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Post by audrey notwhatsheusedtobe on Jan 14, 2008 14:12:11 GMT
All the Eldorado chat in the Echo Beach thread has reminded me just how much I loved this show. In fact it mught be my favourite ever soap. It's completely criminal that it was cancelled.
I don't know where to start but aside from Javier and his pointy sideburns, I just loved things like the Scottish guy obviously being constantly drunk.
Did Marcus ever ride a horse naked or did I dream that?
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Post by Tracy-Ann Oberman on Jan 14, 2008 14:24:37 GMT
Marcus, or Mar-cooth as he will always be to me, did indeed ride a horse naked (for no apparent reason).
I loved this show too - the most annoying thing about it's cancellation was that it was brilliant by the time they took it off. I seem to remember it was getting viewing figures of about 10 million for the last couple of months and I remember hoping that they'd give it a reprieve.
Luckily I still have my 'Adios Eldorado' VHS so I can relive the glory days of Fizz, Bunny, Javier, Trish Valentine, Mar-cooth and Pilar!
My favourite storyline had to be Freddy the ageing gay's secret lover Paco being revealed to be Javier, the semi-hot Spanish guy who later died in the bath on his wedding day. Happy days!
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Post by audrey notwhatsheusedtobe on Jan 14, 2008 14:38:15 GMT
Marcus, or Mar-cooth as he will always be to me, did indeed ride a horse naked (for no apparent reason). I KNEW IT!!! You don't know the humiliation I suffered when reminiscing about Eldorado with a bunch of acquaintances and being called a fantasist for asking why Marcus was riding a horse naked one time. I seem to recall that someone caught him doing it and it made for a strange moment?
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Post by jetsetwilly on Jan 14, 2008 16:11:05 GMT
Eldorado was teh aces. Even in its early, shit days it had a certain charm about it, because it at least tried to be a bit exciting and glamorous (though the glamour was usually Trish in a spangly dress knocking out a show tune in Joy's Bar). Then they did what soaps should do: they looked at what was crap and got rid of them - the randy French people, those awful Northern brothers, and of course, Fizz and Bunny - and paid attention to storylines and it just got better and better.
Javier was indeed extremely hot, though sadly he was the only eye candy in it (remember the awful looking Blair and Razor?).
If the BBC hadn't cancelled it they might have something that could compete against Emmerdale, or at the very least, a replacement for Neighbours. In fact, the campaign to bring it back once Neighbours goes to Five starts here. Surely the sets are all still standing, and I haven't seen much of the cast in stuff since...
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Post by mcqueen on Jan 14, 2008 16:37:27 GMT
I have NO recollection of Mar-cooth on the horse naked but I have no problem in believing it happened given we are talking about Eldorado.
I think that while it was completely dreadful to begin with, the changes just made it seem brilliant!
I still have no idea why it was cancelled- it seemed as if it was inherited by a new controller and he just thought that he would look good to cancel something that had gotten a lot of flak initially. It was brilliant in the last few months and I remember all my friends saying how they liked it and then they just killed it.
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Post by Tracy-Ann Oberman on Jan 14, 2008 16:50:59 GMT
I just remembered that when it started they had long scenes of the Fernandez family talking in Spanish with no subtitles which was odd. The acting abilities of a lot of the young cast made Katy in Hollyoaks seem like Meryl Streep (although to be fair English was a second language for a lot of them - what was Fizz's excuse?!)
It got really exciting when they axed or recast a lot of the original cast - I can't remember the name of the Swedish girl who had an affair with Mar-cooth but I think the second version of the character later popped up in EastEnders and Crossroads. It really did turn around from disastrous to amazing in a very short period of time but sadly the damage was done in the first couple of months with all the negative press.
There was a documentary shown about Eldorado a few years after it was axed and a lot of the cast still seemed genuinley upset that they were never given a chance. Trish Valentine was well up for bringing it back! I remember when it was on it was my favourite show, I would love it if it was shown again on some digital channel (I was even that sad that I've got the CD single of the theme tune - 'When You Go Away' by Johnny Griggs, fact fans!)
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Post by jetsetwilly on Jan 14, 2008 17:37:53 GMT
I was even that sad that I've got the CD single of the theme tune - 'When You Go Away' by Johnny Griggs, fact fans! I am so jealous. No, really. I saw this being performed on Richard & Judy, and I taped it and watched it on a loop; I can still remember the words 15 years later. In fact after a few pints I have an unfortunate habit of singing it in public. Trine Svenson was the Danish girl (daughter of Per and Lene) who later turned up in EastEnders as Beppe's ex wife. I still shout at the screen if an Eldorado cast member appears - the first few lines of Danny Baldwin's mum in Corrie were obscured by me shouting "It's Gwen Lockhead!".
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Post by pauliepoos on Jan 14, 2008 18:04:24 GMT
I don't remember Marcus riding a horse naked, but I remember Pilar riding a horse without a bra.
Does anyone else remember the report on the 6 o'clock news, where they had a report on the shutting down of the set, and the guy who played Hot Javier's Doctor Dad was getting rather upset, cursing Michael Grade. The report ended and it cut back to Peter Sissons in the studio, drying an imaginary tear from his eye.
I found the Victoria Wood spoof The Mall on VHS a few weeks ago and it was marvellous watching her do Polly Perkins do Trish Valentine.
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fezza
Jane Asher
I discovered at a very early age that if I talk long enough, I can make anything right or wrong
Posts: 208
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Post by fezza on Jan 14, 2008 19:28:35 GMT
They re ran Eldorado a few years go on BBC1 in the afternoon. I only started watching a couple of months before it ended and I really got into it. I may have cried when it ended.
