A Brief History of Eldorado

A Brief History of Eldorado, the BBC’s Lost Soap

At 7pm on 2 July, 1992, around 8 million Brits tuned in to watch the first episode of the BBC’s newest ‘soap in the sun’, Eldorado.

Image result for eldorado bbc

With dramas of sun, sand, sex and sangria on the ex-pat Costa del Sol, anticipation was high and all looked well for the new soap, but it wasn’t all plain sailing at the beginning. The show made what is generally considered to be a mistake, by including ‘real’ local voices, in Spanish. Yup! Spanish, in Spain! Alongside the Spanish cast members, characters spoke in French and Dutch, Even with subtitles, these foreign voices were not to the taste of the average soap viewer, who were apparently left feeling a little alienated.

Eldorado’s cast had some very well known names in British television – Patricia Brake, Jesse Birdsall, Polly Perkins, and Roger Walker had frequently been seen on our TV screens. But the show also scouted for and introduced many new faces, many of whom were discovered here on the Costa del Sol. With the highest respect to all those new faces, their acting skills did perhaps need a little honing.

These two factors seem to be the biggest reasons why the opening 8 million audience quickly dropped to less than 3 million. Anxious times for Eldorado and the BBC. According to a BBC comment, “The first show, broadcast at 7pm on 2 July 1992, looked unprofessional. The reviews were brutal and ratings soon fell below three million.”

But before too long, Eldorado’s troublesome beginnings were starting to look considerably better and better as viewers ‘got over’ their initial concerns and quickly became hooked on the antics of Marcus, Trish and the rest of the crew. The show’s final episode was watched by more than 10 millions viewers and, at it’s height, Eldorado replaced Wogan for the prime time 7pm slot on BBC1.

Lasting only a year and 120+ episodes, Eldorado was finally killed off by the newly appointed BBC Controller, Alan Yentob.

7th July 1993 saw the final episode.

The final line of dialogue, delivered by Marcus Tandy, was: ‘You can’t trust anyone these days, can you?’