One such show that will keep you engrossed in front of the TV is the new miniseries Baby Reindeer, which is now popular on Netflix. Scottish comedian Richard Gadd’s encounter with a stalker, while he was in his twenties, is uncovered in it.
Gadd stars as a fictionalized version of himself in Baby Reindeer, a one-man show that originated at the Edinburgh Fringe. Dunn is a poor bartender and comic who is haunted by a woman named Martha. Their paths initially met when Donny, who worked at a pub, offered the lonely woman a complimentary cup of tea.
Over the past seven days, more than three million people have viewed the premiere of Baby Reindeer, according to Deadline. In addition to airing on television, the series has swept the internet in numerous nations during the last week.
Baby Reindeer is Based on a True Story
Yes, Baby Reindeer is based on the real-life ordeal of Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, who was the victim of stalking and harassment inflicted by a middle-aged woman known only as Martha in the Netflix series.
For nearly four years, she bombarded him with messages—41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, 106 pages of letters, and an assortment of strange gifts—such as a reindeer toy, sleeping pills, a woolly hat, and boxer shorts—among other things. She went to extreme lengths to harass Gadd’s parents and a trans woman he began dating, in addition to stalking him outside of his house, job, and on stage at comedy clubs.
“I was getting told off for harassing the police about being harassed” when Gadd went to the police, the actor recounted in 2019 when speaking with The Guardian. Two police investigations I’ve been a part of were both humorous and horrific in their own way. The process is a living nightmare and takes years; that is my honest recommendation to anyone thinking about filing charges.
As shown in the fourth episode, the stalking started after Gadd was sexually attacked multiple times by an older, prominent TV writer, who had seduced, raped, and sexually assaulted her. In the show, the man volunteers to be Donny’s mentor and invites him to his London apartment, where they engage in drug misuse and hard drug use.
Who is the Real-life Martha?
Those specifics will remain confidential, according to Richard Gadd. He has modified important details about her for the Netflix program and has never given her real name to the media, according to the actor who spoke to GQ.
On April 26, 2024, after the Netflix show had aired, Martha’s alleged stalker informed the Daily Mail that she was contemplating suing Gadd.
Gadd, the woman said, was suddenly the one fixated on her. “He’s stalking me now using Baby Reindeer,” she told the publication. I feel like a victim. He made an entire program about me.
She went on to say that she had been the target of “death threats and abuse from Richard Gadd supporters” and that Gadd’s script amounted to “bullying an older woman on television for fame and fortune.” “I would never have had a discussion with Richard Gadd about a toy baby reindeer either,” she told the website, adding, “I never owned a toy baby reindeer.”
What Happens to Martha in the End?
Martha gets herself arrested and charged with three counts of stalking and harassment in the show after leaving a threatening voicemail on Donny’s phone. She was sentenced to nine months in prison and ordered to serve a five-year restraining order after entering a guilty plea.
What became of Martha in actuality is a mystery. In an interview with The Times, Gadd expressed his desire to avoid incarcerating someone who was “that level of mentally unwell,” suggesting that his stalker should not be sentenced to prison. The fact that the matter was “resolved” was another revelation he made; he had “mixed feelings about it.”