Without much publicity on social networks or on the streets, “baby reindeer”, the new furor series, quickly positioned itself among the 10 most notable content. Although the trailer suggests a fictional comedy-drama, the seven episodes portray a dark and chilling story about sexual harassment and abuse that happened to the actor who plays the protagonist, Richard Gadd.
“I felt sorry for her. That was the first thing I felt. Feeling sorry for someone you don’t know is condescending and arrogant, but that’s how it was,” explained the Scottish comedian and writer at the beginning of the first chapter. At that moment, in the bar where he worked at that time, you can see she: Martha, a woman with curly hair, shy and somewhat clumsy, a first impression that would not reveal even a quarter of what she was capable of doing.
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Richard’s story begins when he moves from Scotland to England to pursue writing and being a successful comedian. However, at 30 years old, he saw that dream further and further away, since he ended up working in a bar to earn a living and lived in his ex-mother-in-law’s house for a long time because he could not pay the rent.
Little by little, he felt that London was “too big” for him and that no one noticed his presence or what he was willing to give. For this reason, Gadd explained that, as soon as he met his stalker, he felt an unparalleled containment. Despite this, that would only be the beginning of a terrifying experience that led him to portray on the small screen.
The real story behind the series “Baby Reindeer”
Although in the first seconds of the first chapter it is revealed that we are about to see an autobiographical story, Richard Gadd expressed in statements with media such as Variety, GQ and The Independent that some issues were brought to the fiction to protect your privacy and that of the people involved in the story.
Richard Gadd revealed in interviews that, despite being a true story, he did change some issues to protect his privacy and that of the people involved. (Photo: Netflix)
In real life, the first meeting between Richard and his stalker, who was 20 years older and whose identity was not revealed, was mostly friendly. In 2015, she had arrived at the bar where she worked with a long face and he asked her what she wanted to drink. She replied that she didn’t have enough money to order anything, so he bought her a cup of tea and set up a chat in which they began to get to know each other.
She told him about her private life and her work as if they were lifelong friends and he listened. She liked getting that attention that she thought she was going to get in her London life and that she didn’t get. At that point, he still felt sorry for her, so, every time he got the chance, he tried to cheer her up by suggesting compliments and even flirted with her as a joke, not knowing that, eventually, she would take all those “jokes” seriously. ”.
Everything changed when the emails started arriving. For four years, the woman sent him 41,000 emails and, as soon as he got his phone number, he let him 350 hours of voice messages. The harassment quickly escalated from bad to worse, to the level of visiting him every day at work, sending him unwanted gifts, and attending all of his comedy shows.
Jessica Gunning played the stalker Martha Scott in the series “Reindeer Baby.” (Photo: Netflix)
As soon as Gadd tried to report his harasser, the police did not help him for not having enough evidence to incriminate her. Likewise, they questioned him about the time that had passed since everything had started, which, at that time, was already six months. However, in another interview, the comedian acknowledged that he did not want to criticize the authorities, since it was “public knowledge” that the institution “needs improvements.”
In some episodes of the series, which in English is titled Baby Reindeer, situations of sexual abuse are presented that Gadd himself confirmed. Although it did not occur in the same chronological order, that experience led him to create a play – titled “Monkey See Monkey Do”- for which he won an award in 2019 and which was the kickoff for the recently released proposal on Netflix.
Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning, interpreters of Donny and Martha in “Baby Reindeer.” (Photo: Netflix)
Also read: The real stalker from “Reindeer Baby” reappeared and anticipated that she will sue the creator of the series: “I am the victim”
In this sense, the writer assures that, despite how painful it was for him to represent all the dark events he went through during that stage of his life, making the series was part of a “healing” process. “I don’t want to speak for all people who have been sexually abused, but one of the most common ramifications is self-blame. ‘Why did I go there? Why did I do this? Why am I… blah, blah, blah?’ I have lived in a prison of self-hatred and self-punishment. But writing it chronologically and processing it… I guess I learned to be a little more empathetic with myself,” he said in The Independent.
