The Creator of “Baby Reindeer” Doesn’t Want Real Characters to Be Identified

Baby reindeer‘S Richard Gadd is happy that viewers are invested in the new show based on his life – but he doesn’t want fans to track down the people who inspired the characters.

“People I love, worked with and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly caught up in speculation,” Gadd, 34, wrote via his Instagram Story on Monday, April 22 The Hollywood Reporter. “Please do not speculate about who the real people might be. That’s not the point of our show.”

Foley, who was specifically mentioned in the social media post, also commented on the breach of privacy, writing of X: “The police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory, offensive and threatening posts against me.”

Baby reindeer, which premiered on Netflix earlier this month, is an adaptation of Gadd’s autobiographical one-man show of the same name. The limited series is based on Gadd’s experience with stalking and sexual assault.

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In addition to being the creator, writer and executive producer of the series, Gadd also plays a fictional version of himself. Baby reindeer follows struggling comedian Donny (Gadd), whose life is turned upside down after meeting Martha (Jessica Gunning). The chance encounter sets off a chain reaction that leaves Martha stalking Donny for months.

“It’s all 100 percent true emotionally, if that makes sense,” Gadd said diversity before the show’s debut. “Everything is taken from events that happened to me and real people I met. But of course, for legal and artistic reasons, you cannot reproduce the exact truth.”

Gadd explained that he took precautions to prevent viewers from identifying the real people behind the characters.

“I mean, there are certain safeguards, you can’t just copy someone else’s life and name and show it on TV,” he noted. “And of course we were very conscious that some of the characters in it are vulnerable people and you don’t want to make their lives any more difficult. So you have to change things to protect yourself and other people.”

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After Baby reindeer exploded, online detectives tried to find out the true identities of Martha and Donny’s girlfriend Teri (Nava Mau), which was inspired by Gadd’s actual ex. The fictional character Darrien (Tom Goodman Hill) – an elderly television writer who bullied and attacked Donny – also became a topic of conversation on social media.

Earlier this month, Gadd spoke about how creating Baby Reindeer was a “catharsis” for him.

“I really wanted to show the nuances of the human condition,” he said in an interview with This morning. “I wanted to show that people are a mix of good and bad, and I think stalker stories usually tend to have one person being good and one person being bad. And I wanted to get away from that somehow.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).