“This is a true story.” My stuffed reindeer is the series of the moment, a phenomenon that no one saw coming. Word of mouth recommendations have turned this seven-episode British drama into a global success that already has more than 16 million views and is the most watched series on Netflix in more than 38 countries, according to data published by the platform itself. Created by and starring the comedian Richard Gaddis a shocking story of sexual harassment and abuse that becomes more chilling when we learn, as the series announces in the first episode, that it is based on Gadd’s own experiences.
As its creator has explained, for the fiction, based on a monologue of the same name (its original title is Baby Reindeer), has altered some facts and the chronology of what happened. He has also changed the names of the characters that appear and some of their characteristics. Not even the protagonist, who is played by himself, has his name and in fiction is called Donny Dunn. His stalker has been given the name Martha and is played by Jessica Gunning. Later in the series, a new key character appears, called Darrien and played by the actor Tom Goodman-Hill, a scriptwriter whom the protagonist meets at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and who appreciates his work, gives him advice and offers to be something of a mentor. But who in reality takes advantage of his power to drug him and rape him repeatedly.
The success of the series already has consequences in real life. In the golden age of true crime, As real-life content floods in and repeatedly ranks among the most-watched on platforms, some viewers have decided to try to unravel who the real people are hiding behind the fictional characters. The investigations of these amateur detectives have pointed to real people who have had contact with Richard Gadd at some point, even going so far as to harass them, so, in some way, they were falling into what the series itself denounces. Gadd published a message on Instagram on Monday asking for this persecution to stop: “People I love, have worked with and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly caught in the middle of speculation,” the message said. “Please do not speculate on who the real people could be. That is not the intention of our series.”
Sean Foley, the man mentioned in the message, is a screenwriter, actor and director who also shared on Tuesday the same message on your X account. Shortly after, in another message he communicated that had informed the police and the defamation and threats he was receiving were being investigated, investigation which has confirmed the security forces themselves. Some viewers had pointed him out for having a professional profile and physical characteristics similar to those of the character.
Speculation has also extended to the woman behind Gadd’s harassment. In the fiction it is explained that she was a serial stalker, which has led to some Internet users to search the media for possible names that matched the characteristics of this case. In an interview in Los Angeles Times, Actress Jessica Gunning, who plays the stalker Martha, explains that neither Richard Gadd talked to her about the real person nor did she ask what she was like. “I’m not doing an impression of her on the show, I’m doing my interpretation of the character that he’s written, and I feel like that would muddy it too much because that’s not who she is. It’s all told from Donny’s point of view and it’s based on a true story. I didn’t find it helpful to know too much about the person because Martha is a character,” says the actress.
The creator and protagonist has referred in several interviews to the game between reality and fiction that the series establishes. “It is 100% emotionally true,” he said. in Variety. “Everything has been borrowed from cases that happened to me and real people I knew. But of course you can’t tell the exact truth for both legal and artistic reasons. You have to take certain protections – you can’t copy other people’s lives and put it on TV. Obviously, we were very conscious that there are some characters who are vulnerable people and we didn’t want to make their lives any more complicated. So you have to change things to protect yourself and protect other people.”
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