Baby Reindeer writer and star Richard Gadd has told of the ‘triggering’ act of reliving his trauma for the Netflix series – and revealed he fought to keep its ending.
The hard-hitting adaptation of the play by the same name sees the Scottish comedian retell his own traumatic true story of being stalked over the course of several years, as well as his harrowing account of sexual abuse.
Richard’s character Donny Dunn is flooded with 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, 350 voicemails and 106 pages of letters from stalker Martha, played by Jess Gunning. The series also details Donny’s horrifying rape at the hands of his comedy mentor Darrien (Tom Goodman-Hill).
And the actor, 34, has opened up about what it was like to re-enact his trauma for the small screen – and how he hopes it will aid his healing process.
On reliving his ‘severe’ twenties, Richard told Attitude: ‘It’s hugely challenging, but I hope for catharsis when the show comes out.’
Baby Reindeer writer and star Richard Gadd told Attitude earlier this month of the ‘triggering’ act of reliving his trauma for the Netflix series – and revealed he fought to keep its ending (Pictured on Thursday)
Richard’s character Donny Dunn is flooded with 40,000 emails, 740 tweets, 350 voicemails and hundreds of letters from stalker Martha, played by Jess Gunning (pictured)
In an ending that shocked, and confused, many viewers, the shattering series sees Donny visit his rapist Darrien in the final episode in an attempt to process everything, but overcome with emotion he later collapses on the street.
Donny then turns to the rambling, and sometimes complimentary, voicemails from now-convicted Martha for comfort.
But the unexpected final scenes are how Richard was determined to end the show, he revealed, something that received some push-back.
‘I always wanted to end the show that way because that’s the cycle of trauma, and I fought so hard to keep it ending that way,’ he said.
Speaking to Forbes on Saturday, Richard, who is from Wormit in Fife, explained why the ending was so important.
He said: ‘I like the surprise of going back to Darrien’s door. I love the surprise of listening to the voicemails.
‘I just think there’s a deep psychology to it that I really like the idea of someone being so lonely and so isolated that they decide to listen to their old stalker’s voicemails.’
Richard and his team went to ‘great lengths’ to protect the identities of those in the series, resulting in slight alterations to the story.
The hard-hitting adaptation of the play by the same name sees the Scottish comedian retell his own traumatic true story of being stalked over the course of several years, as well as his harrowing account of sexual abuse
Richard, 34, has opened up about what it was like to re-enact his trauma for the small screen – and how he hopes it will aid his healing process
Mirroring Richard’s tale, Martha becomes obsessed with the actor-writer after he gives her a free cup of tea in the boozer
But nevertheless the tale is completely his own, he says, adding: ‘It’s probably even more close to the truth than I’d care to admit in a lot of ways.’
After offering a woman a free cup of tea at the pub where he pulled pints, Richard was flooded with communication in a harassment case that spanned over five years.
Despite telling police, there was unfortunately not much they could do because the unwelcome communication was not ‘obviously’ threatening.
Using his trauma, Richard created the play, and now series, called Baby Reindeer – a nickname his stalker had given him.
Reframing his own dreadful experience, the hair-raising show centres around the life of comedian hopeful Donny and his harasser Martha.
Mirroring Richard’s tale, Martha becomes obsessed with the actor-writer after he gives her a free cup of tea in the boozer.
Initially Donny appreciates the attention from Martha – and even sometimes flirts back.
On reliving his ‘severe’ twenties, Richard told Attitude : ‘It’s hugely challenging, but I hope for catharsis when the show comes out’
However as Martha begins to cross boundaries as we see their friendly encounter turn into a terrifying tale, unearthing Donny’s past trauma of sexual abuse.
‘Stalking on television tends to be very sexed-up,’ Richard told Netflix.
‘It has a mystique. It’s somebody in a dark alley way. It’s somebody who’s really sexy, who’s very normal, but then they go strange bit by bit.
‘But stalking is a mental illness. I really wanted to show the layers of stalking with a human quality I hadn’t seen on television before.’
The real-life Martha is now required by law not to approach Richard or any of his friends or family.
