Why arguing about Baby Reindeer sleuths will change the real drama forever

Baby reindeer was intended to be an up-close, complex – even funny – look at mental health issues and the way patients can feed off each other’s various illnesses. According to millions of fans around the world, the Netflix drama achieved these tough goals. But the show, which shot to the streamer’s No. 1 spot, is now also likely to change the way fictionalized crime is viewed.

The fictional series tells an intimate personal story that the show’s writer, Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, has already explored in a number of critically acclaimed one-man theater shows. It follows a depressed Scottish bartender named Donny, played by Gadd, as he becomes entangled in the life of a female customer, “Martha Scott,” who stalks him and sends him more than 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets. 46 Facebook messages, 106 pages of letters and the torpedoing of his other relationships.

The last few days are the writer, the actors – and the real people portrayed in them Baby reindeer – are engaged in a fiery debate, driven by the work of determined social media sleuths, involving lawyers and the police. A misidentified high profile man is threatening legal action against those who suggested he was guilty of a sex crime portrayed in the show.

Media lawyer Mark Stephens of Howard Kennedy said: “The new culture of people trying to solve a crime or become internet detectives is incredibly dangerous. Of course, program makers like to say it’s a true story, but it’s only a matter of time until an investigation is botched by amateurs, perhaps by spoiling a crime scene or damaging evidence.

“We may now have entered the stage of true crime entertainment, where we need warnings to viewers and listeners saying, ‘Please don’t investigate this yourself,’ as has already been presented to a jury. It is certainly possible that drama makers will have to go further to disguise people, routinely changing some basic things, not just names, to avoid identifying or misidentifying people.”

Nigel Tait, managing partner at law firm Carter-Ruck and head of the defamation and media department, says television producers are only liable for what they release. “That’s what it’s all about legally. What people do online next has nothing to do with them. If they took any care, it’s not really their responsibility. However, an internet platform can be held responsible if they were notified and did not remove anything.”

The actor who plays the stalker, Jessica Gunning, has received critical acclaim for her portrayal, but last week called on fans to stop tracking down the real woman involved, a convicted serial killer. “It’s a real shame,” Gunning said, “because it shows they didn’t watch the show properly.” But the momentum created by Baby reindeer proved impossible to stop. A vulnerable woman singled out by internet sleuths as the likely perpetrator has now come forward. Her own personal details make her claim that she’s the real “Martha” convincing, and her responses certainly match the tone of the show’s emails, which Gadd drew from real conversations with his stalker.

Two days ago, she posted on social media, claiming she barely knows the “failed comedian” and has been “attacked by crazy stalkers on the internet.” She added: “I was in the company of Richard Gadd on occasion, but I did not stalk him as he claims.” Her version of events is disputed.

Gadd himself has called on viewers to restrain themselves. On his Instagram account, he pleaded: “Please don’t speculate on who could be some of the real people. That is not the intention of our show.”

He also explained the efforts made to protect those portrayed. “We put so much effort into disguising her to the point that I don’t think she would recognize herself… What has been borrowed is an emotional truth, not a factual profile of someone.”

Although Gadd is in the more powerful position of storyteller here, he is also a victim: someone who has made mistakes, as he admits in the drama, and who struggled with depression after surviving sexual abuse by an influential figure in the entertainment world. , “Darrien”, a real man, unknown until now.

In the show, Donny blames his initial delayed reporting of Martha’s stalking on his recent experiences with abuse, explaining: “When it came to the point of going to the police, I couldn’t understand the irony of reporting her, but not him, just can’t bear it. There was always the feeling that she was sick, that she couldn’t do anything about it, while he was a pernicious, manipulative groomer. Giving in to her was giving in to him, and I hadn’t let him in with anyone yet.

Many viewers of the show – made by British company Clerkenwell Films – point out that while ‘Martha’ is portrayed sensitively, in a story first told in the 2019 show Baby reindeerthe show’s real ‘villain’ is ‘Darrien’ (played by Tom Goodman-Hill), an abuser discussed in Gadd’s previous 2016 show, Copycat. Fueled by anger, fans forensically examine the comedian’s career for ties to the guilty man.

Last week, Tony-nominated actor, writer and director Sean Foley was wrongly accused of being the inspiration for the character. When Gadd came out in support and asked people to stop, Foley quickly posted on

West Midlands Police have confirmed they are investigating reports of threatening messages on social media. “The investigation is at an early stage and we are gathering information from the victim,” they said.

Legal ramifications aside, a moral row still rages. Even some admirers of the show suggest it should not have been made. Yet Michaela Coel’s huge critical hit is the BBC’s I can destroy you, was another popular drama that depicted real-life trauma. In 2018, Coel confirmed to an audience at the Edinburgh TV Festival that she survived a sexual assault like the one on her show. “Part of my heart hopes that people who have had traumatic experiences will watch this and feel less alone,” she has said.

For Sam Hobkinson, director of the Netflix documentary Lover, stalker, murderer, about the Cari Farver case, viewers will always be hungry for true stories: “And once something is watched by so many millions, it takes on a life of its own. There is a duty to realize that fact, and in our experience every care has been taken to do so. Even with our story, one that is in the public domain, we saw how careful you have to be.”