Baby Reindeer is based on a true story, but the ending of the miniseries is different from what really happened – News Series – as seen on the Web

The miniseries changed some elements about the stalker to respect her anonymity.

There were 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voice messages, 744 tweets and 106 pages of letters. Screenwriter, actor and comedian Richard Gadd was harassed for 4 and a half years by a woman. Throughout the time his stalker was “active,” not only was he the object of her obsession, but the comedian’s surroundings were also threatened.

A real, terrible and traumatic experience, the author turned his experience into the subject of a play in 2019. After gaining notoriety in the United Kingdom, the autobiographical story became a Netflix production: a miniseries of seven episodes lasting just 30 minutes called Baby Reindeer, which quickly became a success on the platform and can now be considered one of the best series of 2024.

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Marked by a disturbing narrative, the plot inspired by the true story delves deeper into the comedian’s story beyond the main case, something responsible for touching on very delicate topics. Although “it never strays too far from reality”, as the creator claimed to GQ when stating that some aspects were preserved or changed to protect the people involved in the case.

The character played by Jessica Gunning in the Netflix miniseries responds to the same name that Richard Gadd dedicated to her in his play, but the reality is that the creator and protagonist never revealed the real name of the woman who harassed him, as well as her true profession. or the physical characteristics to which he responded.

“We did everything possible to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she recognizes herself”, explains the screenwriter in the same interview. A decision taken, it seems, more for the sake of victim empathy than to avoid any type of legal consequence. “[Quando há representações fictícias de eventos reais] things need to change to protect people,” he told Radio Times.

Aware that his stalker had a mental health issue, Gadd never wanted to expose the real Martha, whom he describes as a person in need of help. In fact, although in the series Martha ends up having to serve 9 months in prison for harassing and threatening Donny and his team for years, in real life the comedian did not want prison for a person with psychological disorders.

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In Baby Reindeer, Martha pleads guilty to the charges and is sentenced to nine months in prison, while Donny also receives a five-year restraining order against Martha. In real life, Gadd also received a restraining order against her real-life stalker, but there was no prison sentence.

This was revealed by The Times in a recent article: “It’s settled. I had mixed feelings about it: I didn’t want to send someone with that level of mental distress to prison,” he said.

In September 2019, when the play premiered, Gadd had already said that “Martha” was free and that, although she had respected the restraining order, she had only recently stopped harassing her friends and family, speculating that seeing Baby’s play Rena “made her think twice about her behavior.”

*Translation from a partner site of QuandoCinema