Richard Gadd Admits He Hasn't Watched “Baby Reindeer ”and 'Probably Never Will' — But Played It on Mute on Release Day

The 'Baby Reindeer' star said he played the Emmy-nominated limited series on release day to boost views, but has no plans of revisiting the show in the near future

Millions of people have watched Baby Reindeer since it premiered in April, but Richard Gadd isn’t one of them.

During an interview for the August digital issue of Deadline’s AwardsLine, Gadd, 35, admitted he hasn’t revisited the limited series, which he created, wrote and also stars in as Donny Dunn, a bartender and aspiring stand-up comic who becomes the unhealthy obsession of Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning).

Captivating as Baby Reindeer is, nabbing 11 Emmy nominations this year, Gadd hasn't watched the show and isn't eager to revisit it anytime soon.

"I remember thinking, 'Maybe some people will watch it this weekend,’" Gadd, 35, told the outlet. “It came out on a Thursday, and I thought people would probably catch up with it on Saturday on Sunday, and I might get a few messages on Monday. My hope was that the reviews would be good enough that perhaps I'd get to make another TV show off the back of it.”

“So it came out at 8 a.m. on the Thursday, and I haven't watched the show since it came out,” he told the outlet. "I probably never will again, to be honest. But I loaded it up on Netflix, pressed play, and muted the television because I thought, 'Maybe the algorithm will catch it.' I realized by about midday that there was no need to do that, because my phone was just exploding."

Related: The True Story Behind Baby Reindeer: Where Is Martha Now?

Since the premiere of Baby Reindeer on Netflix — which Gadd adapted from a one-man play based loosely on real events that happened to Gadd — there has been controversy.

Fiona Harvey, who seemingly inspired Martha, began speaking out following the series' massive success. In April, she remained anonymous but told the Daily Mail that she was a "victim" as Gadd had "written a bloody show" about her and was using it to now "stalk" her.

Gadd, for his part, told AwardsLine he never intended for viewers to search for the real-life Martha.

"There's the fact that the debate around the show has become a sort of whodunnit narrative, which is not something I ever wanted,” he told the outlet. "People in the street, or at 7 a.m. on the tube saying, 'Oh, I saw Baby Reindeer. So, who's Darrien? Who's Martha?"

Harvey also raised the stakes in June when she filed a lawsuit against Netflix claiming the portrayal of Martha is defamatory and inaccurate, accusing Netflix and Gadd of "destroying" her livelihood, according to documents previously obtained by PEOPLE. She's asking for more than $170 million in damages.

In a statement provided to PEOPLE in June, Netflix said it planned to "defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd's right to tell his story."

Related: Baby Reindeer's Ending Explained: What Does It All Mean?

For Gadd, ultimately, there’s a silver lining from Baby Reindeer and the resulting hoopla: a new series the British actor will star in, write and executive produce, currently entitled Lions, from HBO and the BBC.

Set in Scotland, the show will "capture the wild energy of a changing city" as estranged brothers Niall and Ruben navigate a "difficult question: What does it mean to be a man?" The story will span almost four decades, from the 1980s to the present, chronicling "the highs and lows of the brothers' relationship, from them meeting as teenagers to their falling out as adults – with all the good, bad, terrible, funny, angry, and challenging moments along the way."

Gadd said in a statement in June that it's a dream come true to be working with HBO, recalling boxsets he owned of the network's shows, like The Sopranos and The Wire, and watching them "from start to finish" as "some of the happiest moments of my childhood."

"Since then, it has always been a dream of mine to work with HBO and be part of their iconic roster of shows," he said in the statement. "I am so grateful to Francesca Orsi, Kara Buckley and Clint LaVigne for taking this chance on the show and on Ruben and Niall too who — despite growing up in a dead-end Scottish town — would be absolutely pinching themselves at this! I cannot wait to get started.”

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Baby Reindeer is now streaming on Netflix.

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