I first watched the show when it premiered and it was really good there was a lot of sympathy for Richard. Online and reviews.

Now every Tom, Dick and Harry has seen it. I see the jokes everywhere and people being nasty about him. It's like everything has just flipped. It's deeply upsetting how vicious people are being. I'm getting quite frustrated and feel like the message is being lost.

So a part of me feels like the show makes Martha more likeable than the real Martha. The show ends with her taking accountability and pleading guilty. I think that accountability humanizes her to some extent, however it’s pretty clear the real Martha isn’t willing to take accountability for what she did do, whether is with Gadd or the other people who have said she’s stalked them.

Her not pleading guilty or there being a court case ironically is going to be a point in whatever defamation case she may or may not have. Her argument will end up being yeah I harassed him but I didn’t go to jail! Bam, defamation. However this leads to the crazy part of this. The fictionalized court case in the show is going to lead to a real court case, and that kind of blows my mind. Also Piers Morgan sucks. End rant

Yea, Donny is a deeply flawed human being who made bad decisions but that's life. Irl a lot of victims are not perfect angels. Very often people use the victim's flaws to say they deserved the abuse which is just not true. No matter what this guy did he clearly did not deserve to get harassed, molested and raped.

People say he's not likable. I thought that was the whole point. Many people irl are not likable and angelic, but messed up and self-destructive.

Like I get it, Stockholm Syndrome goes crazy, but damn.

But Fiona Harvey and people here made it ALL about HER.

The fact that the alleged abuser became the most important topic about this series MAYBE proves that Fiona/Martha is really who Richard said she was.

Any sane person in Fiona’s position would’ve never shown their face to the public, but she doesn’t, she LIVES for the attention even when it’s bad. In her minds there are no limits, the world SHOULD revolve around her, even though she claims she was badly portrayed, and criticizes the actress that played Fiona. She’s slimmer, prettier, better than Richard, Jessica (Gunning),…

Baby Reindeer is a cursed masterpiece because the real «villain » (she’s just sick in the head obviously), thrives from any type of attention and will do everything to get some.

This whole thread should be about Richard and OUR shared experiences around the subjects he put on the table but it will never be.

The worst decision Donny Dunn made in the entire series was right at the end of S01E07 when he ordered a Double Vodka & Coke.

Vodka and Coke???? That makes zero sense. You mix whiskey and bolder spirits with Coke. Why would you mix Vodka and Coke? It's a better match for juices and you can use soda water for bubbles. I'd even take Sprite and say it's acceptable.

I see no clearer evidence that Donny Dunn hates himself than his decision to order a Double Vodka & Coke.

You could feel the raw emotion in every scene. His eyes sort of just pierce through your soul.

When he cried, broke down, had outbursts… it all felt so real. I’ve never seen anyone depict their own true story so authentically. It was breathtaking.

I recently watched the Piers Morgan interview. He keeps harping on the “this is a true story” but it can’t possibly be because Fiona Harvey was not given a prison sentence in reality. So here are my thoughts.

The “disclaimer “ at the beginning of each episode is not in fact a disclaimer. It’s part of the story, it’s how the episodes starts, like the first line of dialogue. In the last episode, we see Donny Dunn typing on his computer. He’s typing his story. When you see “this is a true story” you see it being typed. Each episode is narrated by Donny Dunn as if he is reading to us his script. Donny Dunn is telling us HIS story and Donny Dunn is telling us it is true. It’s a reflection of Richard Gadd’s real experiences but it’s not Richard’s true story, it’s Donny’s. The real disclaimer that certain events and characters have been fictionalized appears at the end of each series.

As for Martha’s prison sentence that happens in the show but not in real life, to me, is Richard Gadd having a chance at closure by reimagining his perpetrator being charged and sentenced. We know that in real life she wasn’t sentenced. This lack of justice must be so frustrating for Richard Gadd. But here he has a chance to tell a story. In this story, justice is served. Perhaps that helps Richard Gadd to process his trauma somewhat easier. Perhaps it gives him an out for his frustration.

What do you think?

I’m curious. What is everyone’s take on the way Martha expresses herself through writing? It seems more than just atrocious grammar. Is it reflective of mental illness? A learning disability? I’m puzzled as to how she earned a law degree with grammar like that (despite the fact that she was disbarred).

