YMMV / The Brittas Empire

• Audience-Alienating Ending: The ending of the series is not very popular with fans due to its reveal that the entirety of the series was All Just a Dream, and it tends to overshadow any other discussion of the show as a result.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Brittas' severe lack of social skills, pedantic way of speaking, and obsession with both rules and schedule have led some of the audience to theorise that he's on the Autism Spectrum. One of the co-creators (Andrew Norriss) reposted a blog post from a watcher theorising this on his website, suggesting possible Diagnosis of God, but there is no concrete evidence otherwise.
• Fan Nickname: The first season episodes had nicknames originating from this post and were subsequently used for the Eureka DVD releases (except for the first episode, which came from a VHS release of the series) and for when the show was put on UKTV Play in 2023. An alternative episode listing which is officially used by the BBC website can be found here but it's not commonly used.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Many fans choose to ignore the last two seasons due to a perceived dip in quality caused by the departure of the original two writers, as well as the departure of Laura, from the series. The series finale also tends to be ignored due to its reveal that the entirety of the series had been All Just a Dream (contradicting the events of the 1994 Christmas Special, which depicts them in various occupations long after the events of the series).
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Although the Brittas/Laura pairing was pursued by the series for a while, it was ultimately a pairing which wasn't to be, with the show eventually settling for Brittas/Helen and Laura/Michael. However, Brittas/Laura tends to be the more popular of the three pairings, partially due to Helen being an Addled Addict who rarely shows affection for Brittas and partially due to Michael having cheated on Laura in the past and being a Rich Bastard, even if he does undergo some Character Development.
• Friendly Fandoms: Fans of the show tend to be fans of Red Dwarf as well, mainly because both shows star Chris Barrie in major roles and as similar characters.
• Growing the Beard: Whilst it was never considered to be bad, the series only properly hit its footing by Series 3. By then, the two original writers had gotten a proper grip on the characters, and it helped that Brittas Took a Level in Kindness and became an easier character to root for, going from a rule-obsessed git with little redeeming qualities to well-meaning but lacking in social tact.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Community fans could be forgiven for imagining an alternate universe where Britta Perry was an emperor upon first hearing the show's title.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Gordon Brittas is an obnoxious Pointy-Haired Boss and he has a tendency of driving anyone to the brink of tears, but his motives are always positive, and some of his reactions to the bad events which happen in his life are enough to make you want to give him a hug.
  • Helen Brittas is a Comedic Sociopath who cares little for her husband, but she is clearly stuck in an ill-fitting marriage, and some episodes suggest that she has a Dark and Troubled Past filled with previous husbands and uncaring parents.
• More Popular Replacement: The general consensus is that Julie, who replaced Angie after Series 1, is a much better and more developed character. Indeed, whilst Angie only existed for a single series, Julie remained a main character for the remaining 6 series.
• Older Than They Think: Some news articles have claimed that Tim and Gavin were the first major non-Camp Gay gay couple in British sitcom history. This isn't actually true, the honour instead belonging to a 1979 sitcom titled Agony, which featured two neighbours of the main character who just happened to be gay.
• Only the Creator Does It Right: The final two series, which were written after the original two creators left, are considered a massive downgrade from the previous five series.
• Replacement Scrappy: Penny is despised by fans for replacing Laura, who was one of the show's most well-rounded and popular characters. The fact she was far less pleasant and incredibly stuck-up didn't help her popularity either. It's possible that the writers figured this out for themselves, as she's absent with little explanation given after only a series.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Angie is played by Andrée Bernard, who would later be best known for playing Liz Burton in Hollyoaks.
  • Jo Martin (nowadays most known for playing the previously unknown incarnation of The Doctor Ruth in Doctor Who) appears in the episode "Bye Bye Baby" as Mrs. Walsh.
  • Mandy from "Stop Thief!" is played by Joanne Heywood, who would later be best known for playing Jessica Lovelock in Grace & Favour.
• Seasonal Rot: Series 6 and 7 are considered to be much inferior to the previous 5 series which came before it. The general belief is that the writing took a downturn due to the new writers not having a proper grip on the characters, not helped by the replacement for Laura, Penny Bidmead, proving to be a Replacement Scrappy. This culminated in the series finale, when it was revealed that the events of the series were All Just a Dream, which proved to be a bit too much of a copout for many people.
• Special Effect Failure: Whilst the show has good special effects, one place where it tends to fall short is portraying animals realistically. For example:
  • "That Creeping Feeling" features a highly dangerous spider wandering around the centre, which clearly looks like an unconvincing animatronic.
  • "The Old, Old Story" revolves around an emu running wild in the centre, which leads to several amusing effects failures. They actually managed to get a live version of the animal, but presumably, it was too dangerous to let the actors interact with it. So you either get a live emu running down a corridor dragging an obvious dummy, or human actors interacting with a hand puppet sticking over a bathroom stall. To their credit, the people involved seemed to realise this problem, so the shots with the fake emu are so obviously fake that it actually adds to the comedy.
  • For a non-animal example, the shot in "The Last Day" where Brittas is looking down from a hole created by a falling water tank is clearly shot on bluescreen.
  • "At the Double" features a bear running loose in the centre, which is clearly a man in a terrible costume.
  • "Wake Up the Lion Within" ends with a lion being seen in the backseat of a woman's car, which is clearly a poor-quality dummy.
  • Finally, "Curse of the Tiger Women" features a goose swooping in and pecking Brittas unconscious, which is portrayed as a poor-looking dummy swinging on a wire.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • A Prince Among Men was quite similar to this series, being as it involved Chris Barrie playing an incompetent leader role to a bunch of misfits. The major difference was that he played as an ex-footballer rather than leisure centre manager and that Prince was more of a Jerkass than Brittas.
  • The show itself could be considered to be this to Fawlty Towers since both shows involved hapless managers causing chaos whilst running a business (Hotel for Fawlty and Leisure Centre for Brittas).
• Squick: Whilst the audience thankfully usually only sees the aftermath of it on-screen, some of the stuff which happens to Colin is enough to put anyone off their food nonetheless. If it isn't woodlice coming out of his ears, then it's about buttons being sown through cocks.
• Strangled by the Red String: Michael is initially introduced as Laura's estranged husband, and is depicted as a Rich Bastard who seems to be only interested in her ability to produce an heir and doesn't remember her birthday, to the point that one attempt at reconciliation ended with Laura displaying an "I Don't Like Men" badge on her locker. Yet the Series 4 episode "Shall We Dance?" has Michael and Laura randomly reconciling, with the closest explanation we get as to why Laura would do so being that she apparently still loves him (exactly what traits of Michael would make her still love him is not explained). The fact that Michael is established as still trying to impregnate Laura to produce an heir for his father in Series 5, plus the fact that we don't get many scenes of the couple to establish their chemistry, means that the Laura/Michael pairing is not particularly popular amongst fans.
• Tear Dryer:
  • The episode "Not A Good Day" ends with the leisure centre being attacked and trashed by Roman War Reenactors, leaving him to briefly go into a Heroic BSoD as a result. However, at that point, a poor single mother and her child come up to him and thank him for the lovely day they had thanks to deals and promotions that he had set up, which cheers him right back up and which ends the episode on a positive note.
  • In the later episode "The Last Day", Brittas is killed by a water tank. The resultant funeral is played almost dead seriously, with even members of the staff who hated him and wanted him fired in life not daring to disrespect him. Then it becomes hilarious when it cuts to the afterlife (which Brittas had been seen entering earlier on) and we see that he is such an annoying git that he has to be kicked out by St. Peter and Michael, which restores him to life.
• Values Resonance: The show was an early to mid 90's comedy that didn't treat its homosexual characters as cheap jokes, nor did it have them acting like walking caricatures. Tim and Gavin's relationship was genuine, with ups and downs just like anyone else. Their colleagues and friends accepted them without question, and the humour was derived from Mr. Brittas' obliviousness to their relationship. Considering even groundbreaking later LBGTQ+ shows like Will & Grace leaned heavily into the use of the Queer People Are Funny trope, this series was very ahead of its time.
• The Woobie: The show was pretty prone to turning characters into Woobies whenever it decided to play them straight for a while:
  • Carole the receptionist. At the start of the series, she's suffering from post-natal depression, her husband leaving her, and an unpaid mortgage on her home, and it only gets worse from there, with her having to sleep in the Leisure Centre by Series 2. Additionally, any chance of her getting a happier life during an episode is usually ruined by the end of it. Her style of parenting does manage to make her a tad less sympathetic, but not that much.
  • Also, Gordon Brittas himself. While he has moments of Comedic Sociopathy, his only consistent crime is being well-intentioned but incompetent. In an episode where the staff believe Brittas plans to make them redundant, they begin their counter-scheming - only to have Gordon step out of nowhere looking hurt, remind them that he ''is'' human too and lay all of their fears to rest.
  • Also also, Colin, the only member of staff who truly believes in Mr. Brittas' "Dream", is loyal to him beyond reason and well-liked by all the staff except Brittas, who roundly dismisses and abuses him on a regular basis.

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