Gervais confirms the show will end with a special

Ricky Gervais is working on a special episode of Derek to bring the show to a close.

The comic confirmed the news on his blog yesterday. ‘I've been working on a Derek special,’ he wrote. ‘I did toy with a third series, particularly after the Emmy nod, but I decided to stick to my usual formula of two series and a special.’

When the Channel 4 show was nominated for best comedy show at the Emmies earlier in the year – eligible because it is available on Netflix in the States – Gervais said he hadn’t decided on Derek’s future but said: ‘There’s so much TV done because of this insatiable need to fill all the air space. A third season can ruin the first two.’

Now it seems he has decided to follow the same format of The Office, Extras and Life’s Too Short for his care-home comedy-drama that has divided critics.

He made his announcement after confessing that he had not made much progress on his David Brent film Life On The Road, charting the former Wernham Hogg boss’s attempts to become a music star.

But he added: ‘I did write a new song though. It's called Native American, and it's David's insightful look at how the North American Indian has been treated. He basically used Wikipedia and then made stuff rhyme, but I'm pretty sure that's how Bono does it these days too.’

Published: 15 Sep 2014