de requin a la Bordelaise) there.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: The plot is kicked off by Brittas and Helen swimming with a dolphin on the Norwegian part of a European Leisure Centre fact-finding tour, inspiring Brittas to organise a Dolphin Day. Additionally, Brittas brings up how they have the ability to heal.
- Fuzz Therapy: The reason Ingrid the dolphin was in the Norwegian Leisure Centre pool was as part of their occupational program. Brittas mentions how Helen, who had been on a heavy course of antibiotics at the time, didn't need the medicine after swimming with her, and how he saw a sad-looking disabled child spring out of the pool after a few laps around the pool with said dolphin.
- The Ghost: Mention is made of a Mrs. Normaton running the canteen, but she doesn't appear in the flesh as she is on holiday, leaving Tim to take over.
- Heartbeat Soundtrack: The sound of a heartbeat is heard twice in association with the shark in the pool, first when it heads in the direction of Rosemary as she cleans herself off and later when it chases after Helen as she prepares to go into the pool.
- Hostage Situation: Linda locks Tim in a cage and refuses to let him out until Brittas lets the dolphin go free.
- Impossibly Delicious Food: Played With in that she does have some criticism of the taster food left in reception by Tim, but it doesn't stop Carole from constantly eating them and even offering them up to other people.
- Karma Houdini: Linda's reactions as a Soapbox Sadie lead to Brittas being forced to pay out £18,000 for the loss of the shark, being sued for attempted manslaughter, and Tim spending 10 weeks in traction, but because Brittas admires Linda for sticking by her principles, the most punishment she gets is an official caution and being banned from Brittas' evening lectures for a period of one month.
- The Law Firm of Pun, Pun, and Wordplay: Brittas ends up sued by a solicitor's firm called Huntley, Huntley, and Huntley.
- Lethal Negligence: Julie's status as a Lazy Bum secretary has negative consequences when she fails to properly keep track of Tim wanting shark steaks ordered and Brittas wanting a dolphin ordered in for Dolphin Day. The result is a shark placed in the pool of the centre, a young girl feared to have been eaten by it, and a lot of people intending to sue the centre after the fact.
- Man-Made House Flood: The toilets are clogged, so Colin tries to clean them using a bubbling combination of cleaning materials. This insteads causes a stream of water to come up. By the time Brittas comes into the toilets to check why they haven't been fixed yet, the entire bathroom is flooded.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Thanks to a poor choice of words, the staff initially believe that Brittas is having an affair with a woman named Ingrid.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The dolphin/shark mix-up was all because of Tim's constant demands for gourmet cafeteria food and Julie's usual sub-par secretarial work.
- Noodle Incident:
- Helen is mentioned to have been on a heavy course of antibiotics when she swam with Ingrid on the Norwegian part of the leisure centre fact-finding tour. Exactly what happened which put her on such a regime is not elaborated on.
- The last time that Helen was on antibiotics, she had an allergic reaction to the penicillin contained in it and became convinced that Penny was part of the first movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.
- Tim was apparently away in Bordeux at one point, but all we learn about what he did there is that he picked up the recipe for filet de requin a la Bordelaise.
- When Helen praises the silky skin and eyes of Ingrid the Dolphin, Penny admits that she's lost track and asks if she's talking about the barman or the aerobics instructor. One must only wonder how Helen's affairs/attraction to both of them came about.
- Ben once dangled his Montessori Teacher out of a second-floor window. Exactly how a young child like Ben managed to get an adult teacher in that position, or why he did it, is never explained.
- Not So Above It All: For all of Penny's usual anatagonistic attitude towards Brittas and her status as the Only Sane Employee, she's shown to be just as supportive for Brittas' idea of getting the customers to swim with dolphins as the majority of the staff.
- Obsessive Hobby Episode: Brittas becomes obsessed with swimming with dolphins.
- Oh, Crap!: Brittas has this reaction upon realising that Rosemary has washed herself off in the same pool that the shark is in.
- One-Shot Character: Rosemary Rawlinson and Mrs. Rawlinson.
- One-Steve Limit: Rosemary shares her last name with John Rawlinson, a One-Shot Character from "Brussels Calling".
- Only One Finds It Fun: Carole is the only person actually interested in the food Tim left in reception, with even Ben refusing the canapes on offer despite apparently normally liking canapes.Tim: Carole! How are the staff enjoying my canapes?Carole: Oh, wonderful, Tim! I'm enjoying... everyone's enjoying, everybody!
- Produce Pelting: One of the protestors throws a tomato at the Marine Park Man whilst screaming about how he's a murderer.
- Red Live Lobster: Downplayed, as the lobster which is responsible for the blockage in the toilets is only distinctly red around the pincers and tail, but it nonetheless has a shade of red in spite of the fact that it is clearly still alive and not cooked.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Rosemary was believed to have been eaten by a shark, but in reality had been hiding and crying underneath a staircase.
- Shark Fin of Doom: Most of the shots we get of the shark are of just its fin.
- Shout-Out: The Marine Park Owner blames Steven Spielberg for the bad reputation of sharks.
- Snooty Haute Cuisine: Tim becomes obsessed with cooking food of the finest qualities, with his menu for Dolphin Day including shark steaks, lobster bisque, and filet de requin a la Bordelaise. Unfortunately, no one has been coming to his renovated menu in the canteen due to the resultant jump in prices.
- Soapbox Sadie: Linda leads a protest that locks Tim in a chicken cage and steals a shark from the centre.
- Sound-Only Death: A chicken is heavily implied to have been eaten by a shark, although we only hear its death squawk.
- Speech Impediment: Rosemary has a bit of a lisp, which ends up being scared out of her by the shark.
- Supreme Chef: Tim takes over the canteen and quickly annoys the rest of the staff through his insistence on only making gourmet food.
- Terrible Artist: Carole's attempt at a drawing of the dolphin, considering the fact that Brittas mistakes it for a submarine.
- Threatening Shark: A mix-up leads a shark to be delivered to the centre. It ends up chasing everyone who goes into the pool and is believed to have eaten Rosemary (although in truth, she was just hiding and crying).
- Throwing Off the Disability: Rosemary is introduced with a notable lisp. However, upon being traumatised by the shark, she gets the lisp scared out of her. The resulting saving of expenses on speech therapy is why her parents choose to drop charges against Brittas in the end.
- Waving Signs Around: The group that Linda forms to protest Dolphin Day are shown to be waving signs around.
