Ricky Gervais creation Derek, of Channel 4 and Netflix fame, has announced that his series is due for a return beyond its most recent second season… for the length of one ‘special’ episode.
An extension that would take the show’s final episode count up to a grand total of 14 across two seasons, Gervais has claimed he felt the time was right to end the show as with one closing installment.
Gervais had previously claimed to be toying with the ideas of either a special or a third season for the format, but has now apparently made his decision via his blog.
In an update mainly regarding upcoming The Office‘s David Brent-focused spin-off film Life on the Road, Gervais said of the future of Derek: “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.”
The ‘usual formula’ comment is a reference to how both of his leading 2000’s shows The Office and Extras wound down, and to an extent reality travel series An Idiot Abroad (which had a short-length ‘third season’), and appears to be happening again with the Derek project, but what kind of legacy has the series warranted in its relatively short tenure? There is a historic bar for shows that last about this long:
