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One of the BBC’s biggest-ever flops, soap opera ‘Eldorado’, broadcast its final episode on 9th July, 1993 - just one year after it had begun, at a reported cost of £10 million.
Focussing on the glamorous lives of British expats - fusing the elements of ‘EastEnders’ and ‘Neighbours’ - it had seemed destined to be a sure-fire hit. So, a large permanent set for the fictional town of Los Barcos was built from scratch in the Costa Del Sol. These days it is used for paint-balling.
In this episode, Olly, Rebecca and Arion unearth Rupert Murdoch’s alleged attempts to sabotage the soap; consider whether it was actually rather more successful an enterprise than it was given credit for at the time; and reveal which cancelled TV shows they’d resurrect, if only they could...
Further Reading:
• The final scene and closing credits of ‘Eldorado’ (BBC, 1993): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TfR15KgC6w
• ‘Sun, sea and subtitles - how Eldorado became TV's biggest flop’ (The Guardian, 2018): https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jul/09/eldorado-bbc-one-soap-opera
• Los Barcos - the Unofficial Eldorado Website: http://www.losbarcos.org.uk/
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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.
This episode originally aired in 2021.
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