Ricky Gervais ruined Derek takes by laughing

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais has ruined half of the takes on his new show Channel 4 show 'Derek' by laughing.

Ricky Gervais has ruined half of the takes on new show 'Derek' by laughing.

The comedian is working on the comedy series for Channel 4, about a man on the fringes of society who works in a retirement home, and admitted he is not being very professional on set.

He joked on twitter: "So that's the first 5 hours filming on Derek. I only ruined about 50 per cent of the takes laughing. Ooh... when did I get so professional, right? (sic)"

Ricky writes, directs and stars in the show which was picked up for a series after the initial pilot episode in April drew in 3.2 million viewers, the highest ratings for a scripted comedy on the channel for two years.

Karl Pilkington and Kerry Godliman will also be returning to the show as best friend Dougie and co-worker Hannah.

Ricky previously hit out at claims by some that 'Derek' would end his career because of the sensitive nature of the character.

He said: "Every single week has been the end of my career if you believe six or seven journalists.

"It makes no difference to me or my work. I don't care if people like it or not. I'm happy with it, I get the final edit.

"These people have got to write a blog or an article every day, they have to write about something and now and again when I do something that gives them something to write about. It's just noise. It's just graffiti. Most people make their own minds up, which is good."