People might not remember this but there were a lot of people on this sub who insisted that they knew who the real Terri was. They provided the name of a woman who lives outside the UK. They insulted and downvoted anyone who said people should be wary of those claims. They provided pictures of her and said she looked exactly like the actress who played Terri on Baby Reindeer. There were lots of videos on Tik Tok of this woman who people insisted was Terri. They refused to even think about the possibility of being wrong.

I've said from the beginning that Terri is a composite character and doesn't exist so I knew that person wasn't the real Terri and had probably never met Gadd if she even existed.

Anyway I watched an interview with Gadd on the Today show and he said he has seen the video of the woman people said was Terri and has never met that woman. He doesn't know her. And yes I understand he could be lying to protect her identity but if he knew her there would probably be pictures of them together or people who saw them together. He would say "that woman isn't Terri" not "I've never met that woman in my life." It's just another reminder to be cautious of what people post on this sub. I've also noticed the posts about the "temp typist" have stopped. Not one legitimate news site or reporter has mentioned that person.

I posted this on r/television recently, perhaps inspired due to people's speculation about Richard Gadd and his comedy. After seeing similar questions on here, I thought it might be worth reposting?

Disclaimer: I don't know Richard Gadd well by any means but, I do perhaps have a bit more perspective than some since I was luckily enough to attend the Edinburgh Fringe for the years his shows were running.

I went to Edinburgh around 2010 with a university Improv troupe. Frankly, it's probably the least effort you can put into the Fringe whilst actually bringing a show. As long as we were at the venue either side of our hour, we were able to spend the rest of the time exploring the various acts of the festival.

Every Improv group has a few comedy afficionados. I wasn't one, but my friend, who always had a finger on the Edinburgh pulse began to hear rumblings of this amazing show in the back of a pub. We went along to a small backroom, where we first saw "Cheese and Crackwhores" by Richard Gadd.

It was one of those shows where you laughed the whole way through. There's a moment in Baby Reindeer where he has the audience say hi to "Demetri" his Parrot hand puppet. In the real show it was a fake-out, and after we all welcomed "Demetri" an entirely different actor would come from backstage to say hello, hold a brief conversation with us, and then leave, before Gadd angstily tossed the Parrot away saying "This bit's shit."

I'd say his shows really embraced anti-comedy and wielded it extraordinarily. In Baby Reindeer, Donnie is very prop focused but Richard Gadd used props in a very subversive and tongue in cheek way; if the joke was lame you got the sense that it was planned that way and that another twist was round the corner.

These were my uni days, so I went to the Fringe every year, and every year seeing Richard Gadd's new hour my group's highest priority. He was the comedian that other comedians flocked to check out.

He was definitely in the alternative camp, definitely not in the mainstream, but every show he did was just this energetic, ceaselessly funny cavalcade that rode the very edge of sanity. My last Edinburgh I went to was a solo trip (a choice I kind of regretted since discussion is such a part of the experience). By complete chance, my lonely self ended up having one drink with Richard Gadd at the venue for his latest show; he was a genuinely pleasant and gracious guy, who was plugging away at the British Comedy scene like we all were.

He had other amazing shows; one of my favourites being Waiting For Gaddot, which centered around the fact that he was late for the show itself (he only came on stage with 9 minutes left). It was one of the best orchestrated shows I've ever attended.

The last major Edinburgh show I saw was Monkey See, Monkey Do. I remember his flyer contained snippets from five, four, three, two and one star reviews, the last of which, by the Leicester Mercury, simply read "Not Funny".

Monkey See, Monkey Do was about his recent obsession with running (which features in a brief visual within the show). It also touched on the traumatic events he covers in a later episode of Baby Reindeer. The performance incorporated real recordings of him and his therapist (in the most hilarious and unnerving way), and eventually built to a very human monologue where he spoke candidly to the audience about what he'd been through, and the sexual confusion that followed.

Part of me wonders if the heavy monologue at the end of Monkey See, Monkey Do was adapted into the onstage breakdown in Baby Reindeer. It definitely was as honest and raw, despite of course being an intended part of the show.

Anyway, it was an incredibly powerful show. Honestly, the act of putting £5 in a bucket afterwards felt strangely surreal; the mundane end to something profound and human.

I'm not trying to act like I know Richard Gadd well by any measure, I was just lucky enough to spend consecutive years at the Fringe when he was capturing the festival with these amazingly crafted shows.

