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Fans of UK television, in particular comedy will be no stranger to Ricky Gervais. The comedian who first started out on radio first shot to nationwide fame with his hit TV series The Office. Next we saw Gervais receive subsequent success when he created, and starred in yet another hit show, Extras. Not only the nation, but the world paid attention to the comedian, yearning for more shows and humour. Ricky saw the UK’s beloved Office commission by HBO for US viewers to enjoy, where Steve Carrel took on the managers role in which Gervais played in the UK version.

With viewers wanting more, we saw Gervais land Hollywood movie roles. It seems the world, and the notoriously tough to crack US couldn’t get enough of Ricky, even when he caused much outrage at not one – but three Golden Globe award gigs. Those of you in the UK who have followed Ricky’s career will ‘get’ his humor, however this is something that the US Hollywood elite took, well shall we just say, some getting used to, and now the majority see what a comedy genius Ricky is.

The hilariously clever side of Ricky did not diminish, nor did his talent for creating tummy achingly funny shows, as he graced the world with yet another hit series ‘Idiot Abroad’. This show was the first in which we saw Ricky and partner in crime Stephen Merchants close friend, and can ex-colleague Karl Pilkington make his debut. The show was a massive hit, seeing several series commissioned for Sky.

The world fell for Karl, adoring his innocence, and blunt opinions. Karl travelled the world, under instruction and guidance from Ricky and Stephen, seeing the charming idiot face fears, meet new people and try to understand the world’s cultural differences.

Just as you thought that could Ricky couldn’t possibly produce another show to live up to the success of those previous such as The Office and Idiot Abroad, news is released of a brand new series named Derek. Not only is there one piece of good news, but two!

The first is you needn’t wait long for this show to air, as the release date for Derek is the 12^th April 2012. That’s right this new show starts this month! To some surprise, this new show will not be aired by the BBC like those before, but instead it will be shown on Channel 4, which is known for being a little more daring and willing to push comedy to its limits than the BBC.

Now for the second piece of good news, the cast will of course feature Ricky who plays the lead character Derek, a care home worker who loves to collect autographs, but will also see none other than Karl Pilkington make his acting debut!

After watching the trailer, the simple characters are brilliant, and are sure to bring with them plenty of cringy, and hilarious moments that make each series Gervais creates so fantastic. You will also notice that Karl plays his character very well also, however it really does not seem as if he is acting, simply being himself in a wig. Now this may sound strange, but it actually really works, somehow making the whole show even more humorous.

Only time will tell if this is going to be as big as those shows previous, however going by Ricky’s track record it would be hard to imagine it being a disappointment.