Written by Gadd and directed by Weronika Tofilska and Josephine Bornebusch, Baby Reindeer makes for very disturbing and discomfiting viewing. The black comedy-drama thriller miniseries follows Donny Dunn, an aspiring comedian and writer, who struggles to find success. One day, Martha enters Donny’s pub in tears, prompting him to extend a comforting gesture by offering her a cup of tea. This seemingly innocuous act marks the beginning of a series of disastrous decisions as Martha becomes infatuated with him. Baby Reindeer has a creepy, eerie feel to it, which makes sense given how distressing the true story behind it is.
How “Martha” Stalked Richard Gadd In Real Life
The Real Martha Sent Gadd 41,071 Emails Over 3 Years
When Gadd first met the real-life Martha (a pseudonym), he was going through a difficult time, not least because his career was going horribly and no one was laughing at his jokes. Martha, however, found him hilarious, which gave him immense validation. Gadd also felt a lack of belonging at the bar where he worked and felt disconnected from people. In that context, Martha’s instant attraction to him made him feel extremely seen and affirmed. Her complete and unabashed affection for him was initially exactly what he needed, and he proceeded to indulge and seek comfort in her.
For Gadd, the story is a morally ambiguous tale of two troubled individuals caught in each other’s hold, unable to break free. “It would be unfair to say she was an awful person and I was a victim,” he said to The Guardian, reflecting a more complex dynamic between Martha and him. One complicating element, of course, was gender: Gadd’s narrative flips the typical roles seen in harassment stories, with the male as the aggressor and the female the victim. Although there were instances when he feared for his safety, he remained physically stronger than his harasser.
“The feeling you get most of all when you’re getting harassed is relentless tediousness and frustration,” Gadd said.
Additionally, Gadd confesses that he, too, made many mistakes during the process and was far from a perfect person, as seen in Baby Reindeer‘s ending. Yet, he was without a doubt a victim of stalking. Gadd soon realized Martha’s obsessive nature and tried to get out of it, but couldn’t.
Martha stalked him for four and a half years, completely encroaching on his life, following him everywhere, showing up at his performances, and waiting outside his house. She sent him a total of 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 Tweets, 46 Facebook messages, and 106 pages of letters. It was relentless. “The feeling you get most of all when you’re getting harassed is relentless tediousness and frustration,” Gadd said.
Why The Police Took So Long To Act On Donny/Richard Being Stalked
They Couldn’t Understand How A Young, Fit Man Could Be Threatened By A Woman
The police took a long time to act and help Gadd as he was being stalked. When Gadd first approached them for help, they couldn’t comprehend that he, a young and fit man, could be threatened by a woman. For Gadd, this is a result of the media portraying stalking in a glamorous light, especially when a woman stalks a man. It’s perceived as less physically threatening, less common, and trivialized. Not only did Gadd struggle to explain the issue to the police, but they also did not have the power to take any action unless Martha physically attacked him.
Only 6.6 percent of reported stalkers face charges, and a mere 1.4 percent are convicted. Between 2015 and 2023, over 80 percent of stalking cases in London were inaccurately categorized, often resulting in victims being dismissed and made to feel as though they were needlessly worrying about their safety.
Gadd had to meticulously record and sift through all of Martha’s messages to pinpoint instances of direct threats. This undertaking consumed him. Gadd’s story reflects a larger issue: the number of recorded stalking offenses has more than trebled since 2014, while its prosecution rates have nosedived. Only 6.6 percent of reported stalkers face charges, and a mere 1.4 percent are convicted. Between 2015 and 2023, over 80 percent of stalking cases in London were inaccurately categorized, often resulting in victims being dismissed and made to feel as though they were needlessly worrying about their safety. Gadd explained:
“I was getting told off for harassing the police about being harassed.”
Yet, Gadd doesn’t antagonize the police or blame them for his enduring difficulties. For him, the issues with the police reflect the wider dearth of funding, inadequate training, and skewed understanding of harassment. Gadd’s attention to wider systemic issues rather than blaming individual people makes Netflix’s popular thriller Baby Reindeer extremely nuanced and mature television. His empathetic attitude also extends to Martha herself.
Why Richard Gadd Sees Martha As A Victim, Not A Villain
He Views Stalking As A Mental Illness
Gadd’s experience of stalking and harassment is horrifying, debilitating even. However, he insists that Martha also shouldn’t be blamed. “I cannot stress enough how much of a victim she is in all of this,” Gadd said to The Independent. He criticizes the media representation of stalking and stalkers, which has created unfounded images in people’s minds based on films like Misery and Fatal Attraction. For him, a stalker is not a sinister entity hiding in the darkness but is most often a past relationship, acquaintance, or coworker. The intimacy and familiarity only make it more thorny to navigate.
More importantly, Gadd views stalking and harassment as manifestations of mental illness. Portraying her as a villain in the critically acclaimed 2024 TV show would have felt unjust to him, as Martha is unwell, and the system has failed her. In this sense, he laments that Martha never received the mental health interventions she desperately needed, and instead, ended up projecting her trauma and pain onto him for over four years.
