Summary
- Fans are obsessed with finding real-life counterparts of
Baby Reindeer
characters, but Gunning urges them to focus on the show’s narrative. - Richard Gadd faces allegations of stalking an older woman for fame through his show, prompting backlash and police involvement.
- Gadd emphasizes that
Baby Reindeer
is based on emotional truth, not facts, and asks fans to avoid speculating on real-life identities.
Baby Reindeer has been causing quite a stir since its arrival on Netflix, with fans of the dark and disturbing series attempting to track down the real-life counterparts of several characters. In an interview with the Daily Mail, the woman who has been identified as the real “Martha” has accused star Richard Gadd of using the program to “stalk her.”
According to the woman – who was not named in the publication – she fully believes the comedian to be “bullying an older woman for fame and fortune. He’s using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now. I’m the victim. He’s written a bloody show about me.”
The report continues to say that the woman in question denies being Gadd’s stalker, or ever having owned a baby reindeer as the character in the show claims. She went on to blast Gadd for having “main character syndrome.” She said:
“He always thinks he’s at the centre of things. I’m not writing shows about him or promoting them in the media, am I? If he wanted me to be properly anonymous, he could have done so. Gadd should leave me alone.”
Internet Sleuths Have Been Tracking Down Who They Believe to be Baby Reindeer Characters
Image via Netflix.
Jessica Gunning and Gadd (who is also the series’ creator) are urging fans to stop guessing the real people behind the characters of Martha and Darrien. Over on TikTok and Reddit, Baby Reindeer fans have become online detectives, piecing together clues to unmask the real-life inspirations for the characters. During a recent conversation with BBC Scotland’s The Edit (via BBC), Gunning, who stars as Martha Scott (the woman stalking Gadd’s character, Donny), said that audiences should focus on the show’s narrative rather than trying to unveil “any real identities” behind the show’s true story.
“If you like the show and you are a fan of it, you should stick with the story of Martha and Donny being what connects you,
not trying to do any detective work and find out any real identities
.”
4.5/5
Baby Reindeer is a dark comedy series based on a true story and a stage play of the same name. It centers around Gus, a barista who becomes the focus of an intense and unsettling obsession by one of his customers, Martha. After a seemingly harmless interaction, Martha’s fascination with Gus spirals out of control and begins to wreak havoc on his life.
Release Date April 11, 2024
Cast Richard Gadd , Jessica Gunning , Danny Kirrane , Nava Mau
Seasons 1
Writers Richard Gadd
Directors Weronika Tofilska , Josephine Bornebusch
Gunning said that Netflix had gone through “great lengths” to protect the privacy of those involved, adding:
Richard has done an amazing job of not making the story so black and white, so there’s no goody or baddy or villain or victim, really. They are just complicated people like humans are.
Gadd previously told GQ that the series had “gone to such great lengths to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognize herself.” He added, “What’s been borrowed is an emotional truth, not a fact-by-fact profile of someone.”
Related Netflix’s Baby Reindeer Ending, Explained: What Does Martha’s Voicemail Mean? Baby Reindeer is dark and twisted, but the voicemail Martha leaves for Donny at the end actually clarifies some questions and concerns fans have.
Baby Reindeer Creator Richard Gadd Defends Sean Foley
Of course, Martha is not the only character in Baby Reindeer being villainized and sought out by fans. During the limited series’ fourth episode, viewers learn that Gadd was a previous victim of sexual assault at the hands of Darrien O’Connor (portrayed by Tom Goodman-Hill), a successful television writer. Some internet “sleuths” have (wrongfully) deducted that Darrien’s real-life counterpart is Sean Foley, a British actor, writer, and director. In a comment shared through his Instagram stories, Gadd made special note of Foley, posting:
“People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation.
Please don’t speculate on who any of the real life people could be. That’s not the point of our show
.”
After sharing Gadd’s post on X, Foley noted that the speculation had led to police involvement, posting, “Police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me.”
Richard Gadd created Baby Reindeer, which was born as a one-man play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and stars as Donny, a fictionalized version of himself. The seven-part series follows Donny as he deals with a stalker, is coming to terms with his sexual identity, and confronts past sexual abuse. An aspiring Scottish comedian living in London, Donny meets the quirky (and as we quickly learn, obsessive) Martha while he’s working at a Camden-based pub. Things unravel quickly.
Baby Reindeer, which premiered on April 11 on the streamer, has quickly ascended up the ranks of Netflix. For the week of April 15 to April 21, the series topped Netflix’s Global Weekly Top 10 list of most watched shows with 13,300,000 views. You can watch it through the link below:
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