A NEW CHAPTER
Her documentary about her husband’s battle with Covid moved viewers to tears. Now, Kate Garraway has invited cameras back into their home for a follow-up
The past two years have been life-changing for Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway, after her husband, Derek Draper, contracted one of the UK’S worst cases of Covid-19. He spent months in intensive care, including time in an induced coma, after his liver, kidneys and heart failed. And last year she offered an intimate insight into his battle in a one-off programme called Finding Derek,
which documented how she and her children, Darcey, 15, and Billy, 12, had adjusted to a new way of life.
Now, Kate has opened her doors once again for a moving follow-up,
Caring For Derek. Picking up from where the last documentary left off, it shows Kate and her family from the point of Derek’s return in April, concluding at Christmas 2021. It was their first festive season spent at home together in two years, and Kate described it as “the biggest gift”.
But the film doesn’t shy away from the challenges of their new normal. Kate asks the most difficult questions, while showing what day-to-day life as a carer is like. Derek receives 24/7 assistance in a house transformed to accommodate his needs.
“I’m very protective of Derek and of people seeing him vulnerable,” says the presenter, who married the 54-year-old former lobbyist and political adviser in 2005, after they were introduced by a mutual friend.
“I’ve talked to him a lot about this and I think he understands that we have to make it real, because this is the reality of life for people who are caring and it’s the reality of recovering from a life-changing event.”
The film shows the support Kate, also 54, receives from family and friends, including Derek’s sister, Di, who helps her with some of her daily duties and believes they’ve just got to “celebrate the good days”.
While Finding Derek reflected on Derek’s absence, this show captures the start of a new chapter.
“We still have a long, long way to go. I’m hugely grateful for everyone that has saved his life thus far,” shares Kate.