Derek Draper: who is Kate Garraway’s husband, when did he have Covid, how to watch Finding Derek documentary

Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek looks at Draper’s experience of the 2021 Christmas period
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A new documentary about broadcaster Kate Garraway and her husband Derek Draper aired on ITV on Tuesday 22 February at 9pm.

The hour-long special looked at Draper’s further recovery from the novel coronavirus, having been quite seriously ill with the virus in 2020, and Garraway’s efforts to take care of him over the 2021 Christmas period.

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Here’s everything you need to know about Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek.

What is it about?

The documentary is about how Draper’s illness has impacted his and Garraway’s family life, and how they tried to find a way to celebrate Christmas together despite this.

Who are Kate Garraway and Derek Draper?

Kate Garraway is a broadcaster and journalist, currently one of the hosts of Good Morning Britain.

Draper is a former political advisor to the Labour party. He’s one of the founders of the right-wing internal Labour group Progress, and was involved in two very public political scandals: the 1998 Lobbygate scandal, in which Draper (then an advisor to Peter Mandelson) was caught on tape offering to sell access to government ministers, and the 2009 LabourList scandal, in which it was revealed that Draper was involved in plans with Gordon Brown’s advisory team to post false rumours about senior Conservative MPs.

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Garraway and Draper got married in London in 2005. They have two children.

What happened to Derek Draper when he caught the novel coronavirus?

Draper caught the novel coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic in March 2020.

After ten weeks in intensive care, Draper was put into an induced coma for a month. In total, he spent nearly thirteen months in hospital, and didn’t return home until the following year.

Is he alright now?

Draper remains quite seriously ill with long-covid, and continues to suffer from the damage to his organs from coronavirus.

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He struggles with speech, and at times is bed-bound for days on end. In September, Garraway revealed that Draper receives round the clock care, and at times sleeps for as many as twenty hours a day.

Garraway has described the experience of caring for him and adjusting to his illness as “very difficult”, but said as well that “as much as it impacts on the children and myself, being in his body must be so much worse”.

When and how can I watch it?

ITV aired the documentary on Tuesday 22 February at 9pm. It is currently available to stream on the ITV Hub.

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