BABY Reindeer fans are convinced they have found the ‘real Martha’ despite being urged to stop looking for her.
A number of online sleuths have been trying to track down the woman who inspired the character of Martha Scott from the hit Netflix show, which is based on the life of comedian Richard Gadd.
Gadd, 34, has not revealed the identity of the real life ‘Martha’ – a stalker who sent him more than 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemails and 106 pages of letters.
While the Netflix show portrays her being jailed, Gadd has not discussed the fate of the real life woman, other than saying that the issue has been resolved.
Now fans of the hit show believe they have found the comedian’s real-life stalker – despite Gadd urging people not to try to identify anyone from the show.
In an old clip which has resurfaced online, Gadd, who is from Fife, is seen performing a set onstage in Cambridge in 2012.
Sleuths are saying that a giggle similar to the distinctive laugh of Baby Reindeer’s Martha Scott – who is portrayed by Jessica Gunning in the show – can be heard coming from the audience.
During the programme Donny, who is played by Gadd, speaks in detail about Martha’s unique laugh.
The unearthed clip has been shared more than 90,000 times and attracted more than 2,900 comments.
Several commenters claim to know who the ‘real Martha’ is, even going so far as posting names – but these remain unsubstantiated conjecture.
Gadd has previously told GQ that the team had “gone to such great lengths to disguise [Martha] to the point that I don’t think she would recognise herself”.
He added that the story was more based on “emotional truth”, not a “fact-by-fact profile”, so online sleuths looking to identify her may have a considerable challenge on their hands.
On Monday Gadd posted on Instagram Stories that people he has worked with, including director and writer Sean Foley, have been “unfairly caught up in speculation”.
He urged fans to not speculate “on who any of the real-life people could be”, saying that is “not the point of our show”.
Foley reposted the message on X, formerly Twitter, writing: “Police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me.”
And Yorkshire-born actress Jessica Gunning, who plays Martha in the show, has also urged viewers to stop trying to track down the real identity of Gadd’s stalker.
When asked in an interview with Glamour how she felt about protecting Gadd’s real-life stalker as people try to track her down, she said: “I would urge people not to be doing that. I think if that is happening, I think it’s a real, real shame, because it shows that they haven’t watched the show properly.
“That’s not the point of it in anyway.
“Netflix and Richard [Gadd] went to extreme lengths to try and make sure that the identities were kept private for a reason.”
Baby Reindeer is based on Gadd’s own experiences of stalking.
At first he turned his traumatic story into a critically acclaimed play, before Netflix made it into a series of the same name.
In the series he plays a fictional version of himself called Donny, who is stalked by a woman called Martha.
The show has already been dubbed “a true masterpiece” by viewers.
How the abuse escalated after a kind gesture
The plot of Baby Reindeer is based on writer and leading star Richard Gadd’s real-life experience of having a female stalker.
In 2019, Gadd was relentlessly stalked by a woman who he offered a cup of tea to.
Following this first encounter she went on to send him 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, and more than a 100 pages of letters.
She also turned up at his place of work and his home, as well as following him.
The woman would send him gifts which included a woolly hat, brand new boxer shorts, and a reindeer toy.
Her nickname for him was “Baby Reindeer”.
Speaking to The Times, Gadd said: “When a man gets stalked, it can be portrayed in films and television as a sexy thing. Like a femme fatale who gradually becomes more sinister.”
He continued: “It doesn’t carry as much threat of physical violence, is less common and can be trivialised.
“I was physically scared because I didn’t know how far she could take it. “
As well as depicting his stalking nightmare, Baby Reindeer also sees the character Donny be the victim of sexual abuse, something Richard also suffered in real life.
Speaking to the Radio Times, he said: “On a fundamental level, you see sexual abuse in television – not all the time – but a lot of the time as an anonymous figure in the night.
“But a lot of abuse happens in power dynamics, work dynamics, relationship dynamics, all those kinds of things.
“I hadn’t really seen the psychological complexity of it too often on television and I really wanted to show the perniciousness of the grooming cycle, just as much as the abuse cycle.”
The identity of Gadd’s stalker is not known, as he has never disclosed her name.
The “real-life Martha” is now required by law not to approach Gadd or any of his friends or family.