BBC show to return to screens years after cancellation - details

Nicky Morris
·2-min read
BBC, Eldorado cast
BBC, Eldorado cast (BBC / Shutterstock)

An iconic BBC show is returning to screens over three decades after it was axed. Eldorado, the soap opera, was broadcast for just one year between 1992 and 1993, airing 156 episodes before being cancelled due to low viewership.

However, fans of the drama will be pleased to know that the soap is coming to the UKTV channel U&Drama, which will begin airing reruns each weekday from Monday, January 27.

Polly Perkins Hilary Crane And Patricia Brake in Eldorado
Polly Perkins, Hilary Crane and Patricia Brake starred in Eldorado (Nick Skinner/ANL/Shutterstock)

Set in Spain, Eldorado followed the lives of British ex-pats living in the fictional town of Los Barcos on the Costa Eldorado.

Among the cast were various familiar faces including Julie Fernandez (The Office), Jesse Birdsall (Hollyoaks), Polly Perkins (EastEnders) and Derek Martin (EastEnders).

Repeats of the show previously aired on UK Gold in the late 1990s and early 2000s and were later added to the streaming service BritBox, which has since been dissolved, in 2021.

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Sandra Sandri Jessie Birdsall Kathy Pitkin And Bo Corre in Eldorado
The show was cancelled after just a year (Nick Skinner/ANL/Shutterstock)

Former Eastenders scriptwriter Tony Jordan, who wrote Eldorado's first episode, has previously shared his hopes for the show's revival.

He told The Guardian back in 2011: "It's a fantastic brand – although obviously not in the way it was first done, and I wrote the first episode so I'm allowed to say that."

Reflecting on watching the director's monitor during the filming of the opening show, he said: "It was one of the worst things I'd seen in my life. I remember phoning one of the other writers and saying: 'We're in shit. It's like [expletive] Thunderbirds. We're in trouble'."

Tony reiterated his hopes for the show's return in 2018, telling The Guardian: "Drama is a very crowded space. We're constantly looking for things that will make a noise, bring in an audience. If there was a broadcaster brave enough and smart enough to do a version of Eldorado, they'd get an immediate audience, though to keep them they’d have to give them a good show."

Eldorado will air on UKTV channel U&Drama from Monday 27 January with two episodes each weekday.

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