The few mysterious details Richard Gadd has revealed about the real Teri from Baby Reindeer

If you’ve not watched Baby Reindeer yet then you’ve definitely heard of it and been intrigued by its unusual name. Aside from its dark humour, brilliant acting and generally all round captivating production, what makes the show even more interesting is that it’s actually based on real life. The whole show is based on actual events