Derek - a comedic drama mockumentary by Ricky Gervais - General

The pilot aired a few months back, and the "first" (second) episode aired just two days ago and I have to say I am surprised nobody has made a thread about this yet. Even if Ricky is not perhaps the most brilliant actor in any other way than "being himself" and a few of the caricatures he usually performs on stage, in Derek he takes the form of a stereotype he joked about in one of his stand-up specials called "[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DgyoIMAMPI]autograph hunters[/url]". Derek is that stereotype, down to the satchel bag and the hairstyle. And although it might seem cheap of him to reuse that concept, the idea of Derek is frankly endearing and a good mix between sad and comical. Some wikipedia: [quote]The pilot episode first aired on 12 April 2012 on Channel 4. Filmed in a mockumentary style, it stars and was written and directed by Ricky Gervais. It is set in an old people's home and centres on a helper at the home, Derek, played by Gervais.[7] The titular character is based on one that first appeared in Gervais' stand-up show "Rubbernecker" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2001.[8] The show portrays the home's workers and residents as unhappy outsiders who struggle in life due to being disadvantaged, excluded from and unwanted by mainstream society. Derek goes beyond his job description to help residents, including buying a lottery scratchcard for a resident. It wins £10, but she dies shortly before he returns to tell her. The majority of the show takes place in the home. One scene takes place on a bus and another is in a local pub. The latter scene involves three girls taunting Derek causing his friend and co-worker Hannah to become angry and headbutt one of them. Ricky Gervais revealed, on his blog, just after the pilot aired that he was halfway through writing a series of 6 more episodes.[/quote] After watching the pilot and the "first" (second) episode, I have to say at first I was skeptic to this, and I expected it to seem rather bad, but it's surprisingly emotional. And it seems Ricky's true call is mockumentaries. The Office, for instance. If you haven't, I'd say you should give this a call. I've only heard good things about it, and judging by Ricky's twitter, so has he. And he's not one to shun criticism, he gets it all the time and frequently responds to it in the funniest ways possible. The first episode (aka the Pilot) is up on YouTube: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6kK5V9IVGs[/media] The newer episode recently aired, but seeing how it is not on YouTube I do not know the legitimacy of posting links to the episodes on here. As said though, really give this a shot even if you're skeptical to Ricky's stuff, and watch past the few couple of minutes. It gets silly and emotional. [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IJer_6j6t8]It also brings some rather thought-provoking things like this gem.[/url] And come on - Karl Pilkington is in it. Who DOESN'T love that roundheaded buffoon?!

Yesssssss. Gervais is brilliant and I was wondering when he was going to do something else.

Ricky said it would make you laugh and cry. With the pilot I didn't see how it would make one cry, but it hit me after the first episode. This series is amazing. The music is also awesome.

See i love everything that Ricky/Steve/Karl are involved in but wasn't a big fan of this, felt like every time the somber piano music rocked up i was expected to feel sad, pandering to an audience and telling them how to feel is a cop-out. Karls bits stole it for me though, the round headed manc twat.

I felt really sad. It's really well done, specially the Karl bits. But I feel Ricky is out of place. He's such a public figure you look at him and think "It's Ricky pulling a stupid face he used to pull on standup to make people laugh" and it instantly loses any humanity. It's a shame he didn't get somebody else to play Derek. Hannah is played really well too but I feel if Hannah's role was male Ricky would've been better cast there then as Derek. It's not he's a bad actor, he's just not the sort of actor who can play numerous roles well (like Depp) but rather an actor who can play one role brilliantly. And this is not that role. But yeah it's well done. Better than Extras and Life's Too Short for sure.

I normally loathe Ricky Gervais, but this show is amazing. It's funny, it's got some great heartfelt moments and it's saying a lot of things that need to be said about society's treatment of the disabled. Really great stuff.

I think the lines Derek came out with when asked if Autistic could be used in any prejudiced argument effectively.

I don't think it's funny it's just good.

"I'm not proud of my own life. haven't done anything special, haven't sort of... achieved anything. But i can say on my mothers life... I've never shat my pants." I'm lovin' this show so far.

I take back what I said about Ricky not fitting his role. It's really growing on me. I completely forgot it was him this time. Probably because he was in it less. Karl deserves an award. His delivery is so perfect and natural.