It had some great ideas behind it. I remember there was a *gasp* disabled actress in it for example. I got the impression the cast really lived and breathed the whole Eldorado dream so no wonder they were gutted when it was unceremoniously axed.
I looked for the book about the history of the show ad its demise but according to Amazon it cost £49! Will go search youtube and get me fix that way.
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Post by jetsetwilly on Jan 14, 2008 20:48:32 GMT
I found the Victoria Wood spoof The Mall on VHS a few weeks ago and it was marvellous watching her do Polly Perkins do Trish Valentine. "Emotional farewells; they take more out of you than a hysterectomy."
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Post by thelovelykate on Jan 15, 2008 18:48:41 GMT
I loved Eldorado when I was a kid. Me and my best friend would watch it religiously and then act it out when we saw each other. I got to be Pilar (which I was chuffed about) because my friend could do a good faux-cockney accent in the style of Marcus Tandy. She also did an excellent alco-Scottish dad.
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Dennis
Junior Member
Like Zorro.
Posts: 55
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Post by Dennis on Jan 16, 2008 21:57:56 GMT
Ruby Wax in Eldorado:
"What are you doing here?" "I'm a black character, I mop the floors."
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Mike
Su Pollard
"I want a chandelier. A motorised one."
Posts: 382
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Post by Mike on Jan 16, 2008 22:02:36 GMT
Gezellig! I don't remember much about Eldorado except that Fizz was the worst actress in the history of forever. Her main duties included looking startled and saying 'Bunn-eh!' a lot, and even that seemed too taxing for her...
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Post by David on Jan 20, 2008 0:41:48 GMT
The major issue initially with Eldorado was actually with the BBC, not with the production team. They decided that it should start to 'cash in' on the popularity of the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Unfortunately, the production was due to start that autumn, and the set (in Coín, near Málaga) was not ready for filming. This explained the horrific acoustics and rushed editing. Whether the unsubtitled scenes in Spanish and French were intentional, I'm not sure; in fairness, these were stopped very quickly.
The first actor who played Trine Svendsen apparently spoke very basic English, and had to learn her lines phonetically. In fairness, it didn't help that Kathy Pitkin as Fizz wasn't very good, and was one of the main weapons used by the tabloids to knock the show.
Big cast culls later on did a huge amount to change the quality of the show. However, who really cares about the lives of a few ex-pats on the Costas, as I remember someone remarking in the press at the time it finished.
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Post by mcqueen on Jan 20, 2008 1:11:02 GMT
Here's the BBC news report of the last day of filming- and at that time Eldorado was in the top 5 most watched shows for 3 weeks running and I'd bet they increased more getting closer to the finale. Really stupid decision by the bbc.
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Post by David on Jan 20, 2008 1:29:56 GMT
I'd never seen that before. How dare Peter Sissons react like that. I hadn't seen the Ruby Wax clip in years either - I'd forgotten how brilliant Leslee Udwin is.
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Post by pauliepoos on Jan 20, 2008 10:25:41 GMT
Here's the BBC news report of the last day of filming- and at that time Eldorado was in the top 5 most watched shows for 3 weeks running and I'd bet they increased more getting closer to the finale. Really stupid decision by the bbc. That brings back memories. A shame it cut off so soon and didn't show Peter Sissons' phrasing of "And that......(sigh) was the Six O'clock news".
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Post by mcqueen on Jan 20, 2008 11:29:08 GMT
Here's the BBC news report of the last day of filming- and at that time Eldorado was in the top 5 most watched shows for 3 weeks running and I'd bet they increased more getting closer to the finale. Really stupid decision by the bbc. That brings back memories. A shame it cut off so soon and didn't show Peter Sissons' phrasing of "And that......(sigh) was the Six O'clock news". Do you mean he was moching the diction of the Eldorado cast?? No way! I know you can all find these yourselves but this is a little story of all the actors basically pleading with Alan Yentob for their job- its really quite sad (although the fit gay spanish boy in it) i think that Eastenders should have gone through the real prospect of cancellation in the past 3 years and see if the quality would have improved.
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Post by Bungle on Jan 20, 2008 16:05:23 GMT
There's a good episode of Trouble at the Top about Eldorado.
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Post by mcqueen on Jan 20, 2008 20:17:15 GMT
There's a good episode of Trouble at the Top about Eldorado. An ideal repeat for BBC4! Anyone got connections at the beeb?
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Post by Merce on Jan 21, 2008 12:34:53 GMT
I am 99%s sure I saw Bunny driving a cartoon cab in a Confused.com ad this morning....
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fezza
Jane Asher
I discovered at a very early age that if I talk long enough, I can make anything right or wrong
Posts: 208
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Post by fezza on Jan 21, 2008 13:58:56 GMT
I am 99%s sure I saw Bunny driving a cartoon cab in a Confused.com ad this morning.... You saw right. Also the blonde Windolene who played Gwen Lockhead was a poorly lollipop lady on last weeks Holby. Hmmm the cast are staging a stealthy comeback hurray!
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Post by QuincyMD on Jan 29, 2008 15:00:03 GMT
Any sign of Kathy Pitkin?
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Post by Devil In Your Car on Jan 29, 2008 18:18:14 GMT
Or Nick Moran?
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Post by Danniiboy on Feb 4, 2008 13:24:08 GMT
Should I be embarassed to say I have every single episode of Eldorado on VHS, in chronological order with the adverts cut out (it was on UK Gold) - Oh if only I had a DVD recorder...
I taped them in 2002 when they re-ran the whole show on UK gold, and at the time I didn't have Sky+, so I had to actually manually tape every episode, and paused it when the ads came on as I didn't want to have them on tape!
I adored Eldorado, it still ranks as my favourite soap ever...
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