Jessica Gunning, the actress behind Baby Reindeer’s Martha, has called out “detectives” hunting for Richard Gadd’s stalker and abuser in real life.
The Netflix series follows Donny (Gadd, playing a fictionalized version of himself), a barman who givesMarthaa free cup of tea. This is the first of many mistakes and the beginning of a dangerous obsession that upends his (already messy) life.
Baby Reindeer has been an enormous worldwide success, but amidviewers’ fervent interest in the real-life identities of its characters, Gunning has asked fans to stop searching.
“If you like the show and you are a fan of it, you should stick with the story of Martha and Donny being what connects you, not trying to do any detective work and find out any real identities,” she toldBBC Scotland’s The Edit.
“Richard has done an amazing job of not making the story so black and white, so there’s no goody or baddy or villain or victim, really. They are just complicated people like humans are,” she added, stressing that Gadd went to “great lengths” to protect people’s identities.
This comes after Sean Foley, an actor and director who’s worked with Gadd, was falsely accused of being the real Darrien, the character who sexually assaults Donny. Apolice investigationhas since been launched into “all defamatory abusive and threatening posts” against him, Foley tweeted.
Gadd also pleaded with fans to not “speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show.”
Fiona Harveywas recently accused of being Gadd’s real-life stalker, but she’s denied the accusations and threatened to sue Netflix. While admitting that she believes she inspired Martha, shesaid: “I have a claim against Netflix as this is being billed as part of a true story…. people are probably saying I’m a mass murderer. This can’t continue. I will kick their a**es.”
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Cameron Frew is Deputy TV & Movies Editor on Dexerto’s UK team. He’s an action movie aficionado, ’80s obsessive, and Oscars enthusiast. He loves Invincible, but he’s also a fan of The Boys, the MCU, The Chosen, and much more. He has previously written for LadBible, UniLad, and Flickering Myth. You can contact him at: cameron.frew@dexerto.com.
