Baby Reindeer: Find out what happened in real life, but the Netflix phenomenon series didn’t show

Since joining the Netflix catalogue, “Baby Rena” has continued to become a worldwide phenomenon. The series explores the shocking experience of creator and protagonist, Richard Gadd, who was stalked and abused by a woman over the course of a few years. However, not everything that happened in real life was included in the adaptation.

Gadd’s idea to create the attraction came from his show, performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in August 2019, when he was 30 years old. Consisting of seven episodes, the series sees the comedian playing the role of Donny Dunn, which was based on himself. When adapting the play for TV, he decided to make some adjustments, such as protecting the identity of his real stalker.

Played by Jessica Gunning, the stalker is called Martha in the series, however, this is not her real name. In an interview with Radio Times, the actress revealed that “has purposely decided not to know much about the real person as it doesn’t help her much“. “I’m not imitating her. All I’m doing is playing this character, so I didn’t do any backstory other than what was in the scripts.“, he explained.

In the series, Gadd does not reveal the number of messages and other forms of contact from his stalker. However, the viewer is able to notice her mental state through the incessant attempts throughout the plot. Although he does not reveal the exact number in the attraction, the creator told Screen Rant that there were 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voice messages, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters.

In real life, the stalker also sent several gifts, including a bottle of sleeping pills, a woolly hat, underwear and a toy reindeer, The Independent reported. The name of the series, in fact, refers to the nickname she gave the comedian and the plush sent to him. In contrast, Martha does not present Donny at the attraction. In the last scene, Donny hears a voicemail from the stalker, in which she explains that she calls him that way because of his similarities to a reindeer toy she had as a child.

During the trial, it was established that Martha harassed Donny from August 2015 to March 2017. Richard’s digital records confirmed the timeline, which matches the accounts shown in the series. The chase took place while Gadd was on tour with “Monkey See Monkey Do”, a show first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2016.

The production does not portray the creator developing the show in question, however the themes were integrated into the script, which also explores the sexual abuse he suffered. Gadd chose to portray Donny as having an improvised outburst during a show, which did not occur in real life.

The character was not the only one to be pursued by Martha. The series also shows the stalker tormenting his ex-girlfriend, Keeley, played by Shalom Brune-Franklin, with messages on Facebook and calls to her parents. Played by Nava Mau, Teri, Donny’s love interest, is also physically attacked by the stalker.

At the end of the adaptation, Martha is arrested and sentenced to nine months in prison. The protagonist, in turn, obtains a five-year restraining order against her. However, Gadd chose not to take legal action against her in real life and cited mental disorders. In an interview with The Times, he stated that this issue is “resolved“, adding that he had “mixed feelings about this“, then “I didn’t want to throw someone with that level of mental illness into prison“.

Currently, the series leads Netflix’s most watched list and will have a reinforced campaign for the Emmys. Watch the trailer: