[Shaun]

Ricky Gervais must have known he was sitting on a turkey with Life’s Too Short. His mockumentary about celebrity short person Warwick Davis pulled on too many of his old tricks, and it turned out that playing a grotesque version of yourself and drafting in your celebrity mates again just wasn’t funny enough.

If Gervais playing himself as an obnoxious douche was intended as self-satire, his real-life antics have sailed too close to the wind recently. It wasn’t uncomfortably funny, it was just uncomfortable.

So now he’s back sooner than you might have thought. Debuted at a BFI screening last week and airing on Channel 4 next Thursday, his new pilot Derek finds Gervais in a mockumentary setting playing a man with apparent learning difficulties. Another tired example of Gervais laughing at people for being different?

Well, perhaps not. He’s spoken at length about how Derek is a show with more heart, and having wrung the showbiz thing dry, this is instead the story of a man who works in an old people’s home, who loves Rolf Harris, Jesus, autograph hunting and The Secret Millionaire and is unerringly kind and gentle. Gervais wants, he says, to focus on people on the fringes of society. He’s tested the character on his stand-up tours, and keeping things once again in the family, Karl ‘An Idiot Abroad’ Pilkington gets his first acting role as Derek’s boss Dougie.

Channel 4 have yet to commit to a series but Gervais says he’s already writing one. And tellingly, cameos from Emma Bunton and Dermot O’Leary were cut out of the pilot as he seems to have worked out how tiring those have become.

For now, five teaser clips have been released. So based on these, could Derek be enough to get the Gervais machine back on track?

Youtube video

Derek with kind-hearted female lead Hannah, played by Kerry Godliman. Probably not a Tim and Dawn situation brewing here.

Youtube video

Derek’s ‘gang’ hang out in the retirement home, obsessing about collecting autographs. His other mate has 35,000.

Youtube video

“Everyone wants to be on the telly.” And everyone in a Ricky Gervais sitcom is on a fly-on-the-wall documentary, whether they want to be or not.

Youtube video

Karl Pilkington as Dougie details the rich fabric of his life.

Youtube video

Finally, role reversal time, as Pilkington plays the exasperated straight man and Gervais plays up his mate’s ‘Idiot Abroad’ routine.

Can't be worse than Life's Too Short, surely

[Shaun]

I thought this was sweet My mum works as a carer and it was very true to the profession.

[Marc]

Genuinelly the worst looking TV programme ever

[Ammi]

..sorry.. what is this..I've not heard anything about it..I'll look forward to watching it though

[Jack_]

yeah I think it's a bit offensive Ammi, Gervais portrays disabled people as such pigs it's vile

called OFCOM already

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Jack_

yeah I think it's a bit offensive Ammi, Gervais portrays disabled people as such pigs it's vile

called OFCOM already

..I'll be giving it a miss then Jack..doesn't sound like my sort of thing
..might complain to OFCOM anyway

[Shaun]

I like it but I've complained 40 times just to be sure

[Jack_]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..I'll be giving it a miss then Jack..doesn't sound like my sort of thing
..might complain to OFCOM anyway

Yeah I think it's important to complain on behalf of other people, the disabled are very vulnerable and I think it's awful that this man is allowed to show things like this. Some people are so insensitive

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Shaun

I like it but I've complained 40 times just to be sure

..Top Man..if you have any credits left..carry on phoning in
..I'm going to use all of mine on this..can't let this comedy nonsense slip through the net

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Jack_

Yeah I think it's important to complain on behalf of other people, the disabled are very vulnerable and I think it's awful that this man is allowed to show things like this. Some people are so insensitive

..too true..it's a shocking world

[Jack_]

He should be hung IMO. Sailed through with his nastiness untouched for far too long, it's unacceptable

[arista]

Shame there was only 1 episode.

[Pyramid*]

Be interesting to see if Ch4 does actually take it on.

I doubt it.

[Marc]

Originally Posted by Shaun

I like it but I've complained 40 times just to be sure

Good boy.

[Pyramid*]

Originally Posted by Marc

Good boy.

*wonders why this hasn't been merged with the other thread on the same subject*

Realises why......

[Mrluvaluva]

Originally Posted by Pyramid*

*wonders why this hasn't been merged with the other thread on the same subject*

Realises why......

You talk utter rubbish sometimes.... in my opinion....

[Pyramid*]

Originally Posted by Mrluvaluva

You talk utter rubbish sometimes.... in my opinion....

I'll 'HAVE' you !!!

*grabs Mrluvaluva by the roots of your hair and swings you round the thread* (I'm kiddin')

[Shaun]

Because it was posted before that one Pyramid honey thanks for the concern though xxxx

[Pyramid*]

Originally Posted by Shaun

Because it was posted before that one Pyramid honey thanks for the concern though xxxx

Hence the phrase..... 'realises why'....

*still wonders why it wasn't merged*

[Mrluvaluva]

Ricky Gervais's 'Derek' given full series by Channel 4

Ricky Gervais's controversial comedy Derek has been given a full series commission by Channel 4.

Based around the character of Derek Noakes (Gervais), the sitcom follows a "group of outsiders" who work at a retirement home. It stars Gervais's friend and Idiot Abroad star Karl Pilkington as the home's caretaker Dougie.

Noakes is a middle-aged "tender, innocent man", who has a passion for YouTube, Deal or No Deal and animals. The pilot episode focussed on Noake's relationship with care home worker Hannah (Kerry Godliman) and the death of one of the home's residents.

Derek will air a full series in 2013.

The series was considered controversial by some viewers, who claimed that despite Gervais's insistence otherwise, the Noakes character was mocking the disabled.

Ricky Gervais said: "David Brent was an egotistical, failed musician and the most annoying man in the world. Derek is a 50-year-old man with bad hair and clothes, whose best friend is a whinging bald Manc twonk. Where do I get my ideas from?"

Channel 4's head of comedy Shane Allen commented: "Ricky is a leading voice in British comedy and through Derek he captures and reflects something of the spirit of modern society. A kind-hearted character in a world which TV normally shies away from, it feels like a perfect new direction for Ricky.

"The pilot triggered an amazing response and Derek's story had only just begun, so it's brilliant that we can explore this world and its beautifully-drawn characters across a series."

The sitcom's pilot pulled in an impressive consolidated audience of 3.2m earlier this year.


Digital Spy

[Shaun]

[Mrluvaluva]

Ricky Gervais's comedy-drama Derek has had a trailer for its first full run released.

After the success of the show's pilot episode earlier this year, Gervais went ahead with a full-scale series.

The three-minute teaser clip shows Gervais reprising his role as Derek Noakes, a middle-aged man who works in a nursing home.

Gervais's comedy is shot in a mockumentary style, a format which he previously used in hit series The Office and Life's Too Short.

Karl Pilkington is also in the trailer, reprising the role of Derek's best friend Dougie.

The last scene of the preview also has outtakes from Gervais and Pilkington.

Derek will air on Channel 4 in 2013 and will debut in the US on the on-demand streaming service Netflix.

Watch the teaser trailer for Gervais's Derek below:

Youtube video

Digital Spy

[Kizzy]

Pffft.... amost as bad a mrs browns boys.

[Petershaw1984]

Its ok i suppose