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Baby Reindeer is confessional to the point of harrowing. But it’s also sometimes … funny? Based on real events from creator and star Richard Gadd’s life—which he first turned into a one-man play—it details the complicated layers of the relationship between a struggling comedian, Donny, and his stalker, Martha (Jessica Gunning). When she comes into the pub where he bartends, he offers her a cup of tea to assuage her bad day, a bit of kindness that turns into 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, four fake Facebook accounts, and 106 pages of letters. While he is the stalkee, he never lets himself off the hook, allowing Donny to make decisions that exacerbate the situation, to enjoy her positive attention, to entertain both empathy and sexual feelings for his stalker, and to connect his past sexual abuse to his present. The result is a work that radically transmutes Gadd’s traumas into art.
The Peabody-winning Netflix series became a sensation when it premiered in early 2024, despite its difficult subject matter, likely because of its propulsive storytelling, which made it eminently bingeable. Its connections to Gadd’s real life also caused an online stampede to find the producer who abused him and outed a woman named Fiona Harvey as the inspiration for Martha; Harvey then sued Netflix for $170 million claiming defamation.
“It came out on a Thursday, and by Sunday people were knocking on my door asking for autographs,” Gadd told The Guardian earlier this year. “I was an arthouse comedian, performing to five people every night, so it was a huge adjustment. I’m still getting used to it.” He added: “Weirdly, I never wanted fame. I just liked the idea that, one day, I would make a piece of art that was culturally important, because then maybe I would learn to like myself.”
Where to Watch: Netflix
The ‘Baby Reindeer’ Trailer
Dive Deeper
Starred Review: Baby Reindeer review—features the most chilling TV episode of the entire year
“Episode four, in which we find out more about Donny’s state of mind, is one of the most disturbing and upsetting episodes of television I have seen in a long time,” Rebecca Nicholson writes in The Guardian. “I suspect it is also extremely important that what it depicts is depicted, and examined and explored, on screen. Come forewarned and expect to be rattled.”
Where to Read: The Guardian
How It Happened: Watch the Making of ‘Baby Reindeer’
“That’s obviously taken from my real-life experiences, and, yeah, it was a hell of a thing to write and shoot,” Gadd says of Donny’s past experiences of sexual abuse. “It shows a side of abuse that I don’t think we’ve seen before. I still think there’s an idea that sexual abuse is a kind-of, pill in a drink that dissolves and someone wakes up and they don’t know where they are. And that does happen, and that is a big problem, but a lot of abuse occurs in intimate relationships. I wanted to show just how complicated and psychologically messed up situations can get to.”
Where to Watch: Netflix.com
Further Listening: Baby Reindeer: The complicated truth about being stalked
In this episode of the UK Times‘ podcast, The Story, author Sarah Ditum and host Manveen Rana look at the legal and personal complications of real-life stalking cases that, like the one depicted in Baby Reindeer, operate in gray areas of consent, relationships, and the definition of stalking itself.
Where to Listen: Acast.com
Further Viewing: I May Destroy You
The 2020 British series, which also won a Peabody, also infuses dark subject matter with comedy, guided by the original vision of its creator and star, Michaela Coel. Set in London, it follows Coel’s character, Arabella, a writer struggling to follow up her successful book after being raped, as she tries to find her unknown attacker. It’s an equally searing and nuanced portrayal of the complicated ramifications of sexual abuse.
Where to Watch: HBO Max
The ‘Baby Reindeer’ Peabody Conversation
“It explored some really odd, quite dark, and some ultimately quite original subject matter,” Gadd said, “and I think as a result it really stood out against the general television landscape.”
Where to Watch: PeabodyAwards.com