Baby Reindeer Creator Richard Gadd calls out fans over abusers identities
Baby Reindeer Creator Richard Gadd has a request for his TV show’s fans.
The comic, who made the show on the basis of his real life experiences with stalking and sexual assault, pleaded his viewers to not try to identify his abusers.
“Hi Everyone,” Gadd wrote on his Instagram Story April 22, as per a screenshot via Today.
“People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation. Please don’t speculate on who any of the real life people could be.”
He added, “That’s not the point of our show.”
Baby Reindeer is based on the story of a struggling comedian who catches the attention of a stalker after he does something good.
Ever since the series premiered on April 11, fans have been trying to identify the true identities of different characters, including Martha the stalker (played by Jessica Gunning) and Darrien the TV writer who grooms Gadd’s character (portrayed by Tom Goodman-Hill).
According to what Gadd wrote on social media, the speculation that Foley is the inspiration behind Darrien is wrong.
And although the show is “emotionally 100 percent true,” many changes have been made to keep the identity of the people his characters are based on a secret.
“It’s all borrowed from instances that happened to me and real people that I met,” he told Variety in an interview published April 19.
“But of course, you can’t do the exact truth, for both legal and artistic reasons. I mean there’s certain protections, you can’t just copy somebody else’s life and name and put it onto television. And obviously, we were very aware that some characters in it are vulnerable people, so you don’t want to make their lives more difficult.”