What Happened To The Real Martha From Baby Reindeer
The Real-Life Martha Is Still At Large
In Baby Reindeer, Martha is sentenced to nine months in prison and receives a five-year restraining order. In reality, on the other hand, Gadd didn’t want to imprison someone who was that mentally unwell. He is not at liberty to divulge much information, but he has confirmed that the situation is largely resolved. Two and a half years into the stalking itself, Gadd was able to secure a restraining order against her. However, the real Martha is still freely roaming the streets and, until recently, has continued to harass his family and friends.
Following the premiere of Baby Reindeer, the real Martha, Fiona Harvey, came forward and sued Netflix for defamation. She claims the show is an inaccurate representation of what happened between her and Gadd, calling it “the biggest lie in television history.” Gadd’s response states, “Like all characters in the series, Martha is a fictional character with fictional personality traits that are very different than Harvey’s.” The case is still open as of the writing of this article, with a $170 million lawsuit and a trial date set for May 6, 2025, according to The Independent.
What Baby Reindeer’s Cast & Crew Have Said About The True Story Stalker Case
The Main Cast Have All Spoken On The Manner
While speaking to The New York Times, Emmy-award winner Jessica Gunning explained that she thought of Baby Reindeer and the character of Martha as fictional, despite its true story origins. Gunning said she was aware the show “touched on real-life experience,” but countered with “I’m playing the character of Martha, so I’m not doing an interpretation of anybody.”
Meanwhile, Nava Mau, who stars as Teri in Baby Reindeer, shared her thoughts with NBC News on Richard Gadd’s script and inspiration behind the black comedy-drama thriller. Mau stated, “I felt so connected to Teri and also to Richard’s voice as a survivor, as somebody who very clearly wanted to create a work that would connect people through vulnerability. I think that is so powerful.”
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Goodman-Hill revealed that Gadd’s true story helped his performance as Darrien in the Netflix series. He said, “…the core of doing these scenes was to stay true to the emotional truth of what had happened to Richard [Gadd] in the past. So, we were constantly talking about how difficult the relationship was, how symbiotic the relationship was, and we were looking after each other the whole time.”
Richard’s Sexual Assault & Previous Show Explained
His Previous Stand-Up Show Was Titled Monkey See Monkey Do
In the fourth episode of Baby Reindeer, Gadd delves into another painful chapter of his life preceding the stalking: his experience of sexual assault, which he’d previously transformed into the stage production Monkey See Monkey Do, a solo multimedia show he performed at Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh. In it, Gadd relentlessly paced on a treadmill to run away from his anxiety and trauma, as he gradually recounted these painful events and the toll they had taken on him. Similar to Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, Gadd’s show was criticized for not being consistently funny enough, and for being more theater than comedy.
By the time Martha reappears at the end of [Baby Reindeer] episode 4, Gadd hopes that the viewer will understand Donny’s masculinity crisis and, by extension, why he behaves the way he does.
Yet Monkey See Monkey Do was a tremendous success and received an overwhelmingly positive reception. The Guardian called it “ruthlessly explicit” and “undeniably compelling,” a “a lurid, unsparing portrait of a consciousness in meltdown, as the clock ticks on the most tightly held secret of his life.” Gadd also won the Edinburgh Comedy award for the show. For him, more importantly, it was therapeutic to write and perform this show, as it helped him process and make sense of his traumatic experiences. Baby Reindeer, too, began as a solo stage show, featuring Gadd sharing his experiences with Martha.
While the sexual assault and stalking were distinct experiences, Gadd believes that the emotional distress of the assault created the conditions for his twisted relationship with Martha to develop. When Martha first appears in episode 1, many viewers might wonder why Donny is engaging with her. For Gadd, this cringe-inducing feeling is necessary, and the audience must question his actions. However, by the time Martha reappears at the end of episode 4, Gadd hopes that the viewer will understand Donny’s masculinity crisis and, by extension, why he behaves the way he does.
What Netflix’s Baby Reindeer Changes From The True Story
Gadd Wanted To Retain The Emotional Truth Of The Story
Although it’s an entirely unfathomable true story, certain elements from Gadd’s real stalker story in Baby Reindeer have been altered to enhance the coherence of the television production. These changes include the rearrangement of timelines to improve narrative flow. Ultimately, adapting a solo theater show into a 7-episode Netflix miniseries is no mean feat. For Gadd, it was most important to maintain the emotional truth of the story and the integrity of the characters’ essence. The specific details about people that he modified were largely to safeguard them and mitigate the risk of exposing everyone to undue vulnerability.
All seven episodes of Baby Reindeer are available to stream on Netflix.
Even Jessica Gunning, who portrays Martha, deliberately refrained from delving too deeply into the real person’s background as it wouldn’t serve her portrayal. Rather than trying to mimic her, Gunning wanted to provide an independent and thoughtful rendition of the character based on the screenplay Gadd wrote. Beyond the morality of the story and the gendered debates around stalking and harassment, Gadd hopes that the deeply personal, autobiographical Baby Reindeer touches people and emotionally moves them, providing a source of comfort and catharsis for those who have experienced similarly baffling trauma. It certainly served that purpose for him.
