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On 6 July 1992, after weeks of frenzied speculation, the BBC unveiled a
landmark new soap opera - its most significant since EastEnders launched in
1985. At 7pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday viewers were promised an escape
to a world of sun, sea and sangria among the expat community on Spain's Costa
del Sol: Eldorado had arrived. Inhabitants of the fictional village of Los
Barcos, purpose-built near Coín at a cost of £2m, included slick spiv Marcus
Tandy, local busybody Olive King, washed-up cabaret singer Trish Valentine and
her German toyboy Dieter.
Eldorado was the brainchild of EastEnders creators Julia Smith
and Tony Holland, who saw an opportunity to transplant the workaday tropes of the British
soap to a sunnier locale, mixing recognisable characters with a Continental je
ne sais quoi. Long-running soaps, including Coronation Street (ITV, 1960-), have
subsequently flirted with the 'Brits abroad' formula, but usually restrict these
outings to single episodes or spin-off specials.
The expat centre of Los Barcos was the Lockhead family. With their apartment
appropriately named 'Dunroamin', the Lockheads were unremarkable save for their
spiky teenage daughter Nessa (Julie Fernandez, the first disabled character to
be played by a disabled actor on British television).
With renewed controversy over the BBC's license fee funding brewing, knives
were out in sections of the British media outraged at the Corporation's
perceived extravagance. Initial scepticism was compounded by some dire early
storylines and a bewildering smörgåsbord of European performers, many of whom
had patently never appeared in front of a TV camera before. A gruelling shooting
schedule, insufficient rehearsal time and teething problems on the Spanish set
did nothing to boost morale, and Smith was eventually driven to a breakdown by
the critical reception and infighting on the production.
Despite its shaky reputation, Eldorado was no Crossroads (ITV, 1964-88;
2001-03). Following a major overhaul supervised by replacement producer Corinne
Hollingworth, the quality of plots and performances picked up notably in the
months before the show was axed, with Jesse Birdsall's villainous Tandy and
put-upon Spanish girlfriend Pilar becoming a popular focus. Regular viewing
figures of up to 10 million failed to placate incoming BBC1 controller Alan
Yentob, however, and in July 1993 the BBC chose to cut its considerable losses.
After just 12 months on screen, Eldorado had become an embarrassing byword for
televisual disaster, yet some soap fans continue to lament its passing.
Simon McCallum
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1. Public display (1:19)
