Tonight (22nd February) sees the debut of new ITV documentary Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek, which follows the Good Morning Britain presenter as she welcomes her husband back to their home after 374 days in hospital with long COVID.
In one of the programme’s most poignant moments, Derek hugs his son Billy – the very first time he was able to use his arms to outstretch to someone or something since his illness started.
Speaking about the moment on today’s edition of Good Morning Britain, Kate explained: “I didn’t see this until I watched the footage, but it’s the first moment Derek moves his arm. It makes me cry now.
“That is the first moment we’ve seen him be able to activate a movement prompted by emotion, not just someone asking if he can move his hand to the left or to the right.”
In tonight’s Caring for Derek, Billy can be seen talking about his father’s return home.
Asked if he has any worries, Billy responds: “Yeah, I don’t really mind. Well, I obviously mind but I’m not really nervous or anything, ‘cos I can finally complete the Death Star.”
At this point, he points out a LEGO set of the Death Star and continues: “I’ve been waiting to complete this until Dad gets home.”
Meanwhile, a further clip, which can be seen below, sees Kate opening up about Derek’s return.
“This is our laundry,” she says. “All of this and all of this bag is Derek’s washing today. The bedding is vast, it’s a vast amount of things to do, so I just constantly ship it through. And it’s fine, I. think it’s just a symbol really of how everything is scaled up by 100.”
The new programme comes almost a year after the broadcast of Kate Garraway: Finding Derek, which explored the family’s reactions and response when Derek was critically ill in hospital following his initial COVID case.
Kate Garraway: Caring For Derek airs tonight at 9pm on ITV and ITV Hub. Visit our dedicated Documentaries page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide.
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