The countdown for the release of the much-awaited comic & psychological thriller Baby Reindeer has begun. Baby Reindeer will be released on Netflix on April 11, 2024. Directed by Weronika Tofilska & additional Director Josephine Bornebusch, Baby Reindeer features Richard Gadd playing Donny Dunn, an aspiring stand-up comic, and Jessica Gunning plays Martha, a woman who forms an attachment to Donny. Apart from them Baby Reindeer also features Nava Mau Tom Goodman-Hill and more in the leading roles. Baby Reindeer is a true story based on the personal experience of actor Richard Gadd who was subjected to years of stalking by her female fan. Now, the question arises who was Donny Dunn or Richard Gadd's real-life stalker?
Who was Richard Gadd aka Donny Dunn's stalker?
The real name of Richard Gadd's female stalker was never revealed. However, as mentioned above Richard Gadd's female stalker name is Martha as shown in the series. Baby Reindeer is among those rare series in which an actor has made a series based on his personal experience of stalking.
As per Richard Gadd, the female stalker regularly pursued him for several years, leaving him living in fear and frustration as he was unable to ascertain a restraining order while she technically kept within the confines of the law while sending him countless messages and voicemails - over 41,000 in three years.
Guardian quoted Richard narrating his harrowing experience of stalking saying, "It felt like I’d expunged the demons of one person who had caused me so much grief, only so that she [his stalker] could take centre stage in his place. It felt so awfully ironic."
Richard further stated, "I hadn’t quite grasped it yet. If I’d rushed it a year ago, it would have just been a victim narrative. And everyone would have come out saying ‘oh you’re so brave, and well done for doing this’." He added, "Which is emphatically not the show he went on to make... It would be unfair to say she was an awful person and I was a victim."
Richard Gadd opens up about his stalker
As per reports, Gadd wrote an essay for Netflix, explaining how (fictional name) Martha's stalking tormented him. He detailed his experience writing, "Sometimes in the pit of despair, inspiration emerges. I was now in the fourth year of being stalked, by a woman, whose only skill greater than her ability to harass was her ability to evade the law."
"She had somehow just obtained my mobile number and I was at the peak of my career at that point, having just returned from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where I had won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Monkey See Monkey Do. A show which tackled the sexual abuse I suffered when I first got into the industry. It was a big moment for me. Coming clean with what happened after so many years of suffering in silence."