Derek the Sheep

Beano strip
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Derek the Sheep
Current/last artist	Gary Northfield
First appearance	Issue 3214 (21 February 2004)
Last appearance	June 2011
Regular characters	Derek, Lenny, Big Baz, Cecil the Bee, Vera the Cow, Barry the Chicken, Kevin the Rabbit.

Derek the Sheep is a fictional character and comic strip in the British comic The Beano. He first appeared in issue 3214, dated 21 February 2004. The strip is set on a farm and revolves around Derek's endless problems with the other animals.

Derek the Sheep was created by Gary Northfield and appeared occasionally in the comic, however, since the Beano re-vamp Derek has not been seen, but appeared regularly in monthly BeanoMAX until June 2011. Gary Northfield both writes and draws for the character.

Derek is the only Beano character with his own weblog [1] and message board^{[citation needed]}.

Derek is known to be^[who?] DC Thomson's first ever completely author owned content and has been published in France by Actes Sud/Editions De L'an2 and has a collection of early stories coming out in bookform from Bloomsbury Publishing in September 2008, reprinting the first thirteen strips in The Beano.

Characters

• Derek the sheep
• Lenny the sheep (One of Derek's Friends). Appeared less in the last couple of years
• Cecil the bee (Another of Derek's Friends).
• Doris the bee (Cecil's sister). Has a crush on Derek. Normally quite sweet-natured, but dangerous when angry.
• Nobby the hedgehog (Another of Derek's friends).
• Kevin the rabbit. Generally took over as the second character in the last couple of years.
• Big Baz (Derek's worst enemy).
• Mad Nigel (Derek's second worst enemy). Hasn't been seen since the last part of Sold Out, when he was given to the zoo in place of zebras.
• Rodney the bull
• Bernard the goat
• Bingo the goat (seen only in the episode "Sold out").
• Farmer Jack, The farmer mentioned quite a lot, but rarely seen.
• Alan the horse
• Benny, Derek's nephew, who has a catchphrase: BEEP! he also has small ears.
• Dave Carrot, who was Derek's companion when he became stranded on an island.
• Bert worm, mentioned on the webblog, although never seen in the comic
• Alan chicken who has wonky legs, who has also only been mentioned on the webblog
• Gnasher, Dennis the Menace's dog, has appeared in the 2007 Beano Annual episode.
• Walter The Softy also appeared in that story.
• Vera cow. The only girl on the farm, during the last few years.
• Barry chicken. Derek doesnt like him.