Baby Reindeer Netflix creator Richard Gadd says he had ‘all kinds of therapy’ to get over his own real-life stalker – who sent him 40,000 emails and 350 hours of voicemail – and says the show has let him ‘own’ trauma

The stand-up comedian behind the exciting new Netflix series Baby Reindeer, which is based on his own experiences of being stalked, says he still has trouble trusting people and has had ‘every therapy going’.

Richard Gadd, whose seven-part Netflix series is based on his stand-up show of the same name about being stalked, was targeted by the woman for six years until the police finally intervened.

The actor and comedian was subjected to an obsessional campaign by the woman, known as Martha, which manifested itself in 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, 106 pages of letters and a staggering 350 hours of voicemail.

The 34-year-old, from Fife, Scotland, won a Fringe award in 2019 for Baby Reindeer, the nickname his stalker, known as ‘Martha’, gave him – and says the performance of a version of what happened with him, has enabled him to have ‘ownership’ of the trauma.

In real life, Gadd, left, 34, was stalked for six years by a female stalker who ran a ‘freight train’ through his life, he says. Right: His award-winning stand-up show, based on some of his own experiences with stalking, is now a Netflix series

The psychological thriller, released this week, follows struggling comedian Donny Dunn, played by Gadd, and his delicate relationship with crazy fan Martha (Jessica Gunning).

It documents the terrifying lengths a crazy fan will go to to get closer to her obsession – and includes her turning up at his concerts, at work and bombarding him with messages.

This week, Gadd told The times that his own years of being persecuted have left him with something ‘like PTSD’. For the Netflix role, he lost weight to match his 10-and-a-half “neurotic” self at the height of his own stalking nightmare.

Gadd says he is currently single and ‘is more wary’ of people because of the campaign of terror Martha inflicted, saying: ‘It takes me a long time to trust them. I used to get into situations with such abandon and I got burned.’

He says it took ‘years’ before the police finally took his complaints seriously, prolonging the pain for everyone involved, including his relatives.

The police told him at the time that unless his stalker became physically violent, there was little they could do to solve the problem.

Gadd plays the comedian who is being stalked; in real life, his own stalker sent him 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, 106 pages of letters and a staggering 350 hours of voicemail over a six-year period

Martha in Baby Reindeer follows his obsession with his concerts, workplace and sending thousands of messages – he says acting out a version of his own stalking experiences has proved cathartic

The seven-part series sees Martha make extensive use of technology to stalk and restrain her victim

Gadd only met her stalker after he offered ‘a crying stranger a cup of tea’ when she entered the bar where he worked.

The simple gesture triggered a stalking episode where he was regularly followed at home and at work and tracked on Facebook using three fake accounts.

He told The Times: ‘At first everyone in the pub thought it was funny that I had an admirer. Then she started invading my life, following me around, showing up at my concerts, waiting outside my house, and sending thousands of voicemails and emails.’

The actor and comedian, pictured in 2019, says police refused to take his claims that he was being stalked despite ‘Martha’ often turning up at his home

Talking to Telegraph in 2019 about the one-man show he wrote after the trauma, which is currently running at London’s Bush Theatre, he said: ‘It was unbelievably debilitating.

‘I listened to her voicemails and just felt my eyes welling up. They were tears of frustration. Proper brain-heavy stress.’

Gadd says that the woman ran a ‘freight train’ through her ability to have a normal life and normal relationships, but that in the show he portrays her as not evil, but seriously affected by mental problems.

The Netflix series sees Martha given a prison sentence for her misdeeds, but Gadd has not revealed the fate of his own stalker, other than to say that the issue has been resolved and that he never wanted to ‘throw away someone who was at that level of mentally ill in prison. .’

Baby Reindeer is now out on Netflix