In 'Derek,' Kindness and Comedy Form Winning Team

This world could use a few more Dereks. 

Derek Noakes is the main character in British comedian Ricky Gervais’ latest offering, “Derek,” a seven-episode drama-comedy series recently made available on Netflix.

A caretaker at an old folks home called Broad Hill, Noakes is awkward in, well, just about every way imaginable. He rocks ugly sweaters, has a sick underbite and a hairstyle that makes him look like the leader of the Third Reich. He’s not gifted with smarts, either.

But Noakes has purity in intent. Sincerity. Kindness. He makes others around him better. At times he knows more than you might suspect.

“That’s why I had to make him look odd,” Gervais says in a video clip showing the making of the show. “I didn’t want anything to confuse you. I wanted everything to be a juxtaposition to what he’s really like. He’s got to be scruffy, he’s got to walk funny, he’s got to have bad hair. He can’t be that bright because kindness comes along and trumps it all.”

The show gets a little sappy, a little maudlin. But it’s hard to hate on a positive message, right?

Comedy lightens the load, too. In one scene, workers remember that sex-obsessed Kev had weighed his manhood with the kitchen scale they’re currently using to prep some sweets. In another scene, workers — with absurd wigs atop their heads —perform the story of Duran Duran, yet things go awry.

Viewers wonder if Derek is developmentally challenged. Gervais has said in interviews he is not. But Derek addresses the issue perfectly when asked by a government worker if he’s ever been tested for autism. Derek asks whether he will be the same person he’s always been if he agrees to be tested. The answer is yes.

“Don’t worry about it then,” Derek says matter-of-factly, putting the issue to bed for both the government worker and viewers at home.

Derek doesn’t care whether Broad Hill’s residents laugh at him or with him. Just that they are.

“They ain’t got long so every minute is important,” he says of the residents. “I just want someone to be happy all the time.”

We all know people who could use a crash course in kindness. People who act out of fear rather than love. People who kick you when you’re down or step on your knuckles on the way up the proverbial ladder.

Yet Derek would know no light can shine through when a heart is dark.

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