Chris Barrie

Chris Barrie (born Christopher Jonathan Brown; 28 March 1960) is a British actor and comedian. He worked as a vocal impressionist on the ITV sketch show Spitting Image (1984–1996) and as Lara Croft's butler Hillary in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003). Barrie starred as Arnold Rimmer in 13 series of the sci-fi space comedy Red Dwarf between 1988 and 2020, and as Gordon Brittas in seven series of the BBC leisure centre sitcom The Brittas Empire (1991–1997).

Early life and career

Barrie was born on 28 March 1960 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, West Germany, to a father who was serving in the British Army,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and later attended Methodist College, a boarding school, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. After dropping out of his Combined Studies course at Brighton Polytechnic, he became a grave filler.<ref name=":0">Template:CitationTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He began his television career as a sports personality impersonator on The David Essex Showcase in 1982.<ref name="essex">Template:Cite web</ref>

He adopted the surname "Barrie" as there was already an actor named Chris Brown on the Equity UK lists. He was a regular on Saturday Live, amongst performers like Fry and Laurie, Rik Mayall and Ben Elton. Barrie provided the voice of Ronald Reagan in the pop song "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood,<ref name="jif">Template:Cite web</ref> as well as various vocalizations for other tracks by FGTH and Art of Noise.<ref name="jif"/> He also appeared as an impressionist on the BBC's Carrott's Lib<ref name="jif"/> between 1983 and 1984, and he starred in his own sketch show Pushing Up Daisies (re-titled Coming Next for the following series) from 1984 to 1985 alongside Hale and Pace and Carla Mendonça.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1987, he appeared as a French Revolutionary in Blackadder the Third (episode "Nob and Nobility") and did various parts in The Young Ones both as an actor and a voice-over.<ref name="jif"/><ref name="young">Template:Cite web</ref>

Red Dwarf

Barrie played the character Arnold J. Rimmer in all twelve series of Red Dwarf, appearing in almost every episode of the series, absent only for a period during series 7.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> When an unsold pilot for an American version of the show was produced, Barrie was invited to reprise his role as Rimmer. He passed up the offer because of the constraint of the five-series contract.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He starred in the 2020 special Red Dwarf: The Promised Land, alongside the main cast of Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and Robert Llewellyn.<ref name="red">Template:Cite news</ref> In addition to starring in the TV series, Barrie also narrated the first two Red Dwarf books, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (1992) and Better Than Life (1995), including using his vocal talents to recreate the voices of the other characters, as they sound in the show.<ref name="red"/>

The Brittas Empire

Barrie played Gordon Brittas, the title role in The Brittas Empire, a BBC sitcom running from January 1991 to February 1997 for seven series, with 52 episodes, including two Christmas specials.<ref name=":0" /> Brittas was the well-meaning but incompetent manager of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. Each episode featured a disastrous occurrence, which Brittas was sure he could sort out, oblivious to the fact he was usually its cause.<ref name=":0" />

Barrie also appeared as Brittas in the stand alone fitness mini-series Get Fit with Brittas in 1997.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2014, Barrie reprised his role as Gordon Brittas in the music video for Little Mix's version of "Word Up!".<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref name="metro">Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2017, the cast reunited for the reopening of Ringwood Leisure centre where a lot of the series was recorded.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Roles in television and films

File:Chris Barrie 2004.jpg

Barrie in 2004

Barrie's TV work includes Britain's Greatest Machines with Chris Barrie,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> screened on the National Geographic channel from 4 June 2009.<ref name="whit"/> Each of the four episodes features some of the most notable air, sea, and land vehicles and equipment of the 1930s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s, respectively. The second series of four episodes was transmitted in February 2010, with the 1910s, 1920s, 1940s, and early steam trains as the subjects of each episode.<ref name="with">Template:Cite web</ref>

Barrie has also hosted the television series Chris Barrie's Massive Engines and Chris Barrie's Massive Machines<ref name="whit">Template:Cite web</ref> on the Discovery Channel, later shown on Channel 5 and released on DVD.<ref name="whit"/> The latest in this series Massive Speed with Chris Barrie was shown on Discovery Channel from November 2006. In 2006,<ref name="whit"/> he appeared as a regular team captain in the BBC Two quiz show Petrolheads<ref name="petrol">Template:Cite web</ref> and was the star of the British crime/comedy/drama film Back In Business, in which he played Tom Marks. Between 2015 and 2018 he was the voice-over for Channel 5's Car Crash TV<ref name="car">Template:Cite web</ref> and 2018–2019 Idiot TV.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role(s)	Notes
1985	Honour, Profit & Pleasure	Pope	TV Movie
1986	Spitting Image: Down and Out in the White House	Various	TV special, voice
1987	Spitting Image: The Ron & Nancy Show	Ronald Reagan, Prince Charles
	Testimony	Carnival Thin Man	Appearance in film at 15.25 with Frank Carson
1994	White Goods	Mickie Scott	TV Movie
2001	Lara Croft: Tomb Raider	Hillary The Butler
2003	Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life	Hillary The Butler
2007	Back in Business	Tom Marks
	The Scum Also Rises	Mr Broom	TV Movie
2008	The Optician	John	Short Film
2013	Saving Santa	Voice of Blitzen	Animated Film

TV

Year	Title	Role(s)	Notes
1982	David Essex Showcase	Sports Personality	1 episode
1982	Six Fifty-Five Special	Various	1 episode
1983	Carrott's Lib		10 episodes
1983-1984	The Entertainers		2 Episodes
1982/1984	The Young Ones	Voice of a Rat, Captain	Demolition 1982, Nasty 1984
1984-1991	Spitting Image	Various	Voices also a puppeteer for the first two series.
1984	Pushing Up Daisies
1985	Coming Next
1985	The Lenny Henry Show		series 2, episode 6.
1985	Alas Smith and Jones		series 2, episode 2.
1985	Happy Families	Sammy	episode 2, Cassie
1986	Zastrozzi: A Romance	Waiter	TV Mini-Series, 2 episodes
1986	Lenny Henry Tonite (Pratt Outta Hell)	Boss	Series 1, First Episode
1987	Filthy, Rich & Catflap<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Trevor The Director	1 Episode
	Blackadder The Third	Ambassador	Series 3, Episode 3, Nob and Nobility
1985-1987	Saturday Live	Michael Foot John Cole Richie Benaud Robin Day David Coleman Ronald Reagan	2 episodes
1988-	Red Dwarf	Arnold Rimmer	all episodes apart from 4 in series 7
1988	The New Statesman	Various	Voice, 1 episode
1991-1997	The Brittas Empire	Gordon Brittas	all episodes
1992	Grace and Favour(Are You Being Served? Again!)	Commentator	Voice, Series 1, Episode 3
1993	Comic Relief: The Invasion of the Comic Tomatoes	Arnold Rimmer	TV Special
	ABC Weekend Special	Voice	1 Episode, The Legend of Lochnagar.
1993-1994	Jackanory	Storyteller	5 Episodes
	Noel's House Party	Gordon Brittas	2 Episodes
1993-1995	The Legends of Treasure Island	Captain Smollett Ben Gunn	Voices
1994	Ben Elton: The Man from Auntie	Mastermind Presenter/Lingua-Learn narrator (voices only)	Series 2, Episodes 3 and 6
1995	Chris Barrie's Motoring Wheel Nuts	Various Characters	Video
1997-1998	A Prince Among Men	Gary Prince	All Episodes
1998	Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg	Rimmer	Special edition of Can't Cook, Won't Cook, (Red Dwarf 10th anniversary)
1998	Universe Challenge	Jeremy Paxman/Himself as a Contestant	Special Red Dwarf (10th anniversary) Edition of University Challenge
2003	Top Gear	Himself	Series 2, Episode 2
2006	Petrolheads	Team Captain	All 6 Episodes
2006	When Evil Calls	Headmaster Samantha's Father	2 episodes
2007	Midsomer Murders	Lionel Poulter	Series 10, Episode 8
2010	The Wright Stuff	Guest
2018-2019	Idiot TV	Narrator	2 Series, 20 Episodes

Music Videos

Year	Artist	Title	Role
1984	Art of Noise	"Close (to the Edit)"	Robin Day
1985	Frankie Goes to Hollywood<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="jif"/><ref>Template:Citation</ref>	"The Power of Love"	Voice of Mike Read
		"Tag"	Voice of Prince Charles
		"Two Tribes" (12" Mix)	Voice of Ronald Reagan
1986	Genesis	"Land of Confusion"<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2014	Little Mix	"Word Up!"	Music Video (Mr Brittas)

Personal life

Barrie's interests include collecting vintage metal signs, vintage motorbikes and collecting old British cars. In 1995, he released a video called Chris Barrie's Motoring Wheel Nuts, a showcase for his personal car collection.<ref name="nuts"/> Template:As of his classic car collection consists of a Triumph TR2, MGB-GT, Wolseley 1500 and a Jaguar XJ6.<ref name="nuts">Template:Cite web</ref>

He has been married twice: first to Monica De Meo from 1987 to 1990 and then to Alecks (1997–present) with whom he has two sons. He lives in Cookham, Berkshire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2010, Barrie was awarded an honorary DTech (Doctor of Technology) by Loughborough University for his contribution to promoting Engineering and Technology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:IMDb name
• Template:British Comedy Guide
• Chris Barrie on National Geographic Channel

Interviews

• AYME Interview – Association of Young People with ME
• 26 September 2005: BBC – Wiltshire – Films – Interview with Chris Barrie Play audio
• 11 August 2005: BBC – Wiltshire – Mark Seaman Interview with Chris Barrie Play audio Template:Webarchive
• Video Interview with Chris Barrie