Ricky Gervais at The Paley Center for Media on June 5, 2014. "Derek" is a bittersweet comedy about how the elderly and their caretakers have been marginalized in society. Ricky Gervais stars as Derek Noakes, a gentle and naive attendant at a nursing home, a character far removed from Ricky's more disruptive and very rude creations, David Brent ("The Office") and Andy Millman ("Extras").