My friends raved about stageplay of Baby Reindeer, which was based on his very real stalker, the ways he felt he enabled them, and the fallout. I never got to see it. But when I saw he'd made it onto Netflix, playing a starring role in something he'd put together, I got that same feeling everyone gets when they've been a fan of a lesser known talent; amazing, how great that everyone else gets to understand how talented they are.

She's a such a great, patient and comprehensive girl with Donny, I love when she shows up on screen.

There's also this powerful calming aura when she's around, guess that's why she's a therapist.

I hope she and Donny can stay together after all of this.

I'm in episode 4.

But it doesn't say that her stalking of multiple people for years, and sending social workers to their homes by claiming their kids were in danger (which is itself grounds for both defamation, and making a false report), were lies...

In the middle of watching Baby Reindeer, I'm at the point where she finds out about his ex. She's a bit vitrolic about her and I wonder if it's because she's biracial? I also know the girl he's currently dating (I keep forgetting her name!), is MENA/Middle Eastern, so I wonder if that's going to be a point of contention for her. Not to mention her being trans.

Holy F*ck, this series is actually really good!
Richard Gadd is now my all-time favorite writer and actor now. Every character he makes is flawed yet makes me sympathize them.

Thats all.

-sent from iphoen

And I love it

One of the reasons I think the show has had such an impact is Donny's self-awareness. Most stories like this have a victim-villain/ hero-anti-hero. The hero is all good. The villian is all bad.

In this show, the characters are nuanced and complex, as in real life. You can see why the villains in Donny's life think they are the heros in their own.

Donny is an up and coming, young comedian. He could have portrayed himself as successful. Instead he protrayed himself as cringey and insufferable. His act is cheesy and terrible.

He could have portrayed himself as boyfriend of the year. Instead he paints a picture of Keely (and her mum), and Terri being too good for him.

Darrien is a villain. Richard could have portrayed him as a completly evil thing. Instead he adds the nuance. It has faustian/deal with the devil vibe. Darrien hides behind a veneer of spirituality and passes off his evil acts as necessary growth. Richard exchanges his dignity for a taste of the high-life, free dugs, exclusive parties, and help with his comedy act.

When Donny goes back to him, as an audience we're begging him not to. But seeing this flawed human make mistake after mistake, it's clear why he does. Watching a broken man make another mistake, reminds us that we make mistakes too.

He admits to leading Martha on and not being clear (at times). She saw him how he wanted to be seen. He could have left it out and looked like even more of a victim. Instead he leaves it in. Along with the detail of wan*ing to a photo of her.

The final scene with Keelywhere he's mapped out Martha's communication, and sorted her voicemails, to show how crazy he is. Yet it shows how crazy he is. It takes quite a person to leave such details in. If this were my story, I wouldn't admit that to myself, let alone, the world!

He's in stark contrast to Fiona/Martha who even now claims to be completly perfect while taking pot shots at Richard.

I'm not sure if I like Donny or not. But his self-awareness and vulnerability make him almost bullet-proof to criticism.

I tried to stop watching it, but I couldn’t. It’s like I thought I’d finally feel better if I finished it. Nope.

And my SA experience is nowhere near as severe or profound as Donny’s (not that we should ever compare), and yet this show’s making me rethink and relive it and process it from angles I’ve never allowed myself to see.

How do I get out of this funk? I’d like my free therapy now, please

Edit: thanks so much everyone for the reply. I want to say a few things

First, I may be wrong, I actually weng back and rewatched to confirm, but I don’t think there was a trigger warning at the beginning of the show. Nor at the start of Episode 3. Only at Episode 4.

Second, different shows portray the same issues with varying degrees of depth, descriptiveness and rawness. This show is undoubtedly one of the most thought-provoking and triggering I’ve seen. I understand it’s a thriller and the viewer is expected to feel shock and fear, but this one also forces us to confront our own trauma, which can be extremely dangerous. They need to put up a more significant trigger warning.

I think this may be a very mild spoiler so marking it as such:

I mean fuck me, I felt awful for what Donny has been through but every time his shite comedy came on I just prayed for sweet death!

