Soap Opera Digest; 
August 24, 1999

# 3   The Shower Scene
         SUNSET BEACH, 1998

Sure, Psycho's Janet Leigh had her problems when she decided to wash up in the Bates Motel, but Meg can certainly symphatize. She discovered (by spotting a revealing scar) that Derek, the ax-murderer who had put the "terror" in Terror Island, was masquerading as her fiance, Ben, while she was taking shower with him. It was so scary, she fainted, but at least he wasn't dressed as his mother.
 

Soap Opera Digest; 
May 18, 1999 

YEAR OF DISCONTENT:  1998

KIDNAPPER:  Derek Evans

DESIGNATED VICTIM:  Ben Evans

WHY ME?:  Malevolent Derek was always obsessed with taking over brother Ben's life (and did so by bedding his wife, Maria, the night she disappeared years ago).  But since Ben believed his identical twin was dead as a doornail, he  wasn't worried.  Oops.  One day, a very-much-alive Derek slipped into Sunset Beach to take another...stab at it.

WITHOUT A TRACE:  First, Derek embarked on a killing spree (remember Terror Island?).  Then, he lured his brother to an abandoned warehouse.  It would be fair to say Ben was shocked.  They struggled, but Derek got the upper hand, left Ben shackled in the warehouse and assumed his identity.  Everyone (including Ben's fiancée, Meg) was clueless.  She even let him into her bed.

LOST AND FOUND:  After freeing himself, Ben had another battle with Derek that left both men unconscious.  Ben was found and taken to the hospital - where Derek tried to poison him.  But Ben survived and ended up becoming the prisoner of a wacko funeral home worker.  After escaping, he rescued Meg, whom Derek had lured to a cabin.

FUTURE SHOCK:  During the twins' final confrontation, Derek fell off a cliff to his - dare we say it? - death.  No body was found, of course.  Ben and Meg's bond strengthened, though she felt terribly guilty about having sex with Derek.  Naturally, Ben forgave her.
 
 

Soap Opera Digest;
April 13, 1999

Will Francesca live?  Will she die?  At the moment, only heaven knows. Thanks to a bullet delivered by an anonymous shooter, Francesca's life is touch and go.  As she hovers near death - and we all try to figure out who, among her many enemies, disliked her enough to try to send her to the sweet hereafter - were reminded of other Sunset Beachers who have almost expired. Consider:

A NOVEL IDEA: After being held captive in a warehouse for months by his evil twin, Derek, Ben escaped when his brother set fire to the place.  Alas, Ben's hard times were far from over.  Derek snuck into Ben's hospital room, administered a lethal injection and started making plans to take over his sib's life.  Ben hovered close to death, but miraculously awoke - at the morgue.  There, he was nursed back to health by nutty mortician Diane.  But were his troubles over?  Yeah, right.  Diane thought Ben was the real-life reincarnation of a romance-novel hero named Steele, and she decided she wanted the guy as her own personal boy toy.  To keep him captive, she pumped him up with immobilizing drugs.  Things looked bleak for Ben, but he eventually escaped fate as a living stiff.
 
 

Soaps In Depth;
April 21, 1998

When SUN came to the do-or-die point in it's serial murder storyline at which the real slayer was exposed, the show nearly killed viewers with delicious anticipation. By starting the revelation on a Friday episode, SUN perched it's audience on the edge of it's seats. It was a classic cliffhanger! Then, on Monday, the suspense mounted even more as Ben and twin brother Derek fought savagely. By the time Ben had manacled to the warehouse walls, fans nearly had to be chained up themselves. The excitement! The danger! The battle scenes were reminiscent of some biblical story of yore, in which evil and good clashed to the bitter end. But SUN did the Good Book one better by not having the conflict end there. The show's savvy writers didn't stop the story, but rather, started it down a new path, a torturous one in which Ben must spend his days in shackles, wondering whether his beloved Meg is safe, and knowing she's not! 
 
 

Soap Opera Digest

BEACH's Ben a killer? Not over our dead bodies! That was the battle cry heard loudly from the fans of the show.

SUNSET BEACH  Co-Head Writer Meg Bennet says that poison-pen letters came her way when it seemed that Ben, the show's favourite dream-boat, was being turned into a nightmarish murderer.

"We got tons of letters," Bennet declares. "And I think Internet was going nuts." What were the sentiments? "They were saying things like, 'If Ben turns out to be the killer, I will never watch the show again,' and 'I hate that you're doing this. This is the best love story and you've ruined everything.' They were really, really angry. I ended up writing this form letter that we would adapt to everything that came in. It said to hang on, there are a lot of twists and turns, and nothing's going to turn out the way they think it will."

Bennet doesn't necessarily deem being in the line of ire - or threats to never watch BEACH again - a bad thing. Says Bennet, "I'm more worried if they call and say, 'I haven't watched the show for two months because I'm so angry with you.' If they call and say, 'If this doesn't change, I'm going to stop watching the show,' I feel I'm doing something right, because we've stirred them up enough so that they want to know what's going to happen."
 
 

Soap Opera Digest;
June 9, 1998

Ben There, Done That: When BEACH's writers were searching for a name for Ben's evil twin brother, their first choice didn't bode too well with Clive Robertson (Ben/Derek). "When they first came up with a name, they wanted to call him Bill," Robertson says. "But in England and places where you get English television, they have this children's show called BILL AND BEN, THE FLOWERPOT MEN. Everyone grew up with the Flowerpot Men show. I told [BEACH's writers] 'You can't do that because you'll be murdering me for life.' Needless to say, Bill was quickly out." So how did Robertson refer to the character as he waited for a new name? "I called him Evil Ben, " Robertson grins. "I was glad when they named him Derek, because it was getting really confusing in the scripts."
 
 

Soap Opera Digest;
May 28, 1998

The Tale: He Ain't Heavy - He's My Murderous, Sadistic, Evil Brother

Who's Involved: Ben Evans, Derek Evans, Meg Cummings and Eddie Connors

The Setup: Ben's presumed-dead, warped identical twin, Derek, who was insanely jelous of his brother's success and wealth, arrived in Sunset Beach looking to steal Ben's fortune, murder him in cold blood and take over his life - all without anyone (including Ben's fiancee, Meg) batting an eyelash. To keep his true identity a secret, Derek took it upon himself to silence - permanently - those hapless few who happened to stumble across his twisted path, including Mark, Jade and Eddie.

What's Going On: Derek can't get his hands on Ben's vast fortune without obtaining the secret password to his brother's computer, so he shackled and imprisoned Ben in a drafty, old warehouse. Now passing himself off as Ben, Derek is trying to get his twin's dough by making lascivious references to Meg, thereby torturing Ben into submission. Derek even went so far as  to set up a bed in the warehouse and force Ben to watch him make love to Meg through a two-way mirror. Complicating matters is the fact that demented Derek is falling in love with Ben's bride-to-be.

Why They Think It Works: "It's the classic battle of good versus evil," explains Co-Head Writer Meg Bennet. "From the beginning of the show, the Ben/Meg love story built so well; it's our most romantic story. Then, to bring the evil twin into it... The rooting interest for Ben and Meg is so strong, and Derek is such a formidable obstacle. I also think that the battle between the two brothers is very strong. Add to that the fact that Derek is falling in love with Meg, and there's his Achilles' heel. You have two brothers fighting over the same woman. One of the best elements of the story is Meg beginning to sense something is wrong with 'Ben' but then hating herself for doubting him, because she loves him so much."