Barrie wants Empire to strike back

Chris Barrie has revealed he'd love to bring back The Brittas Empire.

The actor, who played officious leisure centre boss Gordon Brittas, returns to our screens in a revamped version of Red Dwarf, and would like a Brittas Empire reunion too.

At the launch of the new UKTV season, Chris said: "Brittas could come back now, with a whole new set of values, with aspects of modern society in it and Brittas' reaction to it."

He went on: "It's been 15 years and the world has changed quite a bit. With a more Earth-bound show you can bring in more changes visibly whereas with Red Dwarf because it's always been set in the future it's slightly different."

But the actor added that there had been no official talk of a comeback.

"They talked about bringing it back as a stage play but you want it to be a television series really," he said.

If the comedy did make a comeback, Chris would like to see Gordon Brittas become eco-conscious.

He said: "Brittas would have bought the whole green thing hook, line and sinker and would be trying to squeeze greenness out of everybody so I think it would be a great new world for him to discover."

The comedy, which ran for seven series in the 1990s, also starred Pippa Heywood as Brittas' long-suffering wife Helen, and Harriet Thorpe as baby-in-the-drawer receptionist Carole.

:: Red Dwarf X starts in October on Dave.