Some of the most shocking details didn't make it into “Baby Reindeer.” Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at significant aspects of Richard Gadd’s life that were either tweaked or omitted from this Netflix series.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 "How did you get my email?" "Oh, off your website. I mean, you shouldn't have it on there,
00:04 any so-and-so could get it." "Yeah, I'm starting to realize that."
00:08 Welcome to Ms Mojo, and today we're looking at significant aspects of Richard Gadd's life
00:13 that were either tweaked or omitted from the Netflix series Baby Reindeer.
00:17 This naturally entails spoilers. "It's got her hurt, giving it away so easily after managing
00:23 to keep it from her for so long. Why is that helpful?" Gadd's other TV credits
00:31 Donnie Dunn, the semi-autobiographical version of Richard Gadd, is introduced as a struggling
00:37 comic whose brand of anti-comedy isn't breaking the mold as he had hoped. These scenes mirror
00:42 Gadd's early struggles in stand-up comedy, but the series overlooks his various TV gigs.
00:47 "But that's the thing with London, a red carpet's for no one. It's like waking up one day to find
00:52 yourself a background artist in a cast of millions." Before the Stalker first approached him in 2015,
00:58 Gadd most notably appeared in an episode of the sitcom Scott Squad. During the period when Gadd
01:04 was being stalked, he received two writing credits on the late-night series The Last Leg.
01:09 Since the Stalker exited his life, Gadd has co-written an episode of Sex Education and
01:14 popped up on an episode of Outlander. "Captain's not coming. He sent us to inspect the goods."
01:19 "But that wasn't the arrangement." "Arrangements changed."
01:22 His other acting credits include shows like Wedding Season, Click, and Code 404,
01:28 possessing a more impressive resume than Donnie. "Bigger gigs, better crowds,
01:33 everyone suddenly wanted a piece of me, and my career sprung into surprising action."
01:38 Gadd's reflections on the police. "Read the email. You shouldn't be allowed to send someone
01:42 something like that. If anything, her email implies that she's going to stay away from you."
01:46 "Oh my God, I really think you're missing the point here." Despite the constant harassment
01:49 from Martha, Donnie can't get the police to intervene until he brings them evidence of a
01:54 threat. Gadd draws upon his real-life frustrations as he went around in circles with the authorities
02:00 until action was finally taken. "But it took you having to prove there was a threat of physical
02:04 violence for them to take you seriously." "Yeah, absolutely. I think it always felt like a long
02:09 and convoluted process. It always felt way more, way, way, way more difficult than it ever needed
02:15 to be." Based on Baby Reindeer, one might assume that Gadd hates the police. In a 2019 interview,
02:21 though, Gadd stated, quote, "It's not their fault. It's the lack of funding, the lack of training,
02:27 the lack of understanding, the lack of support for the victims. Even the police have come out
02:31 and admitted that their attitudes to harassment are wrong and flawed." While Gadd believes the
02:36 institution needs serious changes, he has met some, quote, "good" police officers in his time,
02:42 feeling, quote, "they did try their best." "Yeah, it was a frustrating process,
02:46 but I know a lot of people who've been through it have had it even more difficult than me, so,
02:51 yeah. So, yeah, I think there's a widespread belief that it needs to change,
02:55 the fundamental change needs to happen." Gadd's work with We Are Survivors
02:59 Baby Reindeer leaves Donnie on an ambiguous note, suggesting that he may never be able to move
03:10 forward after the trauma he's experienced. While Gadd is still healing, he's arrived at a more
03:15 hopeful place. Part of that is thanks to the support he's received from We Are Survivors,
03:20 which is dedicated to helping men who have endured abuse.
03:24 "It begins a conversation, and when we can have a conversation within society,
03:28 that's when culture changes, and that's when people begin to feel more kind of able to
03:34 express themselves." Through this UK charity, Gadd has connected with other male survivors,
03:39 who shared a crucial piece of advice, quote, "break the silence." Gadd found that the first
03:45 step is to talk with someone or write it down if you can't say the words out loud.
03:49 While Gadd doesn't consider himself a professional advice giver, he's found that, quote,
03:54 "the more you get it out, the smaller it becomes."
03:57 "I do feel like if something like Baby Reindeer was out when I was going through these things,
04:00 I would have perhaps felt less alone, and that's, and so these messages I'm getting from people,
04:05 and all the comments online and everything like that, it really does feel good when people are
04:10 like I've been through something like this, and this has provided me great comfort."
