Soap In The Sun Gets TV Rerun

Soap In The Sun Gets TV Rerun. Legendary Costa Del Sol soap Eldorado returns to our TV screens 32 years after controversial axing by the BBC.

Eldorado was hailed as the BBC’s “soap in the sun”. It was groundbreaking at the time, being filmed in a purpose build town near Coin on the Costa Del Sol. Eldorado featured a cast of experienced actors alongside newcomers, with some scenes in foreign languages, and a huge budget. But the sun set on the series after only one year, despite ratings soaring after a rocky start.

Now the show is getting a second chance to shine, as UKTV will be showing all 156 episodes on their U&Drama channel from Monday 27th January 2025, beginning at 4pm (Spanish time!). Viewers will be able to decide for themselves if the show really deserved it’s legendary flop label, or if the controversial axing after only a year on BBC1 was unfair.

The culturally diverse cast of BBC TV’s Eldorado.

Almost everyone who has lived on the Costa Del Sol knows someone who was connected with Eldorado, from set builders to caterers to TV extras. When the show celebrated it’s 25th anniversary in 2017 Dave James visited the sets which are still standing near Coin, and caught up with many of the cast members who remembered their time on the show.

BBC TV Show Eldorado

With dramas of sun, sand, sex and sangria Costa del Sol, anticipation was high 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, Polly Perkins, and Jesse Birdsall. The show also introduced the British audience to actors including Framboise Gommendy, and Sandra Sandri who played the iconic character Pilar.

Polly Perkins starred as Trish Valentine, a cabaret singer with a handsome toyboy.

Click here for all our “Return To Eldorado” content!

The show launched with huge fanfair, but 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 156 episodes Eldorado was controversially axed by the newly appointed BBC Controller, Alan Yentob. The last episode was broadcast on the 7th July 1993. The final line of dialogue, delivered by Jesse Birdsall as Marcus Tandy, was: ‘You can’t trust anyone these days, can you?’

Published: 25.01.2025

Written by Dave James