The Brittas Empire
''The Brittas Empire'' is a British sitcom created and originally written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen. Chris Barrie played titular character Gordon Brittas, the well-intentioned but hugely incompetent manager of the fictional Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. The show ran for seven series and 52 episodes – including two Christmas specials – from 3 January 1991 to 24 February 1997 on BBC1. Creators Norriss and Fegen co-wrote the first five series. The series peaked at 10 million viewers. ''The Brittas Empire'' enjoyed a long and successful run throughout the 1990s, and gained large mainstream audiences. In 2004, the show came 47th on the BBC's '' Britain's Best Sitcom'' poll, and all series have been released on DVD both individually as series and as a complete boxset. ''Best of the Britcoms'' noted the series has been hailed as "the ''Fawlty Towers'' of the 1990s" due to its "fast-paced, outrageous omedyfull of inventive gags". The creators Andrew Norriss and Richar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Black Comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss, aiming to provoke discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience. Thus, in fiction, for example, the term ''black comedy'' can also refer to a genre in which dark humor is a core component. Black comedy differs from ribaldry#Blue comedy, blue comedy—which focuses more on topics such as nudity, Human sexual activity, sex, and body fluids—and from obscenity. Additionally, whereas the term ''black comedy'' is a relatively broad term covering humor relating to many serious subjects, ''gallows humor'' tends to be used more specifically in relation to death, or situations that are reminiscent of dying. Black humor can occasionally be related to the grotesque genre. Literary critics h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sitcom
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home, workplace, or community. Unlike sketch comedy, which features different characters and settings in each Sketch comedy, skit, sitcoms typically maintain plot continuity across episodes. This continuity allows for the development of storylines and characters over time, fostering audience engagement and investment in the characters' lives and relationships. History The structure and concept of a sitcom have roots in earlier forms of comedic theater, such as farces and comedy of manners. These forms relied on running gags to generate humor, but the term ''sitcom'' emerged as radio and TV adapted these principles into a new medium. The word was not commonly used until the 1950s. Early television sitcoms were often filme ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2point4 Children
''2point4 Children'' is a BBC Television sitcom that was created and written by Andrew Marshall. It follows the lives of the Porters, a seemingly average, working-class London family whose world is frequently turned upside-down by bad luck and bizarre occurrences. The show was originally broadcast on BBC One from 1991 to 1999, and ran for eight series, concluding on 30 December 1999 with the special episode "The Millennium Experience". The show is regularly repeated in the UK. In Australia showings are on UKTV. The name of the show comes from the stereotypical average size of a typical nuclear family in the UK at the time of the writing of the first series. The show regularly picked up audiences of up to 14 million throughout the 1990s, with an average of between 6 and 9 million. The final episode was viewed by 9.03 million people. Lead actor Gary Olsen died in 2000, effectively ruling out a return of the show for any further series. Plot summary The Porters are a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul Smith (television Writer)
Paul Smith (born 18 November 1961) is a British television writer who was born and lives in London. Smith's four-part BBC1 drama One Night (British TV series), One Night (executive producer Hilary Salmon) won the Reflet D'Or for Best Drama Series at the 2012 Festival Tous Ecrans as well as making the official selection for FIPA Biarritz. Lead writer on Jam Media/CBBC's pioneering live action/animation series ''Roy (TV series), ROY'' (RTS Award for Best Children's Drama 2010, two 2011 British Academy Television Awards, BAFTA nominations, including Writers' Award), Smith also wrote ten-part CBBC teen drama series ''Desperados (TV series), Desperados'' (Prix Jeunesse 2008), about a junior wheelchair basketball team. He has also written two BBC1 Afternoon Plays – Tea with Betty starring Rosemary Leach as Personality and image of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II and ''Death Becomes Him''. His other recent work includes ITV1 comedy drama ''The Complete Guide to Parenting'' sta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Royal Variety Performance
The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal family. The evening's performance is presented as a live variety show, usually from a theatre in London and consists of family entertainment that includes comedy, music, dance, magic and other speciality acts. The ''Royal Variety Performance'' traditionally begins with the entrance of the members of the royal family followed by the singing of the national anthem, "God Save the King", which was also performed by the participating acts as a traditional end to Royal Variety Performances; with the exception of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, as a result of which, " As If We Never Said Goodbye" opened that year's show instead, sung by that year's host, Jason Manford. After each performance, the performer bows twice, one to the audience ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Children In Need
