Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

As well as ‘Fawlty Towers’ and ‘Dad’s Army’, I’m very pleased that I’ve shared my thoughts on the BBC sitcom TV series ‘The Brittas Empire’. For many, Chris Barrie played Arnold Rimmer in ‘Red Dwarf’. For me, he played Gordon Brittas in ‘The Brittas Empire’. 🙂

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Chris Barrie at three conventions, including the ‘Bournemouth Film & Comic Con’ in August 2015, the ‘Stars of Time Film & Comic Con’ in Weston-super-Mare in May 2016 and the ‘Worcester Comic Con’ in August 2016.

‘The Brittas Empire’ ran for seven seasons from 1991 to 1997. It’s quite an underrated sitcom TV series and one I don’t think gets enough praise these days. I look back fondly on this TV series, and I’m pleased I’ve been able to check out and review all seven seasons of it.

I started sharing my thoughts on ‘The Brittas Empire’ in January 2020, creating a new page for the TV series, a ‘who’s who’ page, and my review on the first episode ‘Laying the Foundations’. It was fortunate I was reviewing ‘The Brittas Empire’ TV series at that time. 🙂

I didn’t know when I started sharing my reviews on ‘The Brittas Empire’, I would be sharing them during the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021. This wasn’t what I had in mind, as I hoped I would be attending conventions whilst checking out ‘The Brittas Empire’ in 2020.

But revisiting ‘The Brittas Empire’ on DVD and sharing my reviews on the episodes from each season was a therapeutic way of coping with the restrictions we had in the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘The Brittas Empire’ was a welcome light relief for me back then.

I completed my reviews on Series 1 of ‘The Brittas Empire’ in early March 2020. I completed my reviews on Series 2 of ‘The Brittas Empire’ in April 2020. I then completed my reviews on Series 3 of ‘The Brittas Empire’ in June 2020. Pretty riveting stuff indeed. 🙂

At that point, it was pretty up-and-down regarding when restrictions were easing, as the Covid-19 pandemic went through phases. Whilst I greatly enjoy ‘The Brittas Empire’ as a TV series, it’s a shame no spin-off media or merchandise accompanied it for me to review.

I mean, unlike ‘Dad’s Army’, there aren’t any radio adaptations of ‘The Brittas Empire’ episodes for people to enjoy. I’m unaware of any ‘Brittas Empire’ books released during the TV show’s transmission in the 1990s, unless someone can point me in the right direction.

I completed my reviews on Series 4 of ‘The Brittas Empire’ in July 2020. I completed my reviews on Series 5 in September 2020. I completed my reviews on Series 6 in November 2020. And I completed my reviews on Series 7 – the final season itself – in February 2021.

On reflection, I regard the first five seasons of ‘The Brittas Empire’ very highly compared to the last two seasons. That’s down to the fact that the TV show’s creators Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegan wrote every episode of the first five seasons, making it very consistent.

The last two seasons were penned by various writers, which made things messy in execution. Plus, Laura, played by Julia St. John, wasn’t in Series 6 and 7. I found her a very pivotal character in the first five seasons and the TV show did lose its way when she left. 😦

I’m lucky in being able to help proofread some of WilliamsFan92‘s stories in his ‘Brittas Empire’ fanfiction series, which he’s shared on his blog. I’ve enjoyed the stories he’s shared, including ‘The Blazing Meteor’, ‘Treadmill Trials’, ‘Enchantment’ and ‘Screenings’.

‘The Brittas Empire’ has been an achievement for me in terms of being able to share my reviews on the BBC sitcom TV series from 2020 to 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. It might be considered underrated, but I’ve enjoyed sharing my reviews on all the episodes.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