'A bittersweet comedy-drama DEREK centres around Derek Noakes (Ricky Gervais), a tender, innocent man whose love for his job at a retirement home shines through. Derek cares deeply for the homes residents, because they are kind and funny and tell him stories of what life used to be like. Working alongside Derek is Dougie (Karl Pilkington) his landlord who is one of life's unlucky individuals; Kev, a loveable train wreck; and Hannah, a care worker in the home and Derek's best friend. She is smart, witty and hard-working, but unlucky in love, and, like Derek, always puts other people first.'

Ricky Gervais (The Office, Extras, The Invention of Lying) has just shot right up my list of best media personalities after watching this amazing funny and touching series, Derek. Never before have I LITERALLY been laughing one minute and crying the next...it takes a certain type of program for this sort of reaction and I have thankfully stumbled across it.

Derek Noakes (played by Gervais) is a tender, innocent man whose love for this job and the people he cares for shines through. He's 49 years old and loves animals, Jesus, Deal Or No Deal and Britain's Got Talent - but his main hobby is autograph hunting, right after his love and care for the retirement home. He works here with his mate and landlord Dougie (played by Karl Pilkington from An Idiot Abroad) and cares deeply for the old people because they're king, funny and tell him stories about the olden days. Derek's best friend is Hannah (played by Kerry Godliman), a care worker at the home. She's smart, witty and hardworking, but unlucky in love and, like Derek, always puts other people first, in particular those of the retirement home.

The creator Ricky Gervais best sums up the series in his own words; "For me, personally, it's my favourite thing I've ever created or worked on. I love Derek more than any other character. In fact, I wish I were more like him. I wish everyone was. It's a show about kindness. It's funny and sweet and deals with the real issues of everyday life. I don't think I've seen anything quite like it."

All the main characters and elderly nursing home people featured in this series are very loveable and provide a great laugh and tear throughout. A favourite of mine is the character of Dougie, played by Karl Pilkington in his first ever acting role, the retirement homes handy man. While emotions are high and the audience begin to judge their own thoughts and values in the scene, Dougie brings us all back to Earth with his blunt yet hilarious views on it all.

The special features on this DVD include deleted scenes, the pilot episode, the making of featurette and some outtakes (Gervais seems quite unprofessional with his incredibly catchy laugh he bursts into throughout these outtakes!).

Derek is a compassionate, touching, emotional yet funny comedy-drama series that I cannot recommend any higher to just about anyone. Derek is the most loveable character of any comedy series I've come across. Derek is the easily the best new comedy series from the UK of the decade, and is sure to go down in history.

★★★★.5☆
Derek can be purchased on DVD NOW!