Baby Reindeer's Richard Gadd 'struggling to cope with fame' with fans 'camping in his garden'

Richard Gadd revealed he expected the project to be “a little cult artistic gem"
Richard Gadd revealed he expected the project to be “a little cult artistic gem" -Credit:No credit


Richard Gadd has revealed he is struggling to cope with fame following the success of his Netflix show Baby Reindeer. The Scottish comedian, 34, says show's runaway success means he is now unable to walk the streets.

He expected the show to sit as 'a little cult artistic gem' when it first aired, only to wake up and find people camping in his garde. Baby Reindeer is set to be the most popular Netflix show of all time, reports the Daily Record.

Gadd, who plays himself in the seven-part series, said: "I really believed in this show, but it really felt like one day it went on the platform and the next day there were people camping in my garden.

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"And it was, like, crazy. I never expected it to sort of blow up like this. I believed it would be successful, but I didn't expect overnight. I don't even like to use this word, 'fame'. Suddenly I couldn't really walk down the street any more."

In his first major interview since the show made him an overnight success, Gadd said he 'always believed in the show and really loved it and thought it would sit as a little cult, artistic gem on the Netflix platform maybe'. He added: "But then, overnight, it was crazy. It felt like I woke up one day and everyone was watching it."

Gadd and his co-stars Jessica Gunning and Nava Mau headed to the US this week to take part in a Screen Actors Guild discussion panel and attended an Emmys for your consideration screening of Baby Reindeer at West Hollywood's DGA Theater Complex on Sunset Blvd, Hollywood.

The series has been submitted as best limited series along with Gadd for best actor and best writing. Gadd, who plays stalking victim Donny Dunn in Baby Reindeer, previously starred in the 2022 mini-series Wedding Season.

He revealed he lost five stone to star in Baby Reindeer. He said: "I'd just shot this TV series called Wedding Season. No one watched it, but I played this villain in it. I was about 16 stone when I did that. I was really really massive."

"I had tattoos and a weird haircut and all this stuff. Then Baby Reindeer, going out in that sort of post-drugs sort of fuelled, abuse-fuelled life. When I look back on my life in that period of time I was rake-thin so I really wanted to go back and feel that fragile in my body and feel emotionally fragile.

"So I went from 96kg down to 68. It was about a third of my body weight in the end. I was still writing the show and it was quite self-punishing. It was very much indicative of a very sort of troubled period in my life. I really wanted to go back there.

"We did closed sets, but I was looking over and you'd see the props guys wiping tears from their eyes. The show was based on such a trauma that everyone on set felt it at times."

The series is an adaptation of Gadd's one-man Edinburgh Fringe show. It has drawn controversy over the ease with which internet sleuths were able to identify the real life Martha.

"I remember when I was getting stalked, it was relentless and felt like it was everywhere and I felt like my life wasn't really functioning," Gadd added. "I still had these unbelievable pangs of feeling sorry for her.

"I never saw someone who was a villain. I saw someone who was lost, by the system really. I saw someone who needed help and wasn't getting it."

Another major storyline involves Gadd being raped by a powerful male TV producer. Gadd said he is proud to have shed a light on the issue, with a spike in victims seeking help from charities including the Suzy Lamplaugh Trust.

Gadd said: "It's amazing. All stalking and abuse charities are on the up. But the main sexual abuse charity for men in Britain is called We Are Survivors and they're up 200 per cent in terms of referrals - and 53pc cite Baby Reindeer as the reason why.

"And then the work of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. That's like the legacy that I want the show to have really."

He also admits it was difficult finding a balance between the true story and the needs of a compelling drama.

Gadd said: "I never wanted to, kind of lie. I always had to constantly check myself to be like, does this feel truthful to me and to my experience all the way through? If it didn't, I would have to bring it back. But it was a tightrope.

"It was a constant process between what works for a TV show and not selling out on your own story, and that continued all the way from writing all the way to filming and all the way through the editing process in finding that right balance. I think we did in the end, but it was a hell of a process."