than a studio, there were many sound and acoustic problems, such as reverberation. Possibly in a bid to court media attention, the show opened with the controversial story of a middle-aged man, Bunny (played by Roger Walker), returning from the UK with a 17-year-old bride, Fizz (Kathy Pitkin); many viewers felt this storyline was implausible and sordid. On top of this, ITV decided to air a special one-hour edition of Coronation Street on the show's debut evening, reputedly an attempt by network executives to sabotage the programme. As a result, the costly production – although not exorbitant by contemporary television standards – was used by critics of the television licence to argue that the BBC was feathering the nest of former employees. Due to the stresses of internal feuding, producer Julia Smith had a nervous breakdown and left the soap opera, to be replaced by Corinne Hollingworth, who had previously worked on EastEnders. Hollingworth brought about many changes to Eldorado by hiring new scriptwriters, creating extra rehearsal time, and removing many of the inexperienced and poor actors who had attracted criticism. Cancellation Despite the changes made by Hollingworth to rectify the soap opera's early problems (ratings improved over the course of the series' run), it was claimed that this was not enough to justify its continued production, and incoming controller of BBC1, Alan Yentob, cancelled the programme, which had been commissioned by his predecessor Jonathan Powell. Some involved in the programme's production believe that the motives for cancellation were mainly political; they believe that Eldorado was not representative of the more serious image of the BBC that incoming management wished to present, particularly in light of the forthcoming renewal of the BBC Charter. In the UK, Eldorado is remembered as an embarrassing failure for the BBC, and is sometimes used as a byword for any unsuccessful, poorly received or over-hyped television programme. It is widely thought that the failure of Eldorado is the reason why the BBC has not attempted to launch a brand new prime-time soap opera from scratch since then, with the corporation opting instead to move established series Casualty and Holby City to year-round production. The series ended with one of its star characters, Marcus Tandy (Jesse Birdsall), escaping an attempt on his life with his car being blown up, and sailing off into the distance on a boat with his girlfriend Pilar Moreno (Sandra Sandri). Some