The idea for Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story "all came from" the late Derek Draper himself and will follow him and Kate throughout the final year of his life.
On 5th January this year it was announced that ITV broadcaster Kate Garraway’s husband Derek Draper had died at the age of 56. The late author and political lobbyist was admitted to hospital in March 2020 after experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 and later tested positive for the virus. Derek returned home in April 2021 and continued to receive care as his health battle continued. In the years that followed, Kate often spoke out to share her, Derek and their children’s experiences and she filmed two poignant documentaries, Finding Derek, and Caring for Derek.
Now two months since he passed away, a third documentary entitled Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story is set to air. It will document the final year of Derek Draper’s life and highlight the challenges faced by those living with serious illness - as well as those faced by people that care for them.
How to watch Kate Garraway: Derek's Story
How to watch Kate Garraway: Derek's Story in the UK
Whether or not you’ve already seen Kate Garraway’s two other powerful documentaries then you might want to watch Derek’s Story, which will air on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on Tuesday, 26th March. Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story will also be available to watch after broadcast via ITVX. It’s been suggested that Derek Draper wanted to take part in the documentary as he “wanted to be heard” and Kate has also expressed how Derek’s Story was her husband’s idea.
According to RadioTimes.com, she explained, "Obviously, when we started making this documentary early last year, we had no idea the events that would unfold that ultimately took Derek from us. And in January 2024, I wondered if it was right that it should ever come to air."
"But I didn’t want to let those who have given us so much support over the last four years down, and the carers paid and unpaid who, in their thousands of letters to me, feel Derek’s story has given them a voice," Kate continued. "Also, I remembered so vividly that the idea of making this third documentary at all came from Derek himself. I hadn’t planned to make another one."
Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story will pick up with the couple in May 2023 and as per the Daily Mail, the ITV journalist described the process of working on it as "pretty emotional" during a discussion about it with her Good Morning Britain co-host Ed Balls.
"It's been pretty emotional actually. Makes you want to jump in the screen and give him a hug. You can't quite believe that he's not with us to watch his story. But, hopefully, it will be very useful for others who are going through the same thing. That's the dream and the wish," she declared.
ITV have shared that Derek’s Story will confront head on the reality of what Derek went through, as well as capturing "real moments of love and joy" as they enjoyed time as a family. The film will also highlight the “often prohibitive costs” as well as "practical difficulties" that often come with caring for people within their own home. It will feature contributions from care worker Jake who supported Derek’s care and from Kathryn Smith, CEO of Social Care Institute for Excellence.
Derek’s Story is also set to reflect upon what Derek Draper’s life was like before Covid, from his career to his relationship with Kate. The documentary will touch on the couple’s early years together, how the dynamic of their relationship was changed by Derek’s illness and how they maintained their close bond.
How to watch Kate Garraway: Derek's Story from anywhere
UK citizens who will be working or on holiday overseas when Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story airs on 26th March can still watch this incredibly evocative documentary just as you would at home with the use of a VPN. This is a piece of software that allows you to change your IP address so it appears as though you’re accessing streaming services from any country in the world. For example, UK citizens abroad can subscribe to a VPN, join a server based in the UK and access libraries of shows they’d usually be able to enjoy.
- Choose a VPN and install it - our go-to recommendation is NordVPN.
- Connect to a server - for shows from the United Kingdom, for example, you'll want to connect to a server based in the United Kingdom.
- Go to the show you wish to access - for Kate Garraway: Derek's Story, head to ITVX.
How to watch Finding Derek and Caring for Derek
As well as discovering how to watch Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story, some viewers might want to re-watch Kate Garraway and Derek Draper’s previous two documentaries, Kate Garraway: Finding Derek and Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek. Both of these poignant documentaries are available to watch via ITVX for UK viewers and if you’re abroad right now then you can also use a VPN.
The first of these films to be released was Finding Derek which aired in 2021, just before Derek Draper returned home from hospital. This showed the heartbreaking reality of her husband’s health battle and this documentary went on to win the award for Best Authored Documentary at the National Television Awards.
In her speech at the time Kate described ITV’s decision to commission the documentary as "hugely brave" and mentioned how the director Lucy arrived at their home not knowing "if she was seeing a family in grief or relief".
"In the end, really, it ended up being something between the two. Thank you so much for voting, I wonder if the reason why you did is because our story is your story," she declared.
Caring for Derek was released in 2022 and went on to win in the same NTA award category. Accepting the award alongside her daughter Darcey, Kate explained that Derek had been in hospital at that time and that they hoped he’d be home very soon
The broadcaster said, "I want to thank Derek for his incredible fighting spirit, I want to thank ITV for being so great to put something that is touched in all the incredible documentaries, we have a crisis of care in this country, we don't have a crisis of love."
