\n<\/p>\n
Some spoilers follow.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBaby Reindeer,\u201d Netflix\u2019s absorbing, claustrophobic seven-episode thriller<\/a>, has been an unexpected global hit \u2014 a success made even more surprising given its intense themes<\/a>. It is far and away the most-watched show on Netflix<\/a>, according to the streamer\u2019s publicly released numbers, dwarfing every other show on the platform.<\/p>\n The mini-series follows the character of Donny Dunn, a bartender and floundering comedian trying to navigate the fog of trauma and cobble together a sense of self while being mercilessly stalked and tormented by a woman named Martha, with whom he maintains a codependent connection, despite the harassment. The title refers to one of Martha\u2019s many nicknames for Donny.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what\u2019s real about \u201cBaby Reindeer,\u201d and what viewers seem most curious about.<\/p>\n \u201cBaby Reindeer\u201d is the work of Richard Gadd, 34, who plays Donny, a slightly fictionalized version of himself. And if you were wondering how a regular guy could be such a confident, complex actor, it\u2019s because he is a seasoned, award-winning performer who parlayed his autobiographical one-man show, titled \u201cBaby Reindeer,\u201d into the series, for which he wrote every episode.<\/p>\n But once upon a time, he was the self-loathing performer we see depicted. \u201cBaby Reindeer\u201d takes meta storytelling to new levels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Early in the first episode, a message across the screen reads, \u201cThis is a true story.\u201d And it is.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all emotionally 100 percent true,\u201d Gadd, who was the real-life victim of the stalking, said in a recent interview with Variety<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s all borrowed from instances that happened to me and real people that I met.\u201d True with the caveat that \u201cfor both legal and artistic reasons,\u201d as he put it, details had to be changed. \u201cYou can\u2019t just copy somebody else\u2019s life and name and put it onto television,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were very aware that some characters in it are vulnerable people,\u201d he added, \u201cso you don\u2019t want to make their lives more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n The series is largely punctuated by language from real messages sent by his stalker (played by Jessica Gunning), which we see typed out onscreen. In his one-man show<\/a>, a 70-minute monologue that premiered at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and would go on to win an Olivier Award (Britain\u2019s equivalent of the Tonys), Gadd played her voice mail messages to the audience, and projections of her emails scrolled across the venue\u2019s ceiling.<\/p>\n According to Gadd, she sent him over 41,000 emails, tweeted at him hundreds of times and left him 350 hours of voice mail over the course of a few years.<\/p>\n For the series, certain timelines were moved around \u201cto make them pay off a little better,\u201d he said. Nonetheless, \u201cit\u2019s a very true story.\u201d<\/p>\n While the saga, at first glance, is one of stalking and obsession, it is equally about the life-shattering effects of sexual assault. In the fourth episode, Gadd\u2019s character is repeatedly drugged, assaulted and raped by a powerful television writer named Darrien O\u2019Connor (played by Tom Goodman-Hill) who\u2019d made false promises to help catapult the comedian\u2019s career. (The sexual assaults were explored in Gadd\u2019s earlier solo show \u201cMonkey See Monkey Do<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAbuse leaves an imprint,\u201d Gadd recently told GQ magazine<\/a>. \u201cEspecially abuse like this where it\u2019s repeated with promises.\u201d<\/p>\n The depiction of the abuse is graphic and disturbing, and knowing that the characters were based on real people prompted great interest in the identities behind them. But Gadd was quick to urge viewers to stop investigating. \u201cPlease don\u2019t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be,\u201d he wrote on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s not the point of our show.\u201d<\/p>\n As more and more people binge the show, social media platforms have become amateur detective rings, with viewers trying to suss out the identities of the characters. The British writer and director Sean Foley was the subject of online threats when some thought that he was the real-life Darrien character.<\/p>\n \u201cPolice have been informed and are investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me,\u201d Foley said in a post<\/a> on X (formerly Twitter) in late April.<\/p>\n On Instagram, Gadd defended Foley specifically, writing, \u201cPeople I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n In the first episode, Gadd\u2019s character searches Martha\u2019s name online and uncovers a trove of articles about her past stalking \u2014 \u201cSerial Stalker Sentenced to Four and Half Years,\u201d reads one headline \u2014 which led some online sleuths to try to find the actual versions of those same articles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nYes, That Is the Real Guy<\/h2>\n
Yes, It Is Based on His Real Experiences<\/h2>\n
Gadd Has Asked Viewers Not to Dig \u2026<\/h2>\n
\u2026 Yet Viewers Keep Digging<\/h2>\n