Baby Reindeer cleaned up at the Emmys 2024, with the hit Netflix show picking up four trophies at the event.
Three of those four awards were for Richard Gadd and his role writing, acting and executive producing the show, with Baby Reindeer picking up best limited or anthology series, best writing for an anthology series or movie and best lead actor in a limited or anthology series. Meanwhile, Jessica Gunning who played Martha was named best supporting actress in a limited series.
The show sees comedian Richard Gadd turn his experiences with a female stalker into a series. In the show, which began as a one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe, Gadd explores his own culpability and how the law didn’t support him or others like him.
This is amid news that the Metropolitan Police has reported a “stark rise” in the number of stalking cases, and ONS statistics have estimated that 2.5 million people every year experience stalking in England and Wales.
So what is Baby Reindeer about and to what extent is it a true story?
Here’s everything to know about Gadd’s story and the real Martha Scott from Baby Reindeer.
What is Baby Reindeer about?
The show sees Gadd’s fictionalised character, Donny Dunn, develop a warped and complicated relationship with a woman named Martha after meeting her at the bar where he works. Although she initially appears to be friendly, her behaviour unravels into stalking – in real life and over social media. What begins as an act of kindness soon becomes into something much more sinister for them both.
Although the show certainly explores the dark side of Gadd’s story, there is also some comedy — after all, he is a comedian!
Ed Miller/Netflix
Is Baby Reindeer a true story?
Gadd has been very open about the fact that he was stalked for four years by a woman who called him “Baby Reindeer”. Apparently, she constantly followed him to his comedy gigs and even showed up at his house. She sent Gadd a staggering 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters. She also sent him an array of slightly sinister gifts — sleeping pills, a woolly hat, brand new boxer shorts and a reindeer toy.