Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais in Derek, Channel 4, review

In Derek, Gervais seems to have found a character that he relates to deeply.

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I expected Derek to be a total car crash of a project, all from a man who spent weeks on Twitter insisting 'mong' does not refer to the disabled. Ricky Gervais did not deliver an offensive show, but it did confirm all the absolute worst aspects of his post-Office career.

This is a Ricky Gervais programme for people who don't like Ricky Gervais. Derek Noakes (played by Gervais) is a retirement home worker with learning disabilities. He sports greasy hair and bad cardigans, but he always puts others first and is kind to the old people he looks after. He also loves Rolf Harris and Deal or No Deal.

So far so predictable: Gervais has seemingly picked another vulnerable target to poke fun at, while no doubt purporting to break down taboos. But remarkably this is not the case. Gervais is not making fun of Derek, or anyone, it seems - he's celebrating him, and the other outsiders who work in the home (including Karl Pilkington in his debut acting role as Dougie the caretaker, and Kerry Godliman who plays Derek's best friend Hannah). It's a genuinely fond and amusing script. When one of the old people at the home dies, Derek remembers the lady once telling him: "It's more important to be kind than clever or good-looking." "I'm not clever or good-looking... but I am kind," Derek says, holding back the tears. Gervais is apparently hoping this pilot episode will be commissioned for a full series but Channel 4 has billed it as a one-off comedy drama. They'd be fools to let it go.

Ricky Gervais writes and stars in this brave one-off about a man with learning difficulties working in an old people's home. It's another mock doc with lots of sad piano and pathos by the skip-load. The comedy is nonexistent. Derek sits on a pudding. Derek falls in the pond. "I'm not clever or good-looking, but I'm kind," he says, following this episode's emotionally pornographic denouement. Tonally, it's a three-legged puppy wearing both "Love me" and "Kick me" signs. Confusing.

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Once Ricky Gervais gets hold of a good idea he really doesn't like to let it go. Employing his trademark mock-documentary format yet again, Derek follows its socially awkward, visually unprepossessing middle-aged hero as he shambles around his workplace, a care home for the elderly.

Although the show is resolutely ambiguous around whether Derek has learning disabilities or not, Gervais' performance in the title role is both sensitive and sympathetic. Disability rights campaigners can rest easy, if this pilot episode is anything to go by.

If the show's framework is disappointingly unoriginal, the tone is a radical departure from anything Gervais has done before. The Office, Extras and Life's Too Short all had their moments of poignancy, but Derek cranks the pathos up to full throttle and the result is bitter-sweet and disarmingly affecting. Between Derek being ridiculed, confounded and bereaved there isn't a lot of room left for comedy, and viewers tuning in for a laugh riot will be disappointed.

But there is still a wealth of comic detail to enjoy, particularly around Derek's friendships and relationships. Karl Pilkington, formerly Gervais' stooge but here making his acting debut as co-star, delivers a particularly delicious deadpan turn as best mate Dougie.

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