I had to unfollow him on twitter because I found him unbearable, but I think almost all of Gervais’ comedic work is brilliant. I couldn’t believe that Derek was called disastrous, I think it’s great, season 1 especially. The season finale of season 1 of Derek is one of the best episodes of television I’ve ever seen. In addition to this, Cemetery Junction was not even mentioned, which I find a little odd.

For what it’s worth, I think that his return to David Brent has to do with the fact that Gervais always makes his television shows just two short series and a longer special. With the traditional American television format, creators get to take characters in all of the directions that they want to, as the shows often go on for 8 or 9 years. I think that Gervais had a few ideas and situations he wanted to put Brent into, and a movie is a pretty good place to do that.