What is The Brittas Empire?
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2012}} {{Infobox television | genre = [[Situation comedy|Sitcom]] | creator = [[Andrew Norriss]]<br>Richard Fegen |director= Mike Stephens<br>Christine Gernon | starring = [[Chris Barrie]]<br>[[Pippa Haywood]]<br>[[Julia St John]]<br>[[Mike Burns (actor)|Mike Burns]]<br>[[Russell Porter (actor)|Russell Porter]]<br>[[Tim Marriott]]<br>[[Harriet Thorpe]]<br>[[Judy Flynn]]<br>[[Andrée Bernard]]<br>Anouschka Menzies<br> Jill Greenacre<br>[[Stephen Churchett]]<br>John Carrigan | theme_music_composer = [[Frank Renton]] | country = United Kingdom | num_episodes = 52 | list_episodes = List of The Brittas Empire episodes | executive_producer = [[Mike Stephens]] |producer = [[Mike Stephens]] | camera = | runtime = 30 mins | network = [[BBC One|BBC1]] | first_aired = {{Start date|1991|1|3|df=y}} | last_aired = {{End date|1997|2|24|df=y}} | num_series = 7 }} '''''The Brittas Empire''''' is a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[sitcom]] created by [[Andrew Norriss]] and Richard Fegen. [[Chris Barrie]] plays Gordon Brittas. He is the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. The show ran for seven series and 52 episodes &mdash; including two Christmas specials &mdash; from 1991 to 1997 on [[BBC One|BBC1]]. Norriss and Fegen wrote the first five series. ''The Brittas Empire'' had large audiences. In 2004 the show came 47th on the BBC's ''[[Britain's Best Sitcom]]'' poll.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sitcom/top11to100.shtml |title= The Top 50 British Sitcoms |publisher= British Sitcom Guide |access-date= 15 April 2008 |url-status= bot: unknown |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070102133855/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sitcom/top11to100.shtml |archive-date= 2 January 2007 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> The show combined [[farce]] with [[surreal]] dramatic elements. For example, in the first series, the leisure centre prepares for a royal visit, only for the doors to seal, the boiler room to flood and a visitor to be electrocuted. Unlike the traditional sitcom, de