“Baby Reindeer” recounts the harassment suffered by comedian Richard Gadd in real life, an incident that was transformed into a fictional story that has become one of the most popular Netflix series.
The success and quality of this television production lead us to wonder about the truth behind the character of Martha (played by Jessica Gunning) and the true story that inspired her.
What happened to the real Martha from ‘Baby Reindeer’ and where is she now?
The true inspiration behind Martha’s character in Baby Reindeer is free. Since 2019, when the play on the subject was released, Gadd declared to the media that the person who harassed him respected the restraining order to protect his integrity and that of his family and friends.
Although the antagonist in the Netflix series received a nine-month prison sentence, the woman who inspired The character was not sentenced to effective imprisonment. In an interview with The Times, he suggested that jail was preferred to be avoided for “someone who was experiencing that level of mental distress.”
On the other hand, CQ noted that they took narrative liberties to prevent the real-life character from being identical to the fictional one, since their goal was to portray an “emotional truth” instead of allowing the stalker to recognize herself on screen. .
“We have done everything possible to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she recognizes herself,” the writer told the aforementioned magazine. He also did not reveal her name or give any clues about the woman.
The whereabouts of the real Martha from Baby Reindeer remains unknown. Richard Gadd chose to keep the person who harassed him anonymous, which has made it difficult for the press to track him down, even after the initial success of the play and then the Netflix series.
Baby Reindeer: the true story behind the Netflix series
For Richard Gadd, acting became a means to process the dramatic situations he had experienced. It is cathartic but also inevitable. In 2019, he wrote Baby Reindeer like a theatrical monologue that revealed the distressing experience of harassment he had suffered at the hands of a woman twenty years older than him.
The play, in which he himself acted, received praise during its season in London theaters and was nominated for the prestigious Olivier Awards.
Four years later, this dark story of obsession and emotional wounds comes to Netflix. With more than two and a half million views, Baby Reindeer In one week it went to the Top 10 of the most viewed series on the platform and, thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations, it could remain in that position for some time to come.
With a certain tinge of mystery, madness and uncertainty, the series is a captivating phenomenon. In just seven episodes, Gadd plays himself, albeit under the name Donny Dunn.
In the series, Martha is the name used for the woman who, in real life, sent Richard 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 handwritten letters from 2015 to 2017.
