BBC soap in the sunshine Eldorado introduced us to Jesse Birdsall, who played Marcus Tandy on the legendary 90s show.
The series focused on a group of wealthy British expatriates navigating their new lives in the fictional town of Los Barcos, Costa Eldorado, in Spain. Eldorado was meant to entice viewers with its sunny setting, and was seen as the UK’s answer to Dallas and Dynasty, but it was not to have the same long-running fate as its US soap counterparts.
The show originally launched in 1992, and it was reported that it cost the BBC nearly £10 million to make. However just 156 episodes were made before it was cancelled a year later due to low viewership.
Now it’s returning to our screens, with reruns airing on UKTV’s channel U&Drama from January 27 – and the platform is set to show two episodes each weekday.
Although the programme was short lived, viewers will remember hustler Marcus, who was never far from trouble in Spain, and he even closed the soap’s final scene.
After Eldorado ended, Jesse went on to star in several TV shows including BBC’s adventure drama Bugs where he played Nick Beckett from 1995 to 1999.
He then went on to appear in a few episodes of ITV’s The Bill in 2003 before staring as a regular in the equally iconic show Footballer’s Wives from 2004.
Jesse played the role of football manager Rodger Webb on Footballer’s Wives before his character was killed off after being shot, which left him blind, and he eventually fell down an elevator shaft, coming to a brutal death.
The actor continued working in soaps, appearing in two episodes of Eastenders in 2012 as John Hewland, the fiancé of Sharon Watts.
Jesse’s last soap appearance was in 2013 on Hollyoaks, where he played ruthless gangster Fraser Black.
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As well as acting, Jesse is famously married to Only Fools and Horses actress Gwyneth Strong, who played Cassandra Trotter in the BBC sitcom.
The pair got married in 2000, and share two children together – Oscar and Lottie.
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