Was 'Eldorado' ever intended to be taken seriously, or was it just an elaborate stunt by the B.B.C. to get rid of Terry Wogan's thrice-weekly ego trip cum chat show? At one point the hype was so great it threatened to overshadow that of 'Star Wars'! Trailers interfaced every B.B.C. programme for what felt like months before its debut. The cast hogged Breakfast Time to brag about how great it was going to be. Even children's presenter Andi Peters plugged the new soap from the safety of his 'broom cupboard'. As a result viewers tired of the thing before they actually saw it. Created and produced by the 'Eastenders' ( itself not very good ) team of Julia Smith and Tony Holland, the Spanish soap cost licence-payers' a king's ransom with the building on location of a replica Spanish town.
The characters were stereotypes with absurd names like 'Bunny' and 'Fizz' ( speaking of which, whatever happened to Kathy Pitkin? She was heavily hyped as the new Catherine Zeta Jones but nothing became of her. Possibly stacking shelves in Asda somewhere ). The plots were the usual soap drivel about lust and adultery. The dialogue was risible. Roland Curram played a moustached gay character ( surprise, surprise! ), while Jesse Birdsall was a sub-'Dirty Den' figure. Comedy actress Patricia Brake was wasted. Polly Perkins was 'Trish' the Barbara Windsor-like barmaid.
After a respectable rating of seven million for the first episode, interest tapered off alarmingly ( 'Panorama' actually overtook it one Monday night! ), critics were hostile, and the tabloid press tore it to shreds the way it recently did with poor Gordon Brown's Government. 'El-Bore-Ado' and 'Helldorado' were nick-names the show could have done without. Yet B.B.C.-1 Controller Jonathan Powell refused to scrap it, arguing that the longer it was on air, the more chance it had of attracting an audience. 'Spitting Image' mocked his decision in a sketch in which a photograph of a turd was put on air, and Powell told the Board of B.B.C. Governors it would remain there until it eventually became a hit.
When it became apparent 'Eldorado' was attracting no-one, Powell resigned and incoming B.B.C.-1 controller Alan Yentob read it the last rites - rightly so. Amazingly a few misguided souls protested as the plug was pulled ( is the Eldorado Appreciation Society Espana - T.E.A.S.E. - still in existence? ). On the night the last episode went out, a bus-load of angry fans stormed the B.B.C. Television Centre, shouting abuse at Yentob, while over in Spain, a cast member with a poor command of English blubbed on camera: "Mr.Yentob...you are a bad man and you have done a very terrible thing!". Actually, his decision to kill off 'Eldorado' was eminently sensible. Refusing to admit they'd failed, the B.B.C. issued episodes on a video-tape called 'Adios Eldorado' which became a surprise best seller! The sad thing about the debacle was it was one of the last series from the great Verity Lambert, and cast a pall over her otherwise glittering career.
The characters were stereotypes with absurd names like 'Bunny' and 'Fizz' ( speaking of which, whatever happened to Kathy Pitkin? She was heavily hyped as the new Catherine Zeta Jones but nothing became of her. Possibly stacking shelves in Asda somewhere ). The plots were the usual soap drivel about lust and adultery. The dialogue was risible. Roland Curram played a moustached gay character ( surprise, surprise! ), while Jesse Birdsall was a sub-'Dirty Den' figure. Comedy actress Patricia Brake was wasted. Polly Perkins was 'Trish' the Barbara Windsor-like barmaid.
After a respectable rating of seven million for the first episode, interest tapered off alarmingly ( 'Panorama' actually overtook it one Monday night! ), critics were hostile, and the tabloid press tore it to shreds the way it recently did with poor Gordon Brown's Government. 'El-Bore-Ado' and 'Helldorado' were nick-names the show could have done without. Yet B.B.C.-1 Controller Jonathan Powell refused to scrap it, arguing that the longer it was on air, the more chance it had of attracting an audience. 'Spitting Image' mocked his decision in a sketch in which a photograph of a turd was put on air, and Powell told the Board of B.B.C. Governors it would remain there until it eventually became a hit.
When it became apparent 'Eldorado' was attracting no-one, Powell resigned and incoming B.B.C.-1 controller Alan Yentob read it the last rites - rightly so. Amazingly a few misguided souls protested as the plug was pulled ( is the Eldorado Appreciation Society Espana - T.E.A.S.E. - still in existence? ). On the night the last episode went out, a bus-load of angry fans stormed the B.B.C. Television Centre, shouting abuse at Yentob, while over in Spain, a cast member with a poor command of English blubbed on camera: "Mr.Yentob...you are a bad man and you have done a very terrible thing!". Actually, his decision to kill off 'Eldorado' was eminently sensible. Refusing to admit they'd failed, the B.B.C. issued episodes on a video-tape called 'Adios Eldorado' which became a surprise best seller! The sad thing about the debacle was it was one of the last series from the great Verity Lambert, and cast a pall over her otherwise glittering career.