Channel 4 commissions full series of Ricky Gervais's care home comedy Derek

Channel 4 has commissioned a full series of Derek, the care home comedy drama, written and directed by Ricky Gervais.

The comedy drama is to return in 2013 after a one-off pilot in April attracted 3.2m viewers.

Channel 4 said Derek was its highest rating scripted comedy in two years.

Shane Allen, Channel 4's head of comedy said “Ricky is a leading voice in British comedy and through Derek he captures and reflects something of the spirit of modern society. A kind-hearted character in a world which TV normally shies away from, it feels like a perfect new direction for Ricky. The pilot triggered an amazing response and Derek's story had only just begun so it's brilliant that we can explore this world and its beautifully drawn characters across a series.”

Derek is a bitter sweet comedy drama about a group of outsiders working in a care home for older people.

Derek Noakes (Ricky Gervais) loves his job and the people he cares for.

He's 49 years old and loves animals, Rolf Harris, Jesus, ‘Deal or No Deal', ‘Million Pound Drop' and ‘Britain's Got Talent' - but his main hobby is autograph hunting.

He works in the care home with his friend and landlord, Dougie (Karl Pilkington in his very first acting role).

Derek cares deeply for old people because he thinks they are kind and funny and tell him stories about the past.

Hannah (Kerry Godliman) is a care worker at the home and is Derek's best friend.

She's smart, witty and hardworking, but unlucky in love, and like Derek, always puts other people first.

The series will further explore the relationships between this close knit group as they work in the care home.

Ricky Gervais said: "David Brent was an egotistical, failed musician and the most annoying man in the world. Derek is a 50-year-old man with bad hair and clothes, whose best friend is a whinging bald manc twonk. Where do I get my ideas from?"

The pilot was criticised by some as poking fun at people with learning difficulties.

Comedian Stewart Lee suggested that the character of Derek made light of the “mentally handicapped”.

While Christopher Stevens, who has an autistic 15-year-old son , was quoted in the Mirror calling the show “vile, cynical and dishonest”. Mr Stevens said: “His performance in Derek was that of a schoolboy bully, showing off to his friends by pretending to be a ‘spazz’, combing his hair forward and sticking his lower jaw out.

“That is Ricky Gervais's true level.”

However Daily Telegraph's TV reviewer, Chris Harvey, wrote: "Gervais seems to have found a character that he relates to deeply. When Derek found a worm, tried to give it a drink in the pond in the garden of the nursing home, and wondered, in his child-like speech: “Is that its head? I give it both ends,” it simply didn’t come across as mocking. It was a way of looking at the world that was both joyful and touching.” Derek will air in early 2013 and will be made by Derek Productions Ltd for Channel 4. Written and directed by Ricky Gervais, director of photography is Martin Hawkins and the producer is Charlie Hanson. Derek has been commissioned by Channel 4 Head of Comedy Shane Allen.

Image of Ricky Gervais playing Derek supplied by Channel 4