I was very sad to hear that Gervais wanted to end Derek after just two series as I personally think it is the best thing he has ever done. All the same, I am looking forward to the new special episode which is airing next month. Hopefully it's a 1 hour special?
I'll be tuning in. 
I'm just happy it's ending. One of the worst ever programmes I've had the displeasure of watching.
I Loved The Series Derek.
Derek is a strange comedy in many ways: I recall when the pilot was first broadcast and there were concerns around whether Gervais was ridiculing disabled people. Two series on it's plain that he isn't and the central character is shown as a caring individual who brings warmth and joy to others in the care home. I have found some episodes laugh out loud hilarious: the trip to the seaside in S1 was inspired and I really love Kev. It's a shame that Dougie left at the beginning of S2, his replacement seemed like a pantomime villain and the story arc concerning this seemed too formulaic at the end of the series. Sometimes the cloying sentimentality of the show stuck in my craw, but that's just my personal taste.
I therefore believe that Gervais is right to curtail it after two series and a Christmas Special as he set a precedent for doing just that in both The Office and Extras. I'm not sure if this is also true of Life's Too Short as I didn't stick with it.
The pilot was one of the most outrageously offensive depictions of disability in decades and was amazingly worse than Ben from Cross Roads
And Channel 4 dripping with Riki love were almost going to pull the plug, but hey he's big in America so that wasn't going to happen?
So what was offensively insulting became offensively patronising.
As Derek became Jesus in a jumper and the insults switched to the elderly and some impossible, characture of an alcoholic.
Ultimately it was his delightful attempt to say f**k you, to all those autograph hunters he hated and suspected were learning disabled.
And I think 2 series of kicking vulnerable people who annoy you, is maybe enough for even the most entrenched sadist.
Quote: sootyj @ 19th November 2014, 6:14 PM GMTThe pilot was one of the most outrageously offensive depictions of disability in decades and was amazingly worse than Ben from Cross Roads
And Channel 4 dripping with Riki love were almost going to pull the plug, but hey he's big in America so that wasn't going to happen?
So what was offensively insulting became offensively patronising.
As Derek became Jesus in a jumper and the insults switched to the elderly and some impossible, characture of an alcoholic.
Ultimately it was his delightful attempt to say f**k you, to all those autograph hunters he hated and suspected were learning disabled.
And I think 2 series of kicking vulnerable people who annoy you, is maybe enough for even the most entrenched sadist.
What an extreme overreaction and I speak as somebody with disabled people in the family. Personally I find Derek to be a positive person and a good role model. I haven't Googled whether disability groups find the character offensive, I'd imagine it to be somewhat open for question.
As for "a caricature of an alcoholic" - er, Father Jack?
Not really it was, I worked volunteered with people with learning disabilities.
It's kind of sickening to spend years trying to persuade employers to take on people with a disability.
And then watch someone taking the piss out of them on telly and not even have the courage to admit that's exactly what they were doing.
And those autograph hunters he took the piss out of, I'm pretty sure I knew a couple of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DgyoIMAMPI
and if you had any doubts
I don't deny that the two clips you linked to show Gervais as an unpleasant bully in many ways. I'll also admit that some of the speeches expressed by the celebs during Extras were a bit close to the bone and I'm not sure that they're really necessary. Well, I'll just come out and say it, both Chegwin and Winslet's characters expressed some absolutely awful stuff. However I also note that Francesca Martinez appeared in the show and she's a huge advocate of disability rights.
Back to Derek, I've searched through the web and after a shaky start the reviews are mainly positive.
That was a quick search, all of the web? That'd usually take me atleast a morning.
And those were just some particularly outrageous quotes, there's plenty more.
Francesca Martinez is a very savvy advocate of disability rights, who appreciates the value of holding your nose with one hand, whilst shaking someone's hand with the other.
Although she told I am Spasticus to f**k off and wrote an excellent article for the Guardian about it.
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/apr/24/derek-game-face-ricky-gervais-tv-review
didja miss this one on your epic trawl of the internet?
I'm with sooty, I find the series and Derek himself unbearable.
Quote: beaky @ 19th November 2014, 6:52 PM GMTI'm with sooty, I find the series and Sootyj himself unbearable.
Ouch!
nb Francessca Martinez I think only appeared in Extras, which was about one of the best comedies I've ever seen. When Gervaise seemed to be a much sharper, and on target comic.
I thought he was a comedian - you know, make jokes on controversial stuff. Or is that him talking off camera where he thinks no one is around. No, it's probably his set and he's that good some think that's how he really is.
Quote: sootyj @ 19th November 2014, 6:53 PM GMTOuch!
nb Francessca Martinez I think only appeared in Extras, which was about one of the best comedies I've ever seen. When Gervaise seemed to be a much sharper, and on target comic.
Tend to agree, although he did push it somewhat. It could be misinterpreted that Gervais was expressing his own views via his characters? Or could it be that he was ridiculing dated stereotypes?
Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 19th November 2014, 6:58 PM GMTI thought he was a comedian - you know, make jokes on controversial stuff. Or is that him talking off camera where he thinks no one is around. No, it's probably his set and he's that good some think that's how he really is.
He's a really strange guy; I had to give up watching the documentary on disc two, S1 of The Office because his constant gurning and making the other actors' corpse was getting on my wick.
I looked up the responses from disability charities, a few were positive most were deliberately bland. And if helping people and raising money are your 2 main aims then being studiously neutral is often the route to go down (as opposed to the pilot which really got laid into, because it was so damned offensive).
