Oh no, I think he wants to be taken seriously

At least Blackadder and Bean, though starkly different, were clearly both comedies. Derek barely qualifies as a comedy drama this time round, There are laughs, but it is clear that Gervais is striving for something deeper and more philosophical. Listen to the classical music on the soundtrack and the long, lingering shots. Oh no, I think he wants to be taken seriously. This is the clown doing Hamlet, but with a crappy hairstyle.  I liked some of the first series of Derek, but then I'm a bit of a softie. I would still never put it in the same league as The Office.

Did something scarring happen in his childhood that he is in some way trying to exorcise with Derek? Derek says at one point that he wants everyone to have a mum and a dad and for them to die at the same time. Is this to do with his father outliving his mother?  Who knows? But Derek feels like a very intimate, personal piece.

Without wishing to get too Freudian about things, The Office, Extras and Derek feel like Gervais' Id, Ego and Superego, all jostling for attention. The Office dealt with the basic needs of getting laughs, Extras homed in on the reality of Gervais' situation as a rising star and Derek attempts to add a moral dimension to his work. I looked on Google to see if anyone had ever asked Gervais if he had had therapy. It doesn't look as if they have, but I did discover that he has tweeted "Animals are the best therapy in the world!". Which makes me think that maybe he needs therapy.

I interviewed Gervais early on shortly after he first became famous and he was a thoughtful, open interviewee. I’m sure he has changed since then - he is ten years older, apart from anything else. And Ricky Gervais is almost a brand as much as a person. Derek feels like his conscience talking. It is as if he has tried to create the perfect fictional human in contrast to the imperfect world he sees around him. It just does not hit the right notes enough.

I still think Gervais can be as brilliant as he was when he first made The Office. There were flashes of the old brilliance in some of his new Foregone Conclusion songs when he did his first gigs as David Brent last year. And if he makes a David Brent film, as has been reported, I’m sure that will recapture some of the magic. But Derek is a bafflingly odd project. Gervais has so many fans around the world that I’m sure there will be plenty who even say that Derek is better than The Office. But never mind the characters Gervais has just made a movie with. Anyone who thinks that is truly a real muppet.

Series 2 of Derek starts on C4 on April 23 at 10pm.