''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its fundraising efforts. The charity's flagship event is an annual telethon broadcast every November on BBC One and BBC Two. #Pudsey Bear, Pudsey Bear has served as its mascot, while the late Sir Terry Wogan hosted the event for 35 years. As a cornerstone of British television, Children in Need is one of the UK's two major telethons, alongside Comic Relief's Red Nose Day. It remains the BBC's sole in-house charity. Originally broadcast from the Television Centre, London, BBC Television Centre, the telethon relocated to the BBC Elstree Centre between 2013 and 2020 following the closure of the former. Historically lasting up to seven hours, the event was streamlined to a three-hour programme (7:00 pm to 10:00 pm) from 2020 onwards. To accommod ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Red Dwarf
A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are not easily observed. Not one star that fits the stricter definitions of a red dwarf is visible to the naked eye. Proxima Centauri, the star nearest to the Sun, is a red dwarf, as are fifty of the sixty nearest stars. According to some estimates, red dwarfs make up three-quarters of the fusing stars in the Milky Way. The coolest red dwarfs near the Sun have a surface temperature of about and the smallest have radii about 9% that of the Sun, with masses about 7.5% that of the Sun. These red dwarfs have spectral types of L0 to L2. There is some overlap with the properties of brown dwarfs, since the most massive brown dwarfs at lower metallicity can be as hot as and have late M spectral types. Definitions and usage of the term "red d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arnold Rimmer
Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character and one of the main characters of the science fiction sitcom ''Red Dwarf'', played by Chris Barrie. Rimmer is a second-class technician and the de facto leader of the mining ship ''Red Dwarf''. Portrayed as snobbish, pedantic, and self-centred, Rimmer is unpopular with his crewmates and is often the target of insults and general ridicule. After he is killed by a radiation leak during an ellipsis (narrative device), ellipsis in the series' first episode "The End (Red Dwarf), The End" (1988) Rimmer is present for most of the series as a computer-generated Holography, hologram, indicated by the 'H' symbol on his forehead. From series I-V, Rimmer is intangible as a hologram and unable to interact with his environment, referred to in-universe as "soft light". Come the series VI episode "Legion (Red Dwarf), Legion" (1993), Rimmer's Light Bee is upgraded by the titular character to a "hard light" hologram where he is now able to interact with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Russell Porter (actor)
''The Brittas Empire'' is a British sitcom created and originally written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen. Chris Barrie played titular character Gordon Brittas, the well-intentioned but hugely incompetent manager of the fictional Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. The show ran for seven series and 52 episodes – including two Christmas specials – from 3 January 1991 to 24 February 1997 on BBC1. Creators Norriss and Fegen co-wrote the first five series. The series peaked at 10 million viewers. ''The Brittas Empire'' enjoyed a long and successful run throughout the 1990s, and gained large mainstream audiences. In 2004, the show came 47th on the BBC's ''Britain's Best Sitcom'' poll, and all series have been released on DVD both individually as series and as a complete boxset. ''Best of the Britcoms'' noted the series has been hailed as "the ''Fawlty Towers'' of the 1990s" due to its "fast-paced, outrageous omedyfull of inventive gags". The creators Andrew Norriss and Richard ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Same-sex Relationship
A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries where same-sex marriage does not. The term ''same-sex relationship'' is not strictly related to the sexual orientation of the participants. As people of any orientation may participate in same-sex relationships (particularly depending on the legal, social and scientific definition of sex), some activists argue that referring to a same-sex relationship as a " gay relationship" or a "lesbian relationship" is a form of bisexual erasure. In history The lives of many historical figures, including Socrates, Alexander the Great, Lord Byron, Edward II, Hadrian, Julius Caesar, Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, Vita Sackville-West, Alfonsina Storni and Christopher Marlowe are believed to have included love and sexual re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Allergies
Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, are various conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include Allergic rhinitis, hay fever, Food allergy, food allergies, atopic dermatitis, allergic asthma, and anaphylaxis. Symptoms may include allergic conjunctivitis, red eyes, an itchy rash, sneeze, sneezing, coughing, a rhinorrhea, runny nose, shortness of breath, or swelling. Note that food intolerances and food poisoning are separate conditions. Common allergens include pollen and certain foods. Metals and other substances may also cause such problems. Food, insect stings, and medications are common causes of severe reactions. Their development is due to both genetic and environmental factors. The underlying mechanism involves immunoglobulin E antibodies (IgE), part of the body's immune system, binding to an allergen and then to FcεRI, a receptor on mast cells or basophils where it triggers ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aldershot
Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up area, Aldershot Urban Area – a loose conurbation, which also includes other towns such as Camberley and Farnborough, Hampshire, Farnborough – has a population of 243,344; it is the thirtieth-largest urban area in the United Kingdom, UK. Aldershot is known as the ''Home of the British Army'', a connection which led to its rapid growth from a small village to a Victorian era, Victorian town. History Early history The name is likely to have derived from alder trees found in the area (from the Old English 'alor-sceat' meaning copse, or projecting piece of land, featuring alder trees). Any settlement, though not mentioned by name, would have been included as part of the Hundred (division), Hundred of Crondall referred to in the Domesday Book ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |