Well, there is clearly still a lot of love for Eldorado out there, as the stats for this ageing old blog are higher than ever. Thanks for that. UK&Drama clearly have a good thing going.
As Blogger is feeling like a bit of a relic from the internet's past, I have also transferred the interviews with Polly, Patch, Framboise and Sandra over to my own site, so if you prefer, please feel free to take a look here.
As ever, if anyone else from the show would like to share some memories - and let us all know what you've been up to - I'd love to hear from you.
This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill...
If you hadn't heard the news, I can happily confirm that Eldorado is returning for a full rerun - and it only took 32 years and the good people at U&Drama to make it happen. Well, that and the faith of us loyal fans, of course.
As of Monday 27th January, U&Drama (formerly UKTV, if I'm correct) will be showing two - count 'em - two episodes every weekday. At this rate, we should have 15 and a half weeks of Los Barcos action ahead of us.
U&Drama is available all over the place, including online for free, so there's really no excuse not to be watching. You could even save yourself and watch all the week's episode in a regular 5-hour weekend binge. Your call.
So, get ready for a little sun-soaked nostalgia as we fondly recall Marcus, Pilar, Bunny, Fizz and, of course, freedom of movement. Let's go!
Yes, it's true – the BBC has grown up (a bit) and Eldorado has finally appeared on Britbox! Well, partially, at least.
As of July 2021, you can enjoy ten of the 156 episodes on the device of your choice, whenever and wherever you so choose. "But which ones?", I hear you cry. Let's see...
Of course, we have the opening episode, where you may recall Marcus being doorstepped by a BBC reporter, Pilar on a horse and Bunny introducing Fizz to everyone, hidden by a huge bunny rabbit.
Then things jump forward to the Christmas Day 1992 episode, by which time it's all kicking off with Joy, Terry and Trish, and Freddie's secret daughter Natalie has come on the scene. Skip forward a couple of episodes, and it's high tension between the Leducs, and Blair is up to no good (not that he ever was up to any good, to be fair).
By Valentine's Day 1993, we have reached the point of Javier's death, the aftermath of which dominates this episode, where we see how Ingrid, Freddie and the Fernandez family are reacting. And, to finish, we jump forward to the final six episodes, where... Well, I'm sure you remember. It's dramatic stuff as the loose ends are tied up and there are happy endings for some (but not so much for others).
This is all good news, and better than nothing, but hopefully Britbox will do the right thing and offer the entire series soon. We could do with a bit of escapism – after all, a lot of us really want to escape now...
Meanwhile, with the 30th anniversary of the show approaching fast – and surely there should be something big to mark that – here's how Los Barcos is looking these days. Not bad, right?
Eldorado alumni, get in touch – let's hear your memories.
In case you missed it, things have been happening in Los Barcos recently. Even the BBC has been in town! Here is the feature from BBC Breakfast, where David Sillito visits the old town - and meets up with Polly Perkins for a wander around the place... which, happily, is still very recognisable.
Dave James of 93.6 Global Radio in Spain has been busy too, visiting the set and interviewing some more familiar faces, including Framboise Gommendy, Julie Fernandez and Iker Ortiz de Zarate. You can hear what they have to say about Eldorado and what they have been doing since here. And finally, more great news: every episode of Eldorado is now on YouTube too. So now there is no excuse not to remember everything that went on back in the day. Why not spend three days watching them all back to back! Actually, no, don't do that...
Nagging question: Would the UK's attitude to Europe be different had Eldorado continued? Perhaps, in these troubled times, its message of cooperation between
European neighbours is needed more than ever. The words of Marcus Tandy seem as apt today as they were then: "You can't trust anyone these days, can you?" A re-run of the original series could just be a cult hit, I suspect. Perhaps there's a home for it over on BBC Four. There are rumours circulating of a return for the show in some form - doesn't this seem like the perfect time?
Unbelievably, a full two decades have now passed since
Eldorado left our screens. What happened there?
It has been heartening though, to see that interest in the
show seems to be higher than ever, no doubt much to the annoyance of the BBC’s
upper echelons. As a reminder, Alan Yentob was responsible for axing the
programme less than a year after production began, very shortly after being
appointed Controller of BBC1. He later told The Guardian he cancelled it
because it ‘wasn’t good enough’, before going on to commission another soap
called Castles, which was a huge success and highly memorable. Ahem.
Yentob despatched his Head of Drama to the Eldorado set in
March 1993, to deliver the bad news to the cast and crew. Many have never
forgiven him for the decision, with all sorts of theories as to the motivations
behind it.
With 20 years' distance, it’s interesting to look at the
history of the show, one of the most ambitious television projects ever
undertaken. In conjunction with two independent production companies, Verity
Lambert’s Cinema Verity and J Dark y J Todesco, the new BBC soap had been
talked about for months before it arrived on screen. Creators Julia Smith and
Tony Holland had previously brought the UK audience EastEnders, which had been
running for more than 7 years by the time Eldorado arrived in July 1992.
Smith spoke to Radio Times about the show and what she hoped
it would achieve, in the weeks running up to its launch. ‘The inescapable
fact’, she said, was ‘that the English are bloody racists. They still talk of
Krauts, Frogs and sneer at brilliant Spanish cooking as ‘foreign muck’’. She
was asked what she would do: reflect it, parody it, or try to change it. ‘All
three’, she replied. ‘But finally, I hope, the latter’.
Looking back, you wonder if she was right, and whether this
attitude was a factor in much of the negative coverage of the show and its
untimely and highly premature demise. Her dream of ‘people learning to be real
Europeans’, was possibly just too much to ask at the time. ‘We are in 1992’,
Smith said, ‘the year of Europe. But being out here you realise how little
progress we have made… people are as narrow as ever’.
Much of the press coverage the show received did little to
contradict this view. But anyone who actually watched Eldorado on an ongoing
basis well knows that long before its cancellation, the programme had addressed
its early issues, becoming a refreshingly different soap offering a variety of
engaging storylines. Following the cancellation announcement, no lesser man
than the late Clement Freud wrote a rather touching open letter imploring
Yentob for a reprieve, clearly endeared by the show’s characters.
It’s not only its fans who recognise the show’s value.
Nicholas Prosser, one of the programme’s directors, said: ‘I thoroughly enjoyed
directing 9 episodes during my 4 months’ stay. It wasn't until my return to the
UK in December that I really appreciated the potential for this programme. Off
air, I viewed the programme until its conclusion the following spring and I
observed its improvement from its very shaky beginnings to offer a real
contrast to its competitors. Of course there was still much more to be
accomplished in many departments but this project still had a great deal to
offer. So for me, the decision to axe it, particularly with such a high degree
of investment, was both a mystery and a tragedy’.
Writer Gilly Fraser also sees that potential: ‘I worked on
Eldorado right from the initial concept by Tony Holland and Julia Smith. The
show was to be about the Brits in Spain, with of course Spanish characters and
a few from other countries, but basically about the Brit community. It then
became far too overreaching and overblown, however, it was a great concept and
there certainly is room for a tighter, simpler version on our screens now,
possibly on daytime TV. I am sure it would be very popular’.
Former Eldorado crew member Paul Davies began a campaign to
revive the programme in the BBC’s in-house magazine Ariel, in 2012. He notes
the show’s enduring appeal: ‘Like the mythical city of gold, Eldorado continues
to cast its spell. Audiences crave a return to quality drama under a blazing
Costa sun’. It’s surely fair to say that Eldorado has a special place in the
heart of its fans that most other defunct soaps simply don’t (Albion Market, anyone?)
Nice work.
Perhaps times have changed, in these days of the EU, cheap
flights to mainland Europe and Scandinavian crime dramas, and audiences are now
more receptive to a programme featuring foreign accents (something of a rarity
back in the early 90s). Maybe – with the subsequent rise of the internet – fans
who were always there in the first place now have the opportunity to make their
support of the show known.
The question is, should there be a new Eldorado?
Could it replicate the charm of the original, without the majority of the 1992
cast? A re-run, a box set and a little contrition from Yentob would be nice,
although one suspects Los Barcos may need to freeze over before any of these
were forthcoming. It seems that Eldorado is still a dirty word at the
corporation. The Yentob kinda lingers at the BBC and present Director of
Television Danny Cohen is thought to be less than enthused about even
contemplating a revival… tsk. Man up BBC and give the people what they want!
The
original production may not have been without its troubles, but with plenty of
public interest in the show even after 20 years, and the benefit of hindsight,
could it be worth considering?
Nicholas Prosser: ‘In any consideration to resurrect it, I
believe there would now need to be many questions answered, but if I was in a
position to decide, certainly I would be receptive to proposals and I would
make the decision based on the content of the application with a firm eye on
the financial practicality’.
Find out how Eldorado’s actors feel about their experience
on the show, and the idea of a revival, in brand new interviews here.
Sandra Sandri appeared as Spanish runaway Pilar Moreno from
Eldorado’s opening moments – and spoke its very last word! This alone makes her
a legend. Inbetween, Pilar worked at the stables, became good friends with
Ingrid, got kidnapped and briefly married childhood friend Sergio. Pilar was
memorably in a tempestuous on-off relationship with resident villain Marcus
Tandy. Even though he was obviously a complete bastard.
How was your experience of working on Eldorado?
Eldorado was very nice. I was very very young, I think if it
happened to me now I would do some different things, but it was very happy.
Did it feel a pressure, being part of something so big at
a young age?
No, no, no… the people from Eldorado took care of us very
well. The only problem was the press weren’t very nice to me. But the people
from the cast and the crew were very nice.
Do you have nice memories of working with anyone in
particular?
Well, Jesse Birdsall… and with Fizz (Kathy Pitkin), and also
the crew.
Where do you think Pilar would be today? Would she have
stayed with Marcus?
I don’t know, I never thought about it! I don’t think Marcus
would be with a woman of 40 years old, he’d probably have two or three 20 year
olds!
I can’t imagine Pilar with Marcus with children, having a
family life. Maybe I would be a nasty woman, more than Marcus! Because Pilar
was very nice but she was also a hard woman.
Would you want to be in Eldorado again if it returned?
Yes, absolutely…when I think about Eldorado it was great,
apart from the press. These days we are used to this very bad press, people
telling lies, but 20 years ago I didn’t know anything about it. I don’t
remember that being very nice, but for the rest, I enjoyed it.
It was hard work, really hard work. We had
almost no days off for holidays but it was really fun as well.
