• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Chilling reason Netflix's number one show is called Baby Reindeer

Home> Entertainment> Netflix

Updated 11:00 17 Apr 2024 GMT+1Published 10:57 17 Apr 2024 GMT+1

Chilling reason Netflix's number one show is called Baby Reindeer

The show is based on a harrowing true story

Jess Battison

Jess Battison

While Netflix are continuously dropping bangers at the moment, viewers are absolutely gripped by their number one show right now.

Sure, the new black-and-white thriller is great and people are binging their way through a parasite series, while others are loving an ‘unhinged’ documentary.

But a super dark miniseries based on a true story is leaving people speechless.

Advert

The new show landed on Netflix just last week and details how just one act of kindness ‘leads down a twisty road paved with hundreds of hours of voice messages and north of 40,000 emails’.

Baby Reindeer is written by and stars Richard Gadd. And based on his own experience, there’s a chilling reason behind the show’s name.

Adapted from his one-man play, the show follows his real ‘warped relationship’ with the woman who stalked him for six years before police finally were involved.

Advert

The comedian plays Donny Dunn, the obsession of ‘Martha’ (played by Jessica Gunning) – whose name he has also changed to protect her real identity.

During Gadd’s horrific experience of stalking, the woman flooded him with 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, 106 pages of letters and an enormous 350 hours of voicemail, as well as turning up to his gigs and his home.

And the title Baby Reindeer is inspired by the nickname the stalker gave him.

Gadd portrays himself as character 'Donny Dunn'. (Netflix)
Gadd portrays himself as character 'Donny Dunn'. (Netflix)

In the Netflix show’s finale, Martha leaves a voicemail with the threat she could potentially stab ‘someone’ and was arrested.

Advert

During her hearing, she was sentenced to nine months in prison and given a five-year restraining order.

As she broke down in tears, she called Donny her ‘little reindeer’.

Also in the final episode, he goes through Martha’s voicemail messages and in one, she names a baby reindeer toy as one of her most treasured possessions.

“I had this wee cuddly toy when I was young. Went with me everywhere. Earliest memory I have, I think, was Christmas time,” she said.

“This old photo of me, sitting with this paper hat on my head and this baby reindeer beside me. Anyway, this reindeer was this cuddly, fluffy thing. It had big lips, huge eyes, and the cutest wee bum.”

Advert

Martha relentlessly stalks Donny over a period of six years. (Netflix)
Martha relentlessly stalks Donny over a period of six years. (Netflix)

Martha calls the toy the ‘only good thing’ about her childhood and that Donny reminds her of it.

“Well, you are the spit of that reindeer. The same nose,” she added. “Same eyes. Same cute wee bum. It means so much to me. You… You mean so much to me.”

It’s not totally confirmed if this is what the real Martha called Gadd, as he told Vanity Fair when asked if Baby Reindeer is the real nickname: “I don’t think I can talk about that.”

The Independent does add that among the flooding of messages, he also received a variety of items including a cuddly reindeer toy.

Advert

Either way, it’s definitely taken a lot of bravery for Gadd to share his story in this perfectly rated series.

Baby Reindeer is now streaming on Netflix.

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

Topics: Netflix, Baby Reindeer, TV and Film

Jess Battison
Jess Battison

Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include asking everyone in the office what they're having for tea, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021.

X

@jessbattison_

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Baby Reindeer viewers hit hard after hearing one tragic line in Netflix series
  • Full number of emails, phone calls and tweets stalker sent Richard Gadd in Baby Reindeer revealed
  • Director explains truth behind why ‘most disturbing’ horror banned in 46 countries is so ‘vile’
  • Richard Gadd issues plea to Baby Reindeer viewers seeking out real ‘Martha’ online

Choose your content:

20 mins ago
3 hours ago
17 hours ago
  • XX
    20 mins ago

    Why Venice Film Festival does standing ovations as The Rock gets 15 minute applause

    Film festival standing ovations seem to be getting longer and longer - so we looked at why

    Entertainment
  • Jeff Spicer/WireImageJeff Spicer/WireImage
    3 hours ago

    Clarkson, Hammond and May have just made £6 million each in major business move

    The TV titans each have a tidy windfall coming their way, according to reports

    Entertainment
  • Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
    3 hours ago

    First trailer for 28 Years Later sequel released as Cillian Murphy return confirmed

    28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will be in cinemas on 16 January 2026

    Entertainment

    breaking

  • Netflix Netflix
    17 hours ago

    How mother who catfished and sent death threats to own daughter was able to secretly send '40-50' texts a day

    Kendra Licari sent as many as 40-50 texts a day to her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend, including death threats

    Entertainment