A stalking point..
Baby Reindeer is the story of a struggling comic being stalked by a woman who has already been to prison for stalking someone else.
The chilling and yet darkly comic Netflix series was written by Richard Gadd based on his real-life experience in 2016, and the 34-year-old comedian also stars as Donny.
Back then he was at a particularly low ebb while working in a pub, and found himself inadvertently encouraging his stalker by giving her a free cup of tea.
Admitting at a screening in London that he made mistakes, Richard said his co-star Jessica Gunning is “phenomenal” in her role as the unhinged but sympathyinducing Martha Scott, whose nickname for Donny is “baby reindeer”.
“Stalking is a mental illness,” Richard explains, “where the person genuinely believes that the other person is the answer to all of their problems. I believe that the person who stalked me was a very vulnerable character.”
Jessica, 38, who plays probation officer, Diana, in The Outlaws, said she had plenty of sympathy with her character, whose behaviour ranges from sweet to sadistic as she bombards poor Donny with messages around the clock and follows him everywhere.
“I don’t think she thought she was a villain,” she says. “They don’t think what they are doing is scary. I saw it as an unconventional love story.”
The tale includes a big old fight between Martha, an ex-lawyer who’s been struck off, and Donny’s new partner Teri (Nava Mau) – a transgender woman who’s under the impression her boyfriend is actually a builder called Tony.
Catch all seven episodes when they drop tomorrow on the streaming giant.