n the idyllic English countryside lives an intensive dairy farmer called Derek. One day his neighbour, also called Derek, forsakes farming tradition and starts turning his land over to wild nature. How does the community react when one of its own turns his back on their way of life?
Renouncing the damage conventional farming is doing, Derek Gow unleashes a whirlwind of change: wild boar turf-up fields and over a hundred ponds are being dug up. Gow turns sheds and barns into breeding pens for a host of nearly extinctnative wildlife to repopulate his revived land: storks, wildcats, mole crickets, egrets, water voles, glow worms. And he has beavers creating lagoons.
His neighbour Derek Banbury peers over his hedge in disbelief. ‘I don’t know what he’s doing. It’s not farming, it’s just a bloody mess!’ Derek vs Derek is a funny story about a serious subject. Set against the backdrop of the growing crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change, this observational film, shot over three years, charts the relationship of the two Dereks, and the impact this momentous decision has on the local community. Meanwhile tempers fray, wild animals escape, and the land is transformed.
A very experienced, award-winning, documentary director (Secret Millionaire’ won Rose-D’or and BAFTA, won BAFTAs for ‘Wife Swap’; and BAFTA and Grierson for C4’s series ‘The Trust’ about QMC in Nottingham). Moving from making films for terrestrial tv broadcasters to his own feature docs. James’ first independent feature documentary started in 2018 was ‘Organ Stops: Saving the King of Instruments’, about a group of eccentric pipe organ enthusiasts saving instruments from closing churches. Shown at film and music festivals in US and UK, was bought and screened by BBC Christmas Eve 2023.
","author_name":"Martin Lennon"}