04:12 "No, exactly."
04:14 How many messages the stalker left
04:16 By the end of Baby Reindeer, Martha has left Donnie enough voicemails to fill
04:20 several podcast episodes, and enough printable messages to consume a wall.
04:24 "I listened to her on every bus ride, every tube journey,
04:28 in the street between meetings. She was there in my ears all the time."
04:33 Donnie doesn't spell out exactly how many times Martha harassed him, however.
04:37 Gadd, meanwhile, tallied virtually every interaction with his stalker.
04:41 According to Gadd, the stalker sent him 41,071 emails, 744 tweets,
04:48 and 46 Facebook messages across four different Facebook accounts.
04:52 "Oh my God, oh, sorry, Reindeer. I'm a nightmare, I know.
04:56 Just getting carried away with myself. I'm just not very good with the competition, see?
05:01 Tends to bring out the worst in me."
05:02 Although Baby Reindeer mainly focuses on the digital realm,
05:07 the stalker also sent Gadd physical letters, amounting to 106 pages.
05:12 Her voicemails were especially lengthy, with 350 hours of tirades to trek through.
05:18 According to Netflix, every email depicted in the show is real,
05:23 but given the sheer volume, Baby Reindeer clearly only scratched the surface.
05:28 "It became an obsession. I ignored work calls, cancelled gigs and interviews,
05:32 devoted my life to unpacking the mystery of Martha, why she was the way that she was.
05:37 I'm not sure I ever got close to finding the answer."
05:40 Monkey see, monkey do. As Baby Reindeer ends, Donnie's career begins to take off,
05:46 although it doesn't delve deep into the success Gadd would find over the following years.
05:50 "I got a catharsis from going to the Edinburgh Festival and actually performing these plays
05:54 and exploring the themes and just getting it all out there and I achieved sort of acceptance around
06:00 them." Gadd naturally went on to create an Olivier Award-winning stage show entitled Baby Reindeer,
06:06 which this series is based on. Three years earlier, though, Gadd worked through his trauma
06:11 and insecurities in another one-man show, Monkey See, Monkey Do.
06:15 "I think people see the sort of the stars and they see the sort of award and they think this is
06:20 this is gonna be a laugh a minute but then they get hit with some of the sort of darker."
06:23 This Edinburgh comedy award-winning production put Gadd on a treadmill as he tried to outrun
06:27 a gorilla, which likely represented something more disturbing. The popularity of Monkey See,
06:33 Monkey Do reflects Donnie's viral breakdown in the Netflix series, which brings Martha back into
06:38 Donnie's orbit. Likewise, Gadd's stalker amplified her toxic presence in his life as Monkey See,
06:44 Monkey Do became a breakout hit. Gifts the stalker sent.
06:48 "Picnic fun times with my favorite reindeer. Give me your number, we can arrange."
06:52 Baby Reindeer isn't just a pet name the stalker gave Gadd. While not depicted in the series,
06:58 the stalker also sent Gadd a reindeer toy. In the closing scene, Donnie listens to a voicemail from
07:04 Martha detailing the origins of the nickname, saying that she felt a similar attachment to
07:09 a reindeer toy from her childhood. "I'd hug it when they fought.
07:15 And they fought a lot, you know. Well, you are this bit of that reindeer."
07:23 The toy is never seen in the show, although the symbolism is self-explanatory enough.
07:30 The same can't be said about the other items that Gadd received from his stalker,
07:33 including sleeping pills, a fresh pair of boxer shorts, and a woolly hat.
07:38 It's unclear why Gadd left this out of the show, but then again,
07:41 it's also cryptic why the stalker sent these gifts in the first place.
07:44 "What's the matter, nipple?"
07:46 "No, nothing, it's just you've spent quite a lot here."
07:49 "Well, it's a special birthday this year, my 43rd no less, and I get to spend it with you."
07:54 The Stalker's True Punishment
07:56 After uncovering a threatening voicemail, Donnie is allowed to take legal action against Martha
08:10 at long last, pleading guilty to three counts of stalking. Martha is sentenced to nine months
08:15 in prison, while Donnie is protected through a five-year restraining order.
08:19 "I will ask the CPS to prepare a pre-sentencing report,
08:22 that you will remain in custody until then."
08:25 In reality, Gadd hasn't gone into the specifics of what happened to his stalker,
08:32 although he told The Times that it's been, quote, "resolved." Discussing the outcome,
08:37 Gadd said, quote, "I had mixed feelings about it. I didn't want to throw someone who was that
08:41 level of mentally unwell in prison." While it's vague if the stalker actually served prison time,
08:47 a restraining order was taken out, and Gadd didn't hear from her after the Baby Reindeer
08:52 stage production started gaining attention.
08:54 "Rock bottom, and I wanted to get that in. I wanted to show
08:56 the nuances of the human condition, really. I wanted to show that people are a mixture of good
09:01 and bad, and I think stalker stories usually tend to be one person's good, one person's bad,
09:06 and I wanted to kind of get away from that."
09:08 Terry's farewell voicemail
09:10 "The more and more I fell for her. You know something's right, don't you? When you get
09:14 that tingly feeling behind your eyes when you talk to them."
09:16 Baby Reindeer sees Donnie develop a romantic relationship with a trans woman named Terry,
09:21 played by Nava Mau. After a series of ups and downs, Terry breaks up with Donnie for good,
09:27 finding that his insecurities are holding them both back from happiness.
09:30 "Hold on, hold on. Are you breaking up with me because of her?"
09:35 "No, because of you."
09:40 According to Mau, there was originally a more optimistic parting between Donnie and Terry.
09:45 In the script, Terry left Donnie a voicemail about five months down the line. Mau took comfort in the
09:51 scene, but it was ultimately abandoned on the cutting room floor. It's uncertain why Gadd
09:55 decided to remove this moment or if he received such a voicemail in real life. In any case,
10:00 it gave Mau a sense of closure knowing that Terry was in a good place.
10:04 "You have to have that surge of hope that she has, which then leads to the heartbreak of it."
10:15 The Stalker's real name
10:16 Chances are you've already googled Martha Scott coming up short. Although the series is based on
10:22 personal experiences, Gadd made a conscious effort not to use his Stalker's real name.
10:27 He also changed certain aspects of her life, but tried to remain as faithful as possible.
10:32 "I always thought it was strange that she painted herself as a busy person,
10:36 as though she could trick me into thinking she's not spending all of her time hanging around."
10:39 Beyond legal reasons, Gadd felt obligated to protect his Stalker's identity,
10:45 feeling that she was also a victim struggling with mental health. As such, Gadd doesn't want
10:51 audiences trying to figure out who the real Stalker is, although that hasn't stopped people
10:55 from speculating. An anonymous woman claiming to be the Stalker has since spoken out about the show,
11:00 saying that she's received death threats. Whether or not this woman truly inspired Martha,
11:05 both are Scottish with law backgrounds.
11:08 "Just be honest. I mean, I've overseen some of the biggest cases in the world.
11:13 Hollywood, you name it. I can handle anything."
11:17 Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about
11:22 our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
11:27 If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
11:31 The Identity of Gadd's Groomer
11:35 "But when a writer sweeps you off your feet and says, 'Hey, you've got it, kid. Let's make you
11:43 famous,' you believe every word he's gonna say to you."
11:48 Just when the audience thinks being stalked is the worst thing Donnie has endured,
11:52 we learn about his relationship with Darian O'Connor, a writer who groomed and repeatedly
11:56 assaulted him. As he did with Martha, Gadd made up the name Darian and the TV show he worked on,
12:02 Cottonmouth. Yet the pain Gadd suffered at the hands of his attacker is all too real.
12:07 "And yeah, it was a hell of a thing to write and shoot. And
12:11 it kind of shows a side of abuse that I don't think we've seen before."
12:19 Online sleuths have attempted to deduce the real Darian, reportedly leading to false accusations
12:25 with the police getting involved. This prompted Gadd to post online, quote, "People I love,
12:30 have worked with and admire, including Sean Foley, are unfairly getting caught up in speculation.
12:36 Please don't speculate on who the real-life people could be. That's not the point of our show."
12:41 "I want people to feel a sense of peace around it and people who've been through similar things
12:46 to feel a great sense of comfort in it. I ultimately want it to stand on its own two feet."
12:52 What do you think of Baby Reindeer? Let us know in the comments.
12:55 "I'm still trying to make sense of it."
12:57 "And how's that going?"
12:59 "I'm getting closer."
13:01 [MUSIC]
13:03 [MUSIC]
13:05 [MUSIC]
13:07 [MUSIC]
13:09 [MUSIC]
13:11 [MUSIC]
13:13 [MUSIC]
13:15 [MUSIC]
13:17 [MUSIC]