ELDORADO | |
---|---|
Created by | Tony Holland |
Directed by |
Stephen Butcher 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 Jon Morrey Franco Rey Stella Maris Framboise Gommendy Kim Romer Matt Wilkinson Nanna Moller Bo Corre Iker Ibanez (Iker Ortiz de Zárate) Nile Bradshaw Roger Walker Daniel Lombart William Lucas Hilary Crane Josh Nathan Martin Howe |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of episodes | 156 |
Production | |
Location(s) | Coín, Spain |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | BBC1 |
Original release | 6 July 1992 | – 9 July 1993
Eldorado was a British soap opera created by Tony Holland from an original idea by John Dark and Verity Lambert that ran for only one year, from 6 July 1992 to 9 July 1993. Set in the fictional town of Los Barcos on the Costa del Sol in Spain and following the lives of British and European expatriates, 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. A co-production between the BBC and independent production company Cinema Verity and J.Dark y J.Todesco, Eldorado aired three times a week in a high-profile evening slot on the mainstream channel BBC1, filling the 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 or critics. Ratings improved with a radical overhaul, but it was eventually cancelled by the new controller of BBC1, Alan Yentob.
Eldorado was conceived originally from an idea by John Dark and Verity Lambert who pitched the show to EastEnders co-creators Tony Holland, and Julia Smith only serving as series producer and with Lambert being the executive producer, who at the time had made her reputation as an in-house producer for the BBC, and had previously launched the BBC's successful science fiction television series Doctor Who. The original working title for the series was called "Little England".