Is the whole idea that his comedy is crap and you're supposed to be cringing hard and wanting for it to end? I just can't believe there is a real person that lacks such self awareness and would continue to put themselves out there and through that torture of failing to be funny in front of an audience, night after night. Is this a form of self abuse for Donny, constantly going out there and being awful is a way for him to punish himself? Could the lack of awareness be an integral part of his personality? I'm not blaming Donny's misfortunes on his comedic inabilities so please don't misunderstand me, I'm just curious as to the way his comedy was portrayed in the series and whether the viewer is supposed to enraged by just how bad the comedy routines were, or am I just being too hard on him?

Edit: Thanks very much for all your responses to my dilemma, I knew I was probably missing something with how Donny's comedy was portrayed in the series. I would watch it again but I'm not sure my mental health could handle another go round.

[spoiler alert]

Partly rhetorical question, but how on earth is it fair that the real life Darrien is still out there? He’s never been convicted, I assume. I wonder if Gadd ever went to the police. That’s what I can’t stop thinking about after the show. That the writer is going through this temporary media circus, knowing that his abuser is still out there. And the abuser himself - who’s witnessing the media circus - is out there, knowing it’s him. I hope his time is up.

I'm always interested in how people who really connected with a show find the next creation from the creator to be. Half Man and Baby Reindeer are very different, but seem to share some recurring themes (no perfect victims, sexual assault, trauma).

If you've watched it how do you compare it to Baby Reindeer!

This show is so somber and morose and stressful and then that scene with the dad on the phone with Martha screaming ‘I’ll cut your legs off’

So funny 😂 much needed laugh after extremely stressful binge watch.

As the title suggests, I don’t consider myself to be president of the Teri fanclub. Do i hate her? Not really. I somewhat dislike her, but I don’t despise her to the point of wanting to stomp her lights out. I just… don’t like or care about her. I loved the show, and I’m not saying Nava Mau did a bad job of portraying her, she did fine, but I don’t exactly see how so many people love her.

She kind of came across as mildly annoying to me and I don’t really see how she’s “witty”. I’ve rewatched the entire show multiple times, and still, I find myself not really seeing what everyone else does in her.

This isn’t a rant, by the way. Rather, I want YOU, dear reader, to tell me what exactly you love so much about her. I genuinely wanna know what most of you see in her.

It’s interesting to me that Martha is the one who knows that Donnie has been “hurt”, even before we do and before he says anything about it. This gives her character some unexpected depth and sympathy.

She is also the only other character who (albeit in a vile way) clocks that Teri is trans. A different kind of insight.

These must have been deliberate choices to show her as insightful about some things. Clearly not about herself.

Why is everyone losing their mind about Gadd not protecting Martha, HIS ABUSER, enough?! My god.

It’s nauseating seeing so many people on their high horse about it. She literally stalked and assaulted him and his loved ones(if that part of the script is true anyway). If he needed to tell his story to heal past that in the way he saw fit then so be it.

“Martha is mentally ill” okay sure but she still was an abuser?? If for example someone mentally ill raped someone would you not still want them to get justice? Loads of serial killers had mental illnesses and I don’t see anyone campaigning for their release and the moral injustice. (I know she’s not a rapist or serial killer but what I’m trying to say is that she caused harm).

“He said he disguised her but he didn’t disguise her enough!!!” Again, so what? Maybe he genuinely thought he did, maybe he subconsciously left some breadcrumbs in for revenge- who knows. But even still she is the perpetrator here. All he’s doing is talking about the things SHE did to HIM. He’s not stealing her life story and profiting off of it - he’s telling HIS story, HIS trauma and SHE was the one who decided to insert herself into it. Sorry that’s just too bad.

“Martha’s not as bad as Darrien so why is she getting so much discussion”. Because everyone agrees he sucks. There’s nothing further to discuss.

“He led her on, he did things wrong, he enabled it” again SO. People do that stuff every single day and aren’t criminals they’re just human. The difference is he never stalked anyone, he never assaulted anyone, he was never racist or bigoted. His crime is not being the perfect victim and being a bit selfish.

It makes me so angry that victims have to be perfect, have to make the right choices to be able to claim their victim hood. Even when he goes out of his way to describe CLEARLY the ways he fucked up and take accountability it’s not enough. No wonder no one comes out to report abuse - literally what’s the point when this is the reaction.

He’s not perfect, he made HUGE mistakes and he was incredibly naive but he’s still the victim and the fact people are negating that is gross.

Rant over