Whenever we see “based on a true story,” our curiosity skyrockets by 1000 percent, regardless of whether the production is good or not; we just want to watch it, and an example is Baby Reindeer.
This Netflix series, which at first glance seems like a walking comedy, the reality is that it’s not funny at all, except for the first three episodes.
Behind the laughter lies a terrible case that marked a person’s life forever. What’s most striking is that the protagonist, Richard Gadd, is also the real victim of Baby Reindeer, although the name is changed to Donny Dunn.
The traumas of the terrible events he had to face, he channeled them into art. Originally it was a play, and now it is a seven-episode miniseries that premiered on Netflix.
The real story behind Baby Reindeer
Richard had the dream of becoming a comedian, so he worked very hard, and unfortunately, he dealt with a series of events that would change him completely.
Under the promise of making him succeed, Gadd suffered abuse several times by Darrian, a powerful man in the British comedy world, played by actor Tom Goodman-Hill, and in real life, he was never reported.
For the protagonist and real victim, this wasn’t the only thing. He also suffered harassment from a woman whom he tried to cover her identity under the name Martha. He confessed that he saw her as a vulnerable person and that it might involve her mental health.
This person became obsessed with him in real life and sent him 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, and 106 handwritten letters from 2015 to 2017.
The series portrays from how they met to the moment when the woman appeared everywhere. His career as a comedian wasn’t going very well, so he accepted her compliments, felt lonely, and the attention she gave him made him feel good.
Even when presenting his monologue about this case, he confessed to The Independent that he had some responsibility because, he said, “I encouraged the situation before realizing how dangerous it was.”
Martha would have found out everything about him. She researched what he did, found his email, and followed him to his stand-up shows. Richard considered it normal until he found out where he lived, and she became his shadow.
In fact, in 2016, he was presented with the opportunity to participate in a performing arts festival in Edinburgh. At that time, Gadd was in a romance with a transgender woman who is presented as Teri in the series. Martha also began to harass her.
Desperate, he tried to file a report against this woman; unfortunately, the process to issue a restraining order was, as he described, “frustrating and cumbersome.”
What happened to Martha in real life?
After the torment Richard lived through, it seems that life did justice. The series shows that Martha is arrested and sentenced to nine months in prison, in addition to a five-year restraining order, and she never sees Donny again.
In real life, Gadd obtained a restraining order against this woman, but she never went to prison. In fact, he never sought to have her behind bars. He explained that he still had mixed feelings about his decision but considered the situation resolved.
“It would have been a mistake to paint her as a monster because she is sick, and the system has failed her,” he told the cited medium.
There is no doubt reliving these quite intense episodes for him was complicated, but liberating. All he wants is to convey his message.
This story was written in spanish by Nayeli Párraga in Cultura Colectiva
