Netflix's Baby Reindeer: who is the real-life Martha, did she get caught and where is she now?

Baby Reindeer is the latest Netflix series that is leaving viewers gripped. Based on true events, it tells the story of comedian Donny (Richard Gadd), whose life is turned upside down when he is stalked by Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning).

The series comes from comedian Richard Gadd, it is based on his one-man play that recounts his personal experience with a stalker who terrorised him for four years. Martha would attend his gigs, bombard him with messages and even showed up on his doorstep, Gadd sought help from police but they didn’t believe him.

The name Baby Reindeer comes from the nickname his stalker gave him. Many viewers were left wondering what actually happened to the real-life Martha and if she was ever held accountable for her crimes. Here’s everything you need to know.

*Spoilers for Baby Reindeer below

What is Baby Reindeer about?

Baby Reindeer is based on the hit one-man play of the same name by comedian Richard Gadd. The Netflix series is inspired by real events after Gadd was stalked for four years by a woman who called him, “Baby Reindeer”.

Here is the synopsis from Netflix: “Based on the award-winning and hit Edinburgh Fringe one-man play, Baby Reindeer follows struggling comedian Donny Dunn’s (Richard Gadd) warped relationship with his female stalker and the impact it has on him as he is ultimately forced to face a deeply buried trauma. This compelling, darkly funny true story also stars Jessica Gunning as Martha, Nava Mau as Teri and Tom Goodman-Hill as Darrien.”

Is Baby Reindeer based on a true story?

Baby Reindeer is based on the true story of Gadd’s experience being stalked for years by a woman who would follow him to comedy gigs and show up on his doorstep. Throughout his ordeal he received over 41,071 emails and 350 hours of voicemail. Martha also sent 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, 106 pages of letters, as well as gifts including a woolly hat, a pair of boxers, a reindeer toy and even sleeping pills.

He went to the police about Martha but they did not believe his story. In an interview with The Times he touched on the portrayal of a man being stalked in television as “sexy” and that when a man is stalked it doesn’t “carry as much threat of physical violence.”

He explained: “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. 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, she could have a knife, but I did think how terrifying it would be if she was a tall scary man.”

Speaking in an interview with GQ about how truthful the Netflix series, Gadd said: “It’s pretty truthful. Any time it veered too much into embellishment I would always want to pull it back. It’s extremely emotionally truthful. Of course, this is a medium where structure is so important, you need to change things to protect people… but I like to think, artistically, that it never moved too far from the truth.”

Who is the real-life Martha in Baby Reindeer?

The Netflix series follows stalker Martha, played by Jessica Gunning, but who is the real-life stalker that terrorised Gadd? In the series Martha is sentenced to nine months in prison and gets a five-year restraining order for her crimes, but the comedian hasn’t revealed what happened to the real-life Martha, with the Daily Mail reporting that he has said the issue is resolved and that he never wanted to “throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell in prison.”

When asked by GQ if he thinks the real-life Martha would watch Baby Reindeer Gadd said: “I honestly couldn’t speak as to whether she would watch it. Her reactions to things varied so much that I almost couldn't predict how she’d react to anything.”

He continued: “She was quite an idiosyncratic person. We’ve gone to such great lengths to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognise herself. What’s been borrowed is an emotional truth, not a fact-by-fact profile of someone.”

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Sarah McCann is a Trends Writer for NationalWorld who specialises in stories around TV, Film and Health. If you liked this article you can follow Sarah on X (Twitter) here. You can also share your thoughts in the comment section below.