Inside the horrifying true story behind Netflix’s Baby Reindeer: How a comedian’s laughing life was turned upside down after buying a crying stranger a cup of tea – leading to six years of harrowing ‘trauma’ which left the victim in a state of fear as ‘PTSD’
Netflix’s latest thriller, Baby Reindeer, tells the story of a Scottish stand-up comic haunted by a stalker for months.
The miniseries is, shockingly, based on the true story of Richard Gadd – presented in the show as Donny Dunn – with Baby Reindeer both the name of his tour about being stalked and the nickname he was given buy his stalker, known as Martha ( Jessica Gunning).
It has been hailed as ‘mind-blowing’ and ‘one of the most powerful shows I’ve ever seen’ by those who binged all seven episodes within the first few days of its release on the streaming platform.
The 34-year-old from Fife is also behind the chilling new Netflix series.
Gadd only met her stalker after he offered ‘a crying stranger a cup of tea’ when she entered the bar where he worked.
An image from Baby Reindeer, Netflix’s new psychological thriller that follows struggling comedian Donny Dunn, played by the show’s writer Richard Gadd, and his delicate relationship with a crazy fan named Martha (Jessica Gunning)
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 (poster image)
The Netflix series sees Martha given a prison sentence for her crimes, but Gadd has not revealed the fate of her real-life stalker
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.’
It progressed to terrifying lengths as the crazy fan got closer to her obsession – including turning up at his concerts, at work and bombarding him with messages.
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.
He says it was ‘years’ before the police finally took his complaints seriously – and six years before they finally intervened – prolonging the pain for everyone involved, including his relatives.
Gadd’s stalker sent him 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, 106 pages of letters and a staggering 350 hours of voicemail over a six-year period
In Baby Reindeer, Martha 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
The police told him at the time that unless his stalker became physically violent, there was little they could do to solve the problem.
He has said he still finds it difficult to trust people and has had ‘all the therapy going on’.
He added that the years of being stalked 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.’
But acting out a version of what happened to him has allowed him to have ‘ownership’ of the trauma. Gadd received a Fringe Award for his show, also called Baby Reindeer, in 2019.
Talking to Telegraph in 2019 about the one-man show he wrote after the ordeal, which is currently running at London’s Bush Theatre, he said: ‘It was unbelievably debilitating.
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
‘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