Man behind Netflix thriller needed 'every kind of therapy' after chilling ordeal that inspired the show
The man behind a Netflix series with 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes has opened up about the terrifying true story which inspired the show.
Stand-up comedian Richard Gadd's new Netflix series is anything but a comedy.
The Scotsman released the thriller on the streaming platform on Thursday 11 April, and it has since received impressive reviews by fans and critics alike.
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The series is inspired by Gadd's own chilling experience of being obsessively stalked by a woman for six years, before police finally got involved.
The 34-year-old was heavily stalked by a woman, who he calls Martha to protect her identity, resulting in 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, 106 pages of letters and a jaw-dropping 350 hours of voicemail.
Based on this experience, the psychological thriller follows a struggling comedian named Donny Dunn, played by Gadd himself, and his odd relationship with obsessive fan Martha, played by Jessica Gunning.
It explores the chilling lengths that a stalker would go through just to get closer to the subject of their obsession, which is anything from turning up to gigs to flooding his phone with messages.
You can watch the trailer for Baby Reindeer below:
Named after the pet name his stalker gave him, and he said that performing and sharing what happened to him in the Netflix series and stand-up show of the same name allowed him to have 'ownership' of his trauma.
Prior to the series release this week, the comedian spoke to The Times about how he has been left with something 'like PTSD' after being stalked for years, and has 'every type of therapy going' since.
Revealing that he lost weight to be about 10.5 stone for the show, to match his weight at the height of his stalking episode, he also explained that he is 'more cautious' of relationships with people now, as he is currently single.
He said: "It takes me a long time to trust them. Before, I entered situations with such abandonment and I got burnt."
Gadd also highlighted that police didn't take his complaints seriously for years, which not only scarred him, but his relatives too.
Apparently, police only said they could get involved if she became 'physically violent', but couldn't do much if not.
Apparently, he first met his stalker after offering a stranger, who was crying, a cup of tea on the house when she came into the bar he was working in at the time.
After this, he was stalked viciously for years, where he was followed at home and work, tracked on Facebook using fake accounts and more.
Gadd also said: "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."
He previously admitted that it was 'debilitating beyond belief', and that he was mentally exhausted and frustrated by the ordeal.
Despite this though, he has tried to fairly depict characters in the mini-series, which is available to watch on Netflix now.
As to what happened to his real-life stalker, he told the Times: "It is resolved. I had mixed feelings about it - I didn’t want to throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell in prison."
Topics: Netflix, Mental Health, Crime
Joshua Nair