[QUOTE=Dan2593;39446532]I felt really sad. It's really well done, specially the Karl bits. But I feel Ricky is out of place. He's such a public figure you look at him and think "It's Ricky pulling a stupid face he used to pull on standup to make people laugh" and it instantly loses any humanity. It's a shame he didn't get somebody else to play Derek. Hannah is played really well too but I feel if Hannah's role was male Ricky would've been better cast there then as Derek. It's not he's a bad actor, he's just not the sort of actor who can play numerous roles well (like Depp) but rather an actor who can play one role brilliantly. And this is not that role. But yeah it's well done. Better than Extras and Life's Too Short for sure.[/QUOTE] Extras was fucking amazing though. Come on. I think it's better than the Office! Karl is AMAZING in this show. His character seems to come to him very naturally. It's fucking hilarious, particularly when he yells at people. The only thing I don't like about this show is the excessive use of little musical montages. There's one every two minutes or so... Otherwise it's great, as expected from gervais [editline]26th February 2013[/editline] and Ricky playing Derek is growing on me as well. A bit confusing at first but it gets better.

Yeah extras was great. Dunno if it's better than the office though

I read yesterday the Office is coming back for a once off special for comic relief. Can't wait. Also, Derek is great. It's really funny and depressing.

At first I thought the show itself was the joke because of his stand-up shows where he does the exact same act he does for Derek but it's actually turned out pretty damn decent.

[QUOTE=Mr Flexi;39758339]At first I thought the show itself was the joke because of his stand-up shows where he does the exact same act he does for Derek but it's actually turned out pretty damn decent.[/QUOTE] Yeah, that's where this show has had me a little confused. Like I'm wondering what made Ricky want to do this. At first I almost thought it was Ricky taking advantage of people's sympathy for the disadvantaged while at the same time almost making fun of his audience for laughing at the things his character does. But then the root of his character's appearance is the joke he made about "autograph hunters", so it almost seems like this whole show is a response to somebody accusing him of being insensitive. Either way, I actually do like the show. Ricky's incentives for making it and connecting it directly with that joke he made just puzzle me a bit.

Office is coming back for one episode. ricky has been teasin it

It's not The Office. It's not an episode. It's a short video for comic relief showing what David Brent is up to. Will probably be 5-8 minutes long. These things are rarely much longer. [editline]5th March 2013[/editline] [video=youtube;fjmfGE1R5lQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjmfGE1R5lQ[/video] It's called Brent's Back

I really like Derek and think it's possibly one of his best shows, it's not laugh out loud funny but it does have it's moments. My one gripe is actually the fact Ricky is in it, i love the guy and think he's great but the media are constantly looking for any reason to hate on him as a result the reviews constantly write about how Ricky is taking the piss out of the old and disabled and how he's evil he is while completely glazing over what the show is [I]really[/I] about. The people iv'e talked too about it have all just assumed it was a awful comedy because all the reviews have miss informed them. Also Mister Karl Dilkington is hilarious as ever, he's not even acting either.

Surely you can watch it and realise it's not even trying to be funny 90% of the time. [editline]7th March 2013[/editline] Just realised. The guy in the Brent's Back video. Is that Dion? It'd be cool if Derek, Extras and The Office (all versions) take place in the same universe.

Confirmed for second series. Delighted. Finale was sad and funny I cried boo hoo

Pretty Heartwarming finale, this series was great.

God damn it. Now I can never laugh at Kev because I know what he feels deep down. Poor Kev. :suicide: Loved the ending though. Very heartwarming.

My only complaint is it turned into a bit of self worship. All the characters were praising Derek and how lovely he is and how amazing he is. It was just a bit cheesy and like Gervais was trying to sing praises to his own character.

Ironically creating this thread I haven't kept up with the episodes, so I'm watching them all right now. "50's the new 40! 60's the new 50 and 70's the new 60!" "What's the new 80?" "80's still 80, you're fucked" I died. [editline]8th March 2013[/editline] Ahaha, the cat Derek shows in the book is the same breed as [url="http://www.rickygervais.com/images/tsott_181011_1.jpg"]Ollie, Ricky's own cat in real life.[/url] [editline]8th March 2013[/editline] Finished up. That was beautiful. Feel really bad for Kev now, knowing he has his regrets. Almost teared up at the end. Either I've started to become emotional in recent months, or I've only been watching brilliant TV shows.

Watched the finale last night, Kev's last part as he began to choke up was the part I started crying. Made me really think about my own life, absolutely amazing series.

There's a channel with all the episodes up on YouTube here: [url]http://www.youtube.com/user/RickyGervaisExtras/videos?view=0[/url] (As well as a lot of Extras episodes. All of them, I think?) Here's a Behind the Scenes thing: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5tIJMmpuRw[/media]