Baby Reindeer (2024) miniseries review

Based on true events that transpired in Richard Gadd’s life, Baby Reindeer is a deeply personal tale about mental illness and abuse. Written by and starring Gadd, this is a tour de force. We may be out of the food chain but we still have the predator and prey patterns etched in our DNA that can veer its ugly head when people are at their most vulnerable. 

Baby Reindeer is the name affectionately given to Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd, playing a younger version of himself) by his stalker Martha (Jessica Gunning). Donny is struggling as an upstart comedian and is paying his bills working as a bartender. He takes pity on Martha when she walks into the bar, softly sobbing, offering her some tea. Martha takes this as a romantic gesture and shows up every day at the bar, talking endlessly to Donny about the fantasy she is living in her head.

It starts as innocent curiosity for Donny. Most people have a barrier to protect themselves when they see another person show signs of lunacy. In Martha’s case, Donny doesn’t. Though the story is told by Dunn, we also get enough of a glimpse into Martha’s psyche. Like when Martha digs out Donny’s personal email from his website, she starts sending him emails non-stop. He gets hundreds of emails from her daily with a ‘sent from iPhone ’stamp. But Martha doesn’t use an iPhone which means these stamps are hand-written. And the more disturbed or upset she is, the more spelling mistakes she makes. 

While Donny is dealing with the Martha situation, he dates Teri, played by Nava Mau, a sane presence in his screwed-up life. But she can’t keep him safe from the destructive path he is on and ends up getting in the crossfire. Things get intrusive, demeaning, hurtful, violent and ultimately, heartbreaking.

This ridiculous story doesn’t feel ridiculous because of the exceptional writing and production. With Donny’s inner monologues, we are kept on page with his state of mind. You may not agree with Dunn’s choices but you understand him. The experience of watching the show is quite immersive, thanks to the camera work and the use of extreme close-ups. The two directors of the show, Weronika Tofilska and Josephine Bornebusch have done a great job.

The raw performance given by Gadd here is nothing short of extraordinary. Incredibly, he is able to muster such emotion despite playing this role in his one-act play of the same name since 2019. Gunning is quite fascinating as the stalker, confidently walking the tightrope between evil and sympathetic. The smaller roles are also well cast and acted.

With 7 episodes of 30-40 minutes runtime, the show is tight and highly bingeable. Baby Reindeer is like a car crash. It’s devastating to watch, but you can’t look away.