Is ‘Baby Reindeer’ Based On A True Story?

Despite the seemingly cutesy title, Baby Reindeer is very much an intense and adult TV show. Indeed, one of the main points of the show seems to be that things may not be how they first appear, and that everyone has a lot going on under the surface in ways that we often can’t even comprehend.

Baby Reindeer is a Netflix original drama-thriller miniseries that has had audiences riveted and reeling since it premiered on the platform on April 11, 2024.

Created by and starring Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, the show follows a struggling comedian named Donny (Gadd), whose act of kindness to a vulnerable woman named Martha (Jessica Gunning) leads her to become obsessed with Donny, stalking and harassing him to the point it could completely unravel both of their lives forever. Their complex and unhealthy relationship also forces Donny to eventually confront a deeply buried trauma he had already been living with.

Is Baby Reindeer based on a true story? Here’s everything you need to know about the show’s origins.

Is Baby Reindeer on Netflix Based on a True Story? 

Yes, it is, in fact, based on a true story. Before it became a Netflix title, Baby Reindeer existed as Richard Gadd’s award-winning one-man show that he premiered at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. And before it was ever put up on stage, the story was lived by Gadd in real life.

In 2015, Gadd was working at a London pub when a woman entered, engaging in conversation. After that first encounter, she harassed Gadd for three years, routinely returning to his place of work, attending all his comedy gigs, sending over 41,000 emails, and leaving him over 350 hours of voicemails.

The woman’s current whereabouts and identity both remain unknown to the public, in large part due to the empathy Gadd has shown her in acknowledging that the behavior is likely due to mental illness, and also in part because of the legal system’s failure to properly and promptly handle stalking cases.

Baby Reindeer also portrays traumatic moments of sexual assault that are pulled from another real experience of Gadd’s. In his 2016 Edinburgh Fringe solo show, Monkey See Monkey Do, Gadd recounted being sexually abused by a man he’d met at a party when he was in his early 20s, which went on to inform the depiction of Donny’s abuse at the hands of established TV writer Darrien (Tom Goodman-Hill).

Is There a Trailer for Baby Reindeer?

Yes there is. You can watch it now at the top of this article.

Baby Reindeer is currently streaming on Netflix.