The True Story Behind Baby Reindeer: Where Is Martha Now?

Baby reindeer it may be fictional, but it’s based on true events that happened in the life of creator Richard Gadd.

In the show, the comedian plays a version of himself named Donny Dunn and recounts his experience stalking a middle-aged woman he calls Martha. Although he changed some events “slightly to create dramatic climaxes,” he told za The Guardian in April 2024, the story is incredibly true.

“Obviously it’s very emotionally true: I was seriously stalked and severely abused,” he said. “But we wanted it to exist in the realm of art, as well as protect the people it’s based on.”

Gadd also touches on his experience of being raped and groomed on the show by an older, successful TV writer and his struggles with self-recrimination in the aftermath.

Although Gadd tried to protect the identity of his stalker, a Scottish lawyer named Fiona Harvey came forward after the show became an international hit and claimed she was the woman who inspired Martha.

During an interview with Piers Morgan, she announced her intentions to sue Gadd and Netflix, claiming the series was “complete nonsense”. She followed suit in June 2024 and sued Netflix for $170 million.

At the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, Baby reindeer won Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, as well as Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Gadd also won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, and Jessica Gunning took home Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.

Here’s everything you need to know about the true story behind it Baby reindeer — and what happened to Martha’s character in real life.

Featuring Donny Dunn Baby reindeer?

Richard Gadd in ‘Baby Reindeer’.

Ed Miller/Netflix

Donny Dunn is played by and based on Gadd, a Scottish comedian who started his career doing stand-up comedy. His stand-up show, Monkey See Monkey Dohe won an Edinburgh Comedy Award when he performed it in 2016. The play was based on Gadd’s experiences of being groomed, raped and assaulted by an older man who manipulated him early in his career.

Although the show was not necessarily funny, it touched the audience. The performance led to greater success for Gadd, who then wrote his own one-man play, Baby reindeer in 2019. Gadd later adapted Baby reindeer into a television series, which was released on Netflix in April 2024 and immediately topped the streamer charts.

“It obviously struck a chord,” he said The Guardian. “I really believed in it, but it took off so quickly that I feel a bit winded.”

He is now working on writing a six-part drama for the BBC called Lions.

Is Baby reindeer true story?

Richard Gadd in ‘Baby Reindeer’.

Ed Miller/Netflix

Baby reindeer is based on real events that happened in Gadd’s life. In 2015, a woman began stalking Gadd. In the show, Gadd’s character Donny meets a woman, Martha, while working at a bar, and she strikes up a conversation with him. The same thing happened in real life: a real woman walked into a pub and said she couldn’t afford a drink — so Gadd offered her one on the house.

She got his email and stalked him for four years, calling him “Little Reindeer”. During that time, Gadd received 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters from her.

“At first everyone in the pub thought it was funny that I had a fan,” Gadd said The Times in April 2024. “Then she started invading my life, following me, showing up at my shows, waiting outside my house, sending thousands of voicemails and emails.”

Although he went to the police about the situation, the authorities were not very helpful. Gadd said they find it inconceivable that a man can be stalked when the situation is stereotypically reversed.

“When a man is stalked, it can be portrayed as a sexy thing in movies and on television,” he told za The Times. “As a femme fatale who gradually becomes more sinister. It does not carry such a threat of physical violence, it is less frequent and can be trivialized.”

He continued: “I was physically scared because I didn’t know how far she could take it, she could have had a knife, but I thought how scary it would be if she was a tall and formidable man.”

However, bringing the story to the stage — and eventually the small screen — was healing for Gadd.

“I couldn’t keep everything inside anymore. Making shows about it was all I had,” he told the news outlet. “I was shocked, but with her performance you gain ownership. When you hold it inside for so long, it becomes gigantic and overwhelming, but through performance you can kind of step outside of yourself, observe and process it.”

Who is the real Marta?

Jessica Gunning as Martha in ‘Baby Reindeer’.

Ed Miller/Netflix

Gadd never publicly released Martha’s real name or identity in an effort to protect her. Even though she abused him for more than four years, Gadd said he still has some level of compassion for her as a mentally ill person.

He said GQ in April 2024 that in order to conceal her identity, he changed certain aspects of her character so that no one could identify who she was.

“We tried so hard to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognize herself,” he said. “What’s borrowed is an emotional truth, not someone’s fact-by-fact profile.”

Despite his attempts to hide the identity of his stalker, online detectives said they thought Fiona Harvey was the real Martha and had been sending her “death threats”, according to Daily Mail.

Harvey also confirmed to the publication that many details of her and Martha’s identities are the same: they are both Scottish, studied law, are 20 years older than Gadd, and use sensual language in their writing.

However, one difference between Martha and her, she said, was that she never called Gadda the nickname “childish reindeer,” which in the show comes from a toy Martha had growing up that reminded her of Gadda.

“I’ve never had a baby reindeer toy and I wouldn’t talk to Richard Gadd about a childhood toy,” she said.

What happens to Martha in Baby reindeer on Netflix?

In the series, Martha is sentenced to nine months in prison and a five-year restraining order after leaving a threatening voicemail on Donny’s phone that makes him fear for his family.

He comes to her hearing where Martha pleads guilty to all the charges against her and begins to cry. When he leaves, Donny is sorry, he says in his narration.

The court hearing was the last time she was seen on the show.

What happened to Martha in real life?

Jessica Gunning as Martha in ‘Baby Reindeer’.

Ed Miller/Netflix

In real life, Gadd has not made it clear whether the real Martha is serving time, though he says the situation has been resolved.

“It’s settled,” he said The Times. “I had mixed feelings about it – I didn’t want to throw someone in jail who was so mentally ill.”

However, in the end he proved to the police that he was harassed by recording all her messages when she threatened him or the people around him.

Overall, Gadd felt his experience with the police did not help and he felt “let down,” he said The Independent in April 2024.

“I am going through the police procedure [the stalking case]I really felt quite confronted with how under-resourced it seemed to be – how devastated the police were,” he told the newspaper, adding that he was also concerned about the lack of help given to his stalker.

Although the stalking has ended, Gadd said the “emotional fallout” continues to “live on” in him.

According to Daily MailHarvey currently lives alone in a London town flat on a food budget of £30 a week.

In May 2024, Harvey appeared on Piers Morgan uncensoredwhere she denied stalking Gadd and called him “psychotic.” She added: “If somebody sent somebody 41,000 e-mails or something, how many would you do a day? A lot. None of that is true. I don’t think I sent him anything… No, I think maybe we exchanged a few emails, but it was just a joke email.”

After the interview, Harvey accused Netflix of “ruining” her livelihood and sued the company for $170 million.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

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Source: HIS Education