The alleged real-life woman behind the stalker in the Netflix series Baby Reindeer
is breaking her silence on TV show Piers Morgan Uncensored.
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Based on an award-winning hit Edinburgh Fringe one-man play, Baby Reindeer follows struggling comic Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd) as he is persistently tormented and hounded by his stalker, Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning). The show details the emotional toll it takes on Dunn, who has been entangled with Scott for four and a half years.
Another core part of the series is that Dunn is manipulated and raped by an older man working in the entertainment industry, played by Tom Goodman-Hill.
The critically-acclaimed United Kingdom-based show has been a runaway success and, so far, has been in Netflix's top 10 for four weeks.
The Context
Baby Reindeer is based on Gadd's autobiographical one-man stage-play of the same name, which was a hit at Scotland's Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2019.
The Netflix series has gone viral since its release on April 11 and many online have speculated about Gadd's story, including who the real people were behind the characters of Martha and the writer who sexually assaulted Gadd. But Gadd asked fans on his Instagram stories to respect people's privacy.
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"Please don't speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That's not the point of our show. Lots of love, Richard," he wrote.
Gadd opened up on how close the show was to his own reality telling Forbes in April that the story was "100 percent emotionally true."
He also wrote a lengthy essay about his decision to turn his experiences with Martha into a comedy show, which was ultimately turned into the Netflix series.
What We Know
On May 8, journalist Piers Morgan took to his X (formerly Twitter) account to announce that he would be interviewing a woman who claims Martha was based on her.
"The 'real Martha' from baby reindeer tomorrow on Piers Morgan Uncensored sent from ihpone," the text reads in a video uploaded to his account.
Martha's frantic texts make up a key aspect of Baby Reindeer and "sent from my ihpone" is a reference to the show. The character types out the words every time she sends an email to Dunn.
Views
Newsweek emailed spokespeople for Morgan and Gadd for comment Wednesday.
People took to the comments of Morgan's post to share their excitement about the interview.
"OMG! Sent from my iPhone," one person commented, with another adding: "Nice scoop!"
A different X user simply posted a GIF of television host Jon Stewart eating popcorn. Popcorn-eating GIFs are often used to convey that something dramatic is about to happen.
However, others were less impressed, with one person writing: "It's not like Piers to exploit the vulnerable..."
What's Next?
The episode will air on Morgan's YouTube channel on May 9 at 8 p.m. BST, which means it will be available at 3 p.m. ET on the same day.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Billie is a Newsweek Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. She reports on film and TV, trending ... Read more