As CBS daytime serial “Beyond the Gates” approaches its one-year anniversary Tuesday, executive producer Sheila Ducksworth says the milestone is the culmination of a dream decades in the making — one that began when she was a 10-year-old glued to “General Hospital.”
“Launching a soap has been the most different thing that I have ever done in all of my years of producing,” Ducksworth told Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast. “This is something that I knew needed to be built to last.”
Ducksworth, who is also president of the CBS Studios/NAACP content partnership, traced the show’s origins to her childhood, when watching “General Hospital” left her wanting more representation on screen. That desire eventually pulled her from New York to Los Angeles with a singular mission: make a soap opera. The show, which centers on the wealthy Black Dupree family living in a gated DMV-area community, officially launched in February 2024 and has aired more than 230 episodes across two seasons.
A major highlight coming this June is a crossover event with CBS’s long-running “The Young and the Restless,” bringing six cast members from that serial into the “Beyond the Gates” universe. “Bringing the Newmans and the Abbotts together with our patriarch and matriarch — it’s going to be a great week,” Ducksworth said.
More immediately, CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King will guest star alongside actress Tamara Tunie in an episode addressing breast cancer awareness, produced in partnership with nonprofit Know Your Lemons. “I truly believe this episode will be changing lives,” Ducksworth said. “It will be saving lives.”
The show also has a cotillion episode planned for May and an unannounced Tony and Grammy Award-winning guest star set for an Easter episode.
Ducksworth developed the show through the CBS Studios-NAACP content venture, alongside head writer Michelle Val Jean and producing partner Procter & Gamble, which has been involved since early 2021. She said reaching this anniversary reflects years of quiet persistence toward a vision she never abandoned.
“It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” she said.
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