- Helen Brittas
Infobox character
colour = #99CCFF
name = Helen Brittas
caption = Helen Brittas in the "The Brittas Empire".
first = "Series one, episode one: Laying the Foundations (1991)"
last = "Series seven, episode eight: Curse of the Tiger Women (1992)"
cause = Show ended.
gender = Female
occupation = Counsellor (as of series seven)
portrayer =Pippa Haywood
creator = Richard Fergan & Andrew NorrisHelen Brittas is a fictional character portrayed by
Pippa Haywood in the British television sitcom,The Brittas Empire . The show aired onBBC 1 between 1991 and 1997. She is the wife of Gordon Brittas, the protagonist of the show, whose petty, tactless, and disaster-prone nature force Helen into the arms of other men. To cope with her difficult husband, she also has an array of pills. Nevertheless, Helen does love her husband, if not actually liking him.Helen is mentally unstable, and is often in need of support from Brittas's subordinate
Laura Lancing . She frequently pours her heart out to Laura, telling her the stress Gordon is causing her, and about her latest affairs or stupid mistakes. Helen relies on other people to lie for her, to cover up her wrong doings.She's also a dishonest character in other ways, having been caught for shop lifting several times, and also trying to steal her own fur coat from the centre to claim insurance, this in series seven.
Helen's hatred for Brittas and her corruption provide comic moments in the show, the former can be witnessed at the beginning of series two when Brittas is thought to be dead, Helen is getting ready for her wedding. As for the latter, Helen tries to kill her son's teacher by reversing into his classroom for giving him a "d" in English, casually she states to Laura how he wasn't hurt and swung up on a "light fitting".
Helen appears in all episodes, apart from two in series four when she accidentally books the family holiday to Cornwall on the wrong week, thus Gordon is unable to attend; a mistake she made the previous year. [Information gathered from The Brittas Empire DVDs published by Eureka Video. Evidence in episodes can support all information stated above.]
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
