Review of Brittas Empire, The (The Complete Series 4)

Introduction

The shame about many comedy shows on television these days is that they hit their stride far too early, with subsequent series either never being made or being woefully poor when they are. The longevity which belonged to the stalwarts on this side of the Atlantic (`Only Fools and Horses`, `Men Behaving Badly` etc) and on the other (`Frasier`, `Friends`) over the past twenty years just doesn`t seem to be in existence any longer. Of course, whether or not condensing all your best moments into the first two runs is necessarily the correct course of action is probably best debated in the pub over a few swift halves, but you`ve got to at least admire a sitcom which reaches its peak later on.

The fourth series of `The Brittas Empire` is just that. Managing to iron out the faults that had been prevalent earlier, it proceeds upon a voyage of genuine hilarity and entertainment. It would have been a shrewd man to write off such a show after series 1 & 2 and, thankfully, it has come up with the goods on this double DVD.

There haven`t been many developments in `Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre` since the previous run, unless you count the fact that Gordon Brittas now has two shiny new twin sons to pass his vision onto. However, there is a blossoming relationship between Gordon and his Assistant manager Laura which develops throughout the series, and the rather shocking news that - yep, you`ve guessed it - Mr B manages to get the sack. Lord Sebastian Coe also managed to take a break from right wing politics back in the early nineties to put in a guest appearance - he used to be a runner y`know!

Video

The video transfer is, as always, extremely good quality. Eureka get full points yet again.

The sets and effects used seem to be of a slightly higher quality on this series, compared to those which have gone before. The inclusion of yet another explosion, resulting in the destruction of the leisure centre, tests the special effects team to the max.

Audio

All present and correct in Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0.

HEALTH WARNING: The theme tune can get annoying.

Features

The extras features on this series are merely a `Stills Gallery` and Web Link.

To say that this is a disappointment is an understatement, and is certainly where `Eureka Video` lose points. For what I consider to be the best series of `Brittas`, the exclusion of any supporting features is something of an oversight.

Conclusion

The largest step that this series takes from those which passed before it is the ability to make Gordon Brittas - gulp - likeable. It may seem that this is a feat akin to time travel or the advent of a credible opposition party in the House of Commons, but somehow, the heart manages to outweigh the voice at times. No matter how irritating his demeanour, there are points at which you feel a certain empathy for Gordon and - blimey - actually feel yourself gunning for him! It`s a strange feeling, but it`s the one which results in the greatest enjoyment from these eight episodes.

Of course, there is still the usual festival of silliness which accompanies the more touching episodes. This time around, a cake covered in Tipp-ex and baby wee is served up to unsuspecting members of the staff, Colin Weatherby cooks up his own controversy by pretending to be the manager of Whitby whilst Brittas is on a day off (in a badly planned attempt to fool a secret Australian daughter) and - you`ve guessed it - rather predictably, the centre manages to get blown up (as always), almost killing half the cast in the process

Whilst not the most forward thinking comedy of its generation, shockingly, this series above all, manages to demonstrate that a comedy program doesn`t have to be cool to be funny. Ok, so we`ve seen pretty much all the storylines before and heard the excruciatingly annoying catchphrases a thousand times, but this series manages to harness all the strengths of the program and produces something extremely enjoyable. If the sign of a good TV show on DVD is that you can`t stop pressing that `Next episode` button once the last one has finished, then this surely ranks up there with the great ones - which is one hell of a surprise.

Not so much exceeeelleeeeent, as extraordinary.