Baby Reindeer

When flailing stand-up comedian Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd) attracts the increasingly intrusive attention of a customer at his day job at a London pub, he’s conflicted. Martha (Jessica Gunning) sees him as Donny wishes he could be seen by others. Yet what’s most flattering about her noticing him is also what’s most terrifying: no sooner has she paid him a compliment than she’s begun emailing him, texting him, and all but barraging him with unwanted stalker behavior. As their thorny relationship balloons out of control, Baby Reindeer (based on Gadd’s same-titled Edinburgh fringe show, itself rooted in the comedian’s own real-life experiences) presents itself as a pitch black meditation on the perils and promises of autofiction-as-catharsis. As Donny is forced to reckon with the past traumas Martha’s aggressive presence dredges up for him, this thrilling limited series pushes the very limits of what its dark humor can contend with. For offering a raw and visceral chronicle of abuse and harassment—and a bruising exploration of how storytelling can be a healing way forward—Baby Reindeer wins a Peabody award.