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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carrie Fairchild" data-source="post: 348155" data-attributes="member: 673">My planned Night and Day rewatch earlier this year was somewhat derailed by the re-emergence of Eldorado episodes. I’d previously gotten as far as episode 50-something (the tail end of it’s “completely sh*t” period) before they were taken down, so I jumped at the chance to “get lost in Los Barcos” again when they reappeared. Based on my thoughts and on info gleaned from various interviews and articles (check out the excellent <a href="http://www.losbarcos.org.uk/index.php/eldorado-in-the-media" target="_blank">fansite</a> for all things Eldorado) here’s A Brief History of Eldorado. The show slots into three neat-ish periods, charting it’s rise and fall (contains spoilers).Part 1 - A False Start - episodes 1 to 50ishIn the early 90’s, the BBC was experiencing tough times in the face of a ratings war with commercial broadcaster ITV and the pending renewal of its charter. Hoping to bolster their roster of programmes by repeating the success of EastEnders a few years earlier, they put a call out for a new soap that would anchor their evening schedules three nights a week. Veteran film producer John Dark (the original Casino Royale, Shirley Valentine) had an idea for a glamorous Dallas-esque soap about rich Brits, set among the yachts and sprawling villas of sunny Marbella. Veteran TV producer Verity Lambert (Doctor Who) got involved and while she liked the idea of a sunny soap to rival the likes of Neighbours and H&A, she told Dark that Brits liked their soaps to be working class. Lambert also said that without a Dallas-sized budget, viewers would know they were watching a pale imitation (they didn’t seem to mind with Howards Way only a few years prior). Dark said that with no background in TV, he took her word for it and let her get to reworking the idea. With the setting of Spain agreed upon, Julia Smith and Tony Holland, the dynamic duo behind EastEnders early success, were brought onboard to work out the premise. Inspired by a plaza that he happened upon while in Spain, Holland came up with Little England, about Brits abroad and the fortress mentality of their little British community in the sun. Then the BBC bosses got their hands on it….They decided to commission Little England, choosing it over a number of other ideas including Westbeach, a soap set in an English seaside resort (it would later surface, reworked as a 10 part drama in 1993). But it wasn’t long before the BBC started breaking down the walls of Holland’s imagined fortress. The show was retitled the more exotic sounding Eldorado, as it was felt that viewers in Scotland wouldn’t watch a show called Little England. Then, seeing the potential for international sales that a more pan-European soap could offer, they began adding characters from across the continent. Irish, Spanish, French, Swedish, Danish and German characters were added to the main cast. Suddenly the fortress had been overrun by the very “foreigners” they’d been trying to keep out. Initially slated to launch in September 1992, the BBC announced that it would actually launch in July (they later claimed that the proposed September launch date was a red herring to throw ITV schedulers). A flashy press launch, a purpose built village set and the promise of “sun, sex and sangria” created much buzz. And then it premiered. Straight out the gate, ITV tried to “strangle it at birth” by scheduling an hour long episode of Coronation Street against the first episode. They needn’t have worried too much because what made it to screen initially was awful. In their hurry to get the show on the air, the producers seem to have forgotten that one essential ingredient that all soaps require - storylines. Eldorado appeared to be a series of incidents without any great continuity. Characters just did stuff and then nothing happened. Marcus was dodgy, Miss King was nosy, Trish was brassy, Drew was a drunk. But these were just character traits and nothing ever seemed to happen to expand on these. The closest thing to a plot in the early months was the age gap marriage of Bunny and Fizz, Marcus’s pursuit of Pilar and the near affair of Isabelle and Per. There were also well documented production issues, as the beautiful replica of a Spanish old town looked great but sounded awful. The set had been built as real buildings rather than soundstages, so audio was echoing and the click clack of Trish Valentine’s stiletto heels could be heard well before she entered a scene. Add to that, the awkward mix of experienced actors working alongside people who’d never seen a script before (Patricia Brake who played Gwen, said her heart sank after the first read through while Kai Maurer who played Dieter didn't know what a read through was). Producer Julia Smith reportedly fancied herself as a bit of a star maker, after giving breaks to new talent on her previous shows. She took this to the extreme with Eldorado by hiring people with no previous acting experience whatsoever (the aforementioned Kai Maurer had been selling timeshare in Spain before auditioning). Lines were fluffed, performances were wooden, the sound was terrible, storylines non-existent and the press onslaught began. “El-Bore-ado” and “Helldorado” were just some of the headlines that screamed from the British tabloids. Ratings fell and the show became a punchline for TV reviewers, only too happy to stick it to the BBC. Action (both onscreen and off) was needed. And fast.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?