Eldorado (TV series)

infobox television
show_name = Eldorado
format = Soap opera
runtime = 30 min per episode
creator = Julia Smith and Tony Holland
directors = Stephen Butcher and Mervyn Cumming
starring = Jesse Birdsall
Patricia Brake
Julie Fernandez
Polly Perkins
Derek Martin
Campbell Morrison
Leslee Udwin
Sandra Sandri
Roland Curram
Buki Armstrong
Faith Kent
Kathy Pitkin
Darren Newton Franco Rey
Stella Maris
Framboise Gommendy
Kim Romer
Nanna Moller
Bo Corre
Iker Ibanez
Clare Wilkie
Roger Walker
Daniel Lombart
William Lucas
Hilary Crane
Josh Nathan
Kai Maurer Jonty Reason
country = United Kingdom
network = BBC1
first_aired = 6 July, 1992
last_aired = 9 July, 1993
num_episodes = 156
imdb_id = 0133301 |

"Eldorado" was a British soap opera that ran for only one year, from 6 July 1992 to 9 July 1993. Set in Coín, a Spanish resort and based around the lives of British expats, the BBC hoped it would be as successful as "EastEnders" and replicate some of the sunshine and glamour of imported Australian soaps such as "Home And Away" and "Neighbours". It was made as a co-production between the BBC and independent production company Cinema Verity, and aired three times a week in a high-profile evening slot on the mainstream channel BBC1, filling the BBC1 slot vacated by Terry Wogan's chat show "Wogan", on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.00pm.

In spite of a high-profile advertising campaign on television, radio and in the press preceding the launch ('Are you ready for "Eldorado"?', read by actor Campbell Morrison), the programme was not initially a popular hit with viewers and critics. Ratings improved with a radical overhaul, but it was cancelled by new controller Alan Yentob.

Music

The theme tune was composed by Simon May. Lyrics were written for the closing credits of the final episode; the song, called "When You Go Away", was performed by Johnny Griggs. The full version was released as a single and included on the album "".

Problems and criticism

Although the show contained many professional actors (such as Patricia Brake, Jesse Birdsall and Jonty Reason), many of the cast were inexperienced actors whose limitations were clearly exposed on such a new and ambitious project: prior to filming, some of the cast did not even know what a read-through was; the acting was derided as amateurish, while the attempt to appear more 'European' by having people speaking other languages without subtitles or bizarre/unconvincing accents was met by viewers with incomprehension and ridicule. In one scene, Danish character Per Svendsen (played by Kim Romer) made a remark in Danish to a member of his family, then turned to Scottish resident Drew Lockhead (played by Campbell Morrison) and said in English: "Isn't that right, Drew?", to which Drew replied "What?", looking baffled (as were the audience).

As a result of filming in bare-walled villas rather than a studio, there were many sound and acoustical problems that were mockingly called "'Eldorado"-Sound' (a term still used today around the BBC to describe an out-of-place, echoing sound in a recording). Possibly in a bid to court media attention, the show opened with the controversial story of middle-aged man, Bunny (played by Roger Walker) returning from the UK with a 17-year-old bride, Fizz (Kathy Pitkin); many viewers felt this storyline was implausible and seedy. On top of this, ITV decided to air a special one-hour edition "Coronation Street" against "Eldorado", on the latter's debut evening, to "strangle it at birth", as network executives described it.

Conceived by "EastEnders" creators Julia Smith and Tony Holland, the series was executive produced by Verity Lambert, who had made her reputation as an in-house producer for the BBC and had previously launched the BBC's phenomenally successful science fiction television series "Doctor Who". As a result, the costly production - although not exorbitant by contemporary television standards - was used by critics of the television licence to argue that the corporation was feathering the nest of former employees. Due to the stresses of internal feuding, producer Julia Smith had a nervous breakdown and left the soap opera, to be replaced by Corinne Hollingworth, who had previously worked on "EastEnders" and brought about many changes to "Eldorado" by hiring new script-writers, creating extra rehearsal time, and removing many of the inexperienced and poor actors who had attracted criticism.

Cancellation

In spite of changes made by Hollingworth to rectify the soap opera's early problems (ratings improved over the course of the show's run, as did the quality of the storylines), it was claimed that this was not enough to justify its continued production, and incoming Controller of BBC1 Alan Yentob cancelled the programme, which had been commissioned by his predecessor Jonathan Powell. It should be noted that some involved in the programme's production consider that the motives for cancellation were mainly political; they believe that "Eldorado" was not representative of the more serious image of the BBC that incoming management wished to present, particularly in light of the forthcoming renewal of the BBC Charter.

In Britain, "Eldorado" is remembered as an embarrassing failure for the BBC, and is sometimes used as a byword for any unsuccessful, poorly-received or over-hyped television programme. It is widely thought that the failure of Eldorado is the reason why the BBC has not attempted to launch a brand new prime-time soap from scratch since; the corporation opting instead to move established series "Casualty" and "Holby City" to year-round production. [Trouble At The Top: Fool's Gold - a retrospective of the Eldorado fiasco broadcast on BBC2 in 2002]

The series ended with one of its star characters, Marcus Tandy (played by Jesse Birdsall), escaping an attempt on his life with his car being blown up, and sailing off into the distance on a boat, with his girlfriend Pilar Moreno (played by Sandra Sandri). Some viewers noticed that the car that was blown up was not, in fact, the Renault Alpine driven by Marcus, but a thinly disguised, much older model, the Triumph TR7. The final line of dialogue, delivered by Tandy, was: 'You can't trust anyone these days.'

Shortly after the final episode was transmitted, "Adios Eldorado", a compilation video featuring highlights from the series, was released by the BBC. On its first week of release it was the top- selling video in the chart at branches of the shop "Woolworths". At the end of its run, the show was typically receiving 9-10 million viewers.

Eldorado was briefly aired on UKTV Gold between 1995 and 1996. It was repeated again in 2002, and has occasionally been repeated, in a late night slot, since.

References

External links

*
* [http://www.losbarcos.org.uk/splash.htm The Unofficial Eldorado Website]
* [http://tv.cream.org/extras/timecapsule/#eldorado 'TV Cream' on Eldorado]