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

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.

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.

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)

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

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.”

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.

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.

Topics: Netflix, TV and Film

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, 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 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_