Baby Reindeer real vs dramatized: The chilling true story behind comedian Richard Gadd’s stalking ordeal and horrific sexual assault

Comedian Richard Gadd’s raw, powerful and honest Netflix hit Baby Reindeer ensures that viewers cannot look away.

Baby Reindeer delves into Richard’s harrowing real-life stalking ordeal and brutal sexual abuse, and sees the Scottish actor play a fictionalized version of himself called Donny Dunn.

Throughout the series, Donny is pursued by a woman named Martha (played by Jessica Gunning) as she calls, messages and writes to him relentlessly, and stalks him at the bar where he works, at home and at his comedy gigs.

The story becomes darker and darker as each episode passes and as Martha’s obsession intensifies and later becomes physical, Donny is forced to remember his past trauma related to sexual abuse.

But how much of the series is true to reality, as Richard painfully relives his trauma on the small screen?

FACT

Richard first met his real-life stalker after he offered “a crying stranger a cup of tea” when she entered the bar where he worked in 2015.

But the woman’s obsession grew. She began invading his life by following him and even waiting outside his house – with her stalking lasting four and a half years.

She harassed him during his performances and abused his parents, even endangering his livelihood by calling him a pedophile among his colleagues.

Initially, Richard’s friends saw the funny side in his stalker’s attention to the actor [previously saying: ‘At first everyone at the pub thought it was funny that I had an admirer. 

‘Then she started to invade my life, following me, turning up at my gigs, waiting outside my house, sending thousands of voicemails and emails.’

Netflix said that every single email shown in the series was a real message sent from the stalker to Richard.

However the stalker also gave him items such as sleeping pills, a woolly hat, a pair of brand new boxer shorts and a stuffed reindeer toy – something Martha did not do in the series.

It was ‘years’ before the police eventually took Richard’s complaints seriously and six years before they finally intervened, he previously told The Times – something which prolonged the agony for everyone involved, including his relatives. 

Throughout the series, Donny is hounded by a woman called Martha (pictured) – played by Jessica Gunning – as she relentlessly calls, messages, and writes him, as well as stalking him at the bar he works, at home and at his comedy gigs

The tale gets progressively darker as each episode passes and as Martha’s obsession intensifies, and later becomes physical

The police told him at the time that unless his stalker became physically violent, there was little they could do to resolve the issue. 

Richard was forced to prove there was a danger by recording his stalker’s voicemails and combing through them to find instances of her threatening him or those close to him. 

But despite her affecting his life for years, he has since said that he feels sorry for her, adding that she is a victim of a ‘failed system’.

He told The Independent at the time: ‘I can’t emphasise enough how much of a victim she is in all this.

‘Stalking and harassment is a form of mental illness. It would have been wrong to paint her as a monster, because she’s unwell, and the system’s failed her.’

He told The Guardian that because she was not getting the assistance she needed, ‘her instability would just come down the phone at me every day.’

Richard said that the woman, whose real identity remains unknown, drove a ‘freight train’ through his ability to have a normal life and relationships.  

He has said he still finds it hard to trust people and has had ‘every therapy going’. 

The show also delves into Richard’s sexual assault and rape years earlier, at the hands of a comedy mentor – however the actor has not revealed any details about the real Darrien or the circumstances surrounding the abuse he suffered.

Although their encounter initially begins as a friendly chat, Martha crosses several boundaries unearthing Donny’s past trauma

Baby Reindeer delves into Richard’s harrowing real-life stalking ordeal and brutal sexual abuse – and sees the Scottish actor play a fictionalised version of himself, called Donny Dunn (pictured)

FICTION 

While much of what happened to Richard was true, details about those involved were changed to safeguard their identities. 

Richard has not revealed the real name and identity of Martha meaning it is incredibly hard to find out where she is now. 

‘We’ve gone to such great lengths to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognise herself,’ Richard told GQ about the portrayal of his stalker in Baby Reindeer. 

Richard has said that he kept identifiable details about the real stalker as he does not see Martha as a villain but rather someone who was very mentally unwell and was not being provided the help she needed.

‘She needs help, but she’s not getting any,’ he previously told The Guardian. 

The show went to such lengths to avoid doing impressions of the real people it was based on that actress Jess Gunning, who plays Martha, refrained from delving too much into the real stalker’s past.  

One of the major plot points in the show that was different from what happened in reality, appears to be Martha’s conviction. 

Baby Reindeer delves into Richard’s harrowing real-life stalking ordeal and brutal sexual abuse – and sees the Scottish actor play a fictionalised version of himself, called Donny Dunn

In the show, Martha is charged with, and pleads guilty to, three counts of stalking and harassment and is sentenced to nine months in prison. Donny is granted a five-year restraining order against Martha and he never sees her again after the plea hearing.

However while Richard was indeed granted a restraining order against his stalker in real life, he told The Times that he ‘didn’t want to throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell in prison’.

According to The Guardian, Richard’s stalker was ‘still at large’ around the time that Baby Reindeer debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019. 

And rather than never hearing from her again, the real stalker harassed Richard’s friends and family until recently at that point. 

Due to it being TV, the timeline of events was also rearranged to make for a more cohesive plotline.