British Actress Plugs ‘EastEnders’ in the Southland When She Learns KOCE Is Pulling the Show’s Plug

Actress Linda Davidson, who plays the shrewish, punked-out single mother Mary Smith on “EastEnders,” was every bit as surprised as the show’s fans to hear that KOCE Channel 50, the only Southern California station airing the program, is dropping it next week.

In fact, while in the Southland this week “on holiday,” she was spending part of her time lining up interviews that were supposed to help further spread the word about the BBC working-class soap.

“What a shame,” Davidson, 24, said by phone from Los Angeles, where she is staying with friends until her vacation ends Wednesday, the same day KOCE will air the final episode from the original package of “EastEnders” shows it bought last year.

When told that the station was not purchasing the next batch of episodes because it didn’t have the $30,000 to do so, Davidson said, “That’s a ridiculous amount. For a bit of culture in L.A. life, $30,000 is not a lot to ask, is it? My goodness, I saw a car today that cost $32,000--a Spitfire--in an antique shop. It was seriously good looking. But really, for less than the price of a car. . . . “

Davidson lamented that unless a benefactor makes a dramatic 11th-hour offer to step in and underwrite the show, Southland viewers won’t get to see how Mary turns to prostitution and loses her out-of-wedlock baby, how she gets involved with drugs and eventually leaves London’s East End--and the show. (Because U.S. stations began airing “EastEnders” only last year, the story is about 2 years behind the series in England.)

Mary’s departure paralleled Davidson’s own, who last year quit the show, which is still in production in England, to pursue other roles in theater and film. She appeared most recently in Stephen Berkoff’s “Greek,” an adaptation of the Oedipus myth, in a Manchester theater.

Yet another purpose of her visit to the United States this week, she said, has been “to set myself up (so that) next time I come here, it will be to work.”

Meanwhile, she reports having glimpsed the sort of unbridled wealth and greed paraded before British viewers by such American TV exports such as “Dallas” and “Dynasty.”

“That’s one of the things I find all over here: Everyone is truly decadent and opulent.”

When it was suggested that perhaps she’s been spending too much time in Hollywood, she said: “That’s an understatement. No, thank God, I have met some nice people. But today we were out shooting photos and some guy wanted $100 to let me stand by his newsstand and have my picture taken. I guess the whole of Los Angeles is run by the camera.”

She confessed to indulging in a bit of decadence herself with her plans for Monday. “A friend is coming over--this is really decadent--and we’re going to (rent) a turquoise Caddy and going off to Disneyland.” (She wanted a pink Cadillac but said the rental agency was out.)

“Everyone tells me ‘You must go, you’ll be so surprised.’ I have absolutely no desire to get stuck into traffic jam trying to get into Disneyland, but even my boyfriend, who has been there, says, ‘Oh you must go.’ ”

How does she explain the extraordinarily loyal following that “EastEnders” developed in England--where it has been the No. 1 rated TV show--and that it had begun to pick up here?

“It’s incredible. I honestly don’t know. It used quick scenes, and there’s always a lot going on. It was likened to ‘Hill Street Blues’ in the very beginning. . . . It tackled a lot of social issues, something that was missing at that time (from television) in England.”

In that respect, “EastEnders,” for all its differences, has at least one thing in common with successful American shows: imitators. “Now it’s very in vogue. Everyone’s doing it.”