Aspiring comedian Donny Dunn works as a bartender in a Londonpub. He offers a cup of tea to a customer, Martha, to cheer her up. Martha develops an attachment to Donny and begins to stalk him both in person and online. Years earlier, Donny is being mentored by TV writer Darrien O'Connor, who supplies him with drugs. The latter repeatedly sexually assaults and rapes Donny during drug-induced blackouts, until they break off contact. In the present, Donny reports Martha to the police for stalking, violence and threatening his parents. She is arrested and spends nine months in prison. Darrien and Donny meet again. Darrien suggests a renewal of their collaboration. Donny reluctantly agrees.
Cast and characters
Main
Richard Gadd as Donny Dunn, a character based upon Gadd
Jessica Gunning as Martha Scott, a former lawyer with a criminal past
In 2015, while working at a pub in London, struggling comedian Donny Dunn gives a free cup of tea to a distraught customer. The customer, Martha Scott, becomes a regular, claiming she is a wealthy lawyer and entertaining Donny with stories. She becomes increasingly flirtatious, calling him "Baby Reindeer" and other nicknames. She begins emailing him hundreds of times a day, making him uncomfortable. He reluctantly takes her for coffee but is disturbed when Martha has a public outburst. He follows her home, discovering she lives in a cluttered apartment on a council estate, and flees after she notices him. Martha views this as a development in their relationship. She shows up uninvited to Donny's performance at a local comedy competition, and her interruptions help him secure a position in the semi-finals. She confesses her love to Donny, has another outburst when he tries to reject her politely, and sends him a friend request on Facebook. Donny discovers that she is a convicted stalker. He nevertheless accepts her friend request.
2
"Episode 2"
Weronika Tofilska
Richard Gadd
11 April 2024 (2024-04-11)
Donny has secretly been dating Teri, a transgender American therapist. Despite seeking out a trans partner, Donny is ashamed of his feelings and has told Teri he is a builder named Tony. Martha's stalking intensifies. She leaves comments on every photo on Donny's Facebook profile and jealously sends harassing messages to his ex-girlfriend Keeley, whose mother, Liz, is Donny's landlady. Martha also begins to follow him home after his shifts at the pub. Teri encourages Donny to go to the police, but he refuses, believing Martha is harmless. He attempts to get his co-workers to ban her from the pub, but one of them sends her a reply from Donny's account asking for anal sex as a joke, leading her to believe he returns her feelings. Donny has a successful date with Teri while high on cocaine, but when Teri asks Donny to kiss her in public, he panics and abandons her on the Underground. As he walks home, Martha follows him, pushes him against a wall, and gropes his crotch.
3
"Episode 3"
Weronika Tofilska
Richard Gadd
11 April 2024 (2024-04-11)
Donny confesses his actions and real name to Teri, who angrily asks him to leave. Martha befriends Liz under a false name, leaving a scantily clad photo of herself in Donny's bedroom. Donny threatens her with the police, and she disappears from his home and work, only to appear as a permanent fixture at a bus stop across from his home. Donny becomes sympathetic to Martha as she lapses into a fugue state but asks her to leave him alone, framing it as a breakup in an attempt to give her closure. Martha's contact with Donny briefly ceases. Teri attends the comedy semi-finals, interested in giving Donny a second chance. His performance is interrupted when Martha begins heckling him from the audience, escalating to a violent rage when he mocks her from the stage. She is thrown out but later tries to break into his dressing room before pursuing him and Teri. Donny and Teri agree to resume their relationship. Their date is interrupted when an enraged Martha spews a barrage of xenophobic and transphobic insults and assaults Teri, pulling out a chunk of her hair.
Six months later, Donny attempts to report Martha to the police. When the officer asks him why it took him so long to report her, he flashes back to a few years earlier. As a young comedian in Edinburgh, he has a chance encounter with Darrien, the writer of a successful television show, who has worked with Donny's comedy idols. Darrien mentors him and encourages him to move to London before suddenly disappearing from his life. Donny moves to Oxford and attends drama school, where he meets and moves in with Keeley. He receives a call from Darrien and begins writing a television pilot under his guidance. Not realising Darrien is grooming him, Donny regularly spends weekend-long "working sessions" at Darrien's apartment. Darrien encourages Donny to do drugs and sexually assaults him while he is high. Eventually, Darrien rapes Donny while he is on LSD and GHB. Donny finally leaves Darrien, but his relationship with Keeley deteriorates. Feeling confused and angry, Donny subjects himself to reckless sexual encounters with multiple partners of all genders. In the present, due to his guilt over Darrien's assault and never reporting him, Donny fails to give the police an accurate report of Martha's stalking.
Martha is banned from Donny's pub after causing a scene while he works. After she assaults Keeley on the street, Liz asks Donny to move out. He moves into a flat with friends from drama school but is dismayed to learn that they spend every night throwing drug-fuelled parties. He spends increasing time with Teri, hiding in her flat and coming out to her as bisexual for the first time. Their relationship begins to suffer due to her trauma over Martha's attack and his inability to maintain an erection, caused by his trauma from Martha and Darrien. Teri convinces him to report Martha again. At the station, he finally gets an officer to look up Martha. After realising she has prior convictions, the police take the case seriously. Martha complies with the police and ceases contact with Donny. However, he finds himself obsessing over her, masturbating to a picture of her and imagining himself having sex with her. This helps him successfully have sex with Teri, and their relationship improves. His mother leaves a frantic voicemail, having been told by Martha that Donny is in a hospital after an accident.
6
"Episode 6"
Josephine Bornebusch
Richard Gadd
11 April 2024 (2024-04-11)
Donny is horrified to realise Martha has begun harassing his parents and has accused his father of being a paedophile, getting him in trouble at work. After the police are unhelpful, Donny tries to entrap Martha into violating no-contact. However, Martha has been recording all their interactions, and he is cautioned by the police. As a result, Teri breaks up with him. The day before Donny is set to perform in the comedy competition finals, Martha returns to Donny's pub to harass him. When he brings up her previous stalking charges, she attacks him, smashing a glass into his face. His co-workers convince Donny not to press charges, which would reveal their mismanagement of the pub, and he complies. At the competition, Donny gives up on his act after a joke does not land and instead breaks down on stage, confessing to the audience in frank detail his guilt, shame, and self-hatred after his rape, stalking, and his poor management of his relationship with Teri, before walking out of the theatre.
The episode is dedicated to the memory of Llewellyn Harrison, who worked as a key grip on Baby Reindeer.[4]
7
"Episode 7"
Josephine Bornebusch
Richard Gadd
11 April 2024 (2024-04-11)
A video of Donny's confession goes viral, significantly boosting his career. Martha finds his phone number and leaves him hundreds of voicemails. When she threatens to tell his parents about his rape and sexuality, he travels to Fife, Scotland, and tells his parents everything. His father reveals that, growing up in the Catholic Church, he too was sexually abused. After Martha leaves a voicemail threatening to stab his parents, he finally reports her. Martha is sentenced to nine months in prison and five years of probation. Donny quits comedy and, at Keeley's urging, moves back into Liz's house. Upon finding the screenplay he was writing for Darrien, Donny visits Darrien but fails to confront him. Darrien, having seen Donny's video, offers him a writing job. Donny accepts but has a panic attack afterwards. Stopping at a pub, he listens to a voicemail where Martha explains that she calls him "Baby Reindeer" because he reminds her of a stuffed animal she would hug when her parents fought during her childhood. Donny breaks down in tears and orders a drink but realises he has forgotten his wallet. Sympathetic, the barman gives Donny the drink for free, mirroring his first encounter with Martha.
The series received critical acclaim.[a] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 58 critics gave the series a positive review, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A bracing work of autofiction by creator and star Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer can be a punishing watch but richly rewards viewers with its emotional complexity and excellent performances."[17] On Metacritic, the series holds a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 based on 17 critics.[16]
Audience viewership
Baby Reindeer debuted at number five on Netflix's Top 10 TV English titles for the tracking week of 8–14 April 2024, with 10.4 million hours viewed.[18] On the following week, it climbed to number one and garnered 52.8 million viewing hours.[19] The series remained at the same position for its third and fourth weeks, earning 87.4 and 73.6 million viewing hours.[20][21]
Speculation about real-life inspirations for the show's fictional characters began to emerge online, as fans attempted to infer their identities on social media. Gadd asked fans to stop any kind of speculation in an April 2024 statement.[30] After being falsely accused online of being the real-life counterpart to the character Darrien, theatre director Sean Foley reported the false allegations to the police.[31] This led to a police investigation.[31] Gadd confirmed that Foley was not behind the character.[30]
On 9 May 2024, 59-year-old Scottish law graduate Fiona Muir-Harvey claimed to be the real-life inspiration for Martha in an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored,[32] with previous tweets from an account linked to Muir-Harvey leading to increased suspicion.[33] These included a reference to hanging curtains, a sexually suggestive phrase which was later used in the script of Baby Reindeer.[34] During her Uncensored interview, Harvey admitted she had met Gadd several times at The Hawley Arms, Camden, but denied sending him 41,000 emails or going to his home, and stated she was planning to commence legal action against both Gadd and Netflix. She admitted to sending up to 10 emails and a letter as well as several tweets.[35] She later claimed she was paid £250 to appear, and that the interview left her feeling "a bit used".[36] The interview drew some criticism, questioning the ethics behind the decision.[37] Laura Wray, a lawyer and widow of the Scottish politician Jimmy Wray, stated that she had briefly employed Harvey at her law firm in 1997, and that Harvey had made abusive social media posts after losing her job.[38]
On 6 June, Harvey sued Netflix for $170 million, claiming that the show has "viciously destroyed" her.[39][40] On September 27, U.S. Judge Gary Klausner dismissed Harvey's negligence and gross negligence claims, along with her request for punitive damages, but allowed her to continue the defamation case against Netflix, noting that Netflix misrepresented the show as a "true story" and failed to verify Gadd's claims.[41][42]
