But in Derek, 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. And, when Derek's favourite resident Joan fell asleep, and he touched her curls gently: “I likes her hair, it’s fluffy,” you could almost feel the perm bounce against your fingers.