Kate Garraway is making new ITV documentary that will follow the final year of her late husband Derek’s life after he lost his battle with long Covid

Kate Garraway is creating a show with ITV to document the last year of her late husband Derek’s life after he lost his battle with long-term Covid.

The former Labor insider and psychotherapist married 56-year-old presenter Kate Garraway in 2005 and died in early January at the age of 56.

After contracting Covid in 2020, Derek has been seriously ill ever since.

During his hospital stay in 2020, Draper was placed on a ventilator and placed in an induced coma for several weeks.

Just over a year after contracting Covid, he was able to leave hospital and return to his family home in north London, with 24-hour care.

The former Labor insider and psychotherapist married presenter Kate Garraway, 56, in 2005 and died in early January aged 56 (seen in 2019)

In August 2022, he was taken to hospital with sepsis but pulled through. In early December 2023, Draper suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital again.

The new ITV film follows the two previous award-winning films also made by Flicker Productions: Finding Derek and Caring for Derek.

The couple began filming in May 2023 in the hope that it would provide insight into Derek’s personal struggles with illness and highlight “the challenges faced by millions of people in Britain living with a serious illness or disability and those living with they worry, are confronted’.

The film, called Derek’s Story, will reflect on Derek’s life before Covid, including his high-profile political career, but also his relationship with Kate, their early years together and how Derek’s illness changed the nature of their dynamic.

ITV said when Derek was asked why he wanted to take part in the film, he said: ‘I want to be heard.’

Kate, who has two children with Derek, Darcey (17) and Billy (14), said: ‘When we started making this documentary early last year we clearly had no idea of ​​the events that would unfold and that Derek would ultimately take away from us.

Derek was one of the first to become seriously ill with Covid-19 in March 2020. Kate announced that he died last month on January 3

Kate and her children – Darcey, 17, and William, 14 – are seen wearing black as they leave Derek’s funeral last month

Towards the end of his life, Kate became Derek’s full-time carer (pictured at the National Television Awards in London in 2007)

The film, called Derek’s Story, will reflect on Derek’s life pre-Covid, including his high-profile political career, as well as his relationship with Kate (seen on their wedding day).

“And in January 2024, I wondered if it was right that it would ever come to air.

‘But I didn’t want to let down those who have given us so much support over the past four years, and the paid and unpaid carers who, in their thousands of letters to me, feel that Derek’s story has given them a voice.

‘What’s more, I remembered so vividly that the idea to make this third documentary came from Derek himself in the first place.’

Although the film’s exact release date has yet to be announced, ITV has confirmed that it will air later this month.