'Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek': What to expect from the emotional new documentary

Watch: Kate Garraway shows the reality of caring for husband Derek Draper

Kate Garraway and husband Derek Draper's devastating battle with COVID is an ongoing nightmare for their family, and tonight, the Good Morning Britain presenter lets the cameras back into their home to show the reality of life now.

Her award-winning ITV documentary Kate Garraway: Finding Derek revealed the horrendous effects on him of being the UK's worst-affected coronavirus patient.

Read more: Kate Garraway 'found a new way to be in love' with Derek during COVID recovery

Now, Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek shows his homecoming after more than a year in hospital, the family's adjustment to his new normal, and Garraway's life as a carer.

Here's what to expect from the documentary.

When is Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek on TV?

The one-off documentary will air tonight (Tuesday) at 9pm on ITV.

Kate Garraway: Finding Derek is also available to view on ITV Hub.

Why did Kate Garraway choose to allow the cameras in again?

The Good Morning Britain and Life Stories presenter has admitted it was a difficult decision to balance her family's privacy with the opportunity to show what life is like for the UK's carers who are struggling to manage.

In the documentary, she looks tearful as she explains: "I'm very protective of Derek and I'm very protective of people seeing him vulnerable, but 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, and it's not pretty."

Read more: Kate Garraway 'didn't receive MBE for looking after Derek'

Talking to Lorraine on Tuesday morning about the follow-up documentary, she said: "I did think long and hard about whether we had a story to tell because I didn't really want it to be a pity party."

She talked about the flaws in the care system, the difficulties she has had in accessing the right help for Draper, and the tough choices she is constantly faced with.

Discussing the long waits for hospital appointments because of pandemic delays, Garraway said: "There's a horrible tension of fighting for the person you love and then worrying that you're holding someone else back. I don't think it's a burden we should carry."

What will happen in the documentary?

Unsurprisingly, viewers should expect a hugely emotional watch.

Caring for Derek begins with Draper's return home last spring after 374 days in hospital recovering from COVID, which included 10 weeks in a coma.

The couple's young son Billy shows the camera crew around their home as he waits for his dad to arrive, explaining the many adaptations that have been made to enable him to live there, and says he has been waiting for his dad to come home so that he can complete his Lego Death Star.

Read more: Piers Morgan 'stunned' by phonecall with Derek that left carers in tears

In tear-jerking scenes, Billy and his sister Darcey hug their dad as he comes back home for the first time in over a year and Draper reaches out to hug Billy again - a hugely significant moment as it is the first time in his recovery that he has been able to use his arms to reach for something.

Garraway also shows viewers the day-to-day reality of being a carer, which involves mountains of laundry from seven bed changes a day.

In one scene, she comforts Draper as he cries, overwhelmed by being able to move himself into the bathroom for the first time.

She told Lorraine: "There's the heartbreak that is that what we're now celebrating, are those now our big moments in life?"

The documentary charts the months leading up to Christmas and the end of 2021, showing how Draper settles back into family life and the improvements in his health - including the couple travelling to Mexico to access a groundbreaking treatment.

How is Derek now?

Draper still needs round-the-clock care and although a team of carers visits their home on a daily basis, much of the work falls to Garraway.

She spoke about "a tsunami of loneliness" in her Lorraine interview as she opened up on how life had changed.

Read more: What to watch on TV this week

She said: "There's two overwhelming things, a sense of loneliness and a sense of guilt. The loneliness is a strange one because I feel guilty even saying it...people are so lovely and supportive and it means a huge amount, but there's the one-to-one relationship which is just such an emotional rollercoaster.

"You'll get a flicker of the old Derek and in that instant you go back to feeling like you're together, and then the next minute he's gone again.

"There's a tsunami of loneliness in that moment because that relationship can't be replaced elsewhere."

Garraway continued: "I don't want to overstate this because people have died, but you're almost on the verge of grief and delight all the time and it makes you feel like you're very lonely.

People ask how it's going and you know it's going better than if he passed away, but it's still not going enough that you can say, 'yeah, it's great'. That makes you feel very alone and you feel guilty."

Kate Garraway: Caring for Derek airs tonight (Tuesday) at 9pm on ITV.

Watch: Kate Garraway says 'I didn't receive MBE for looking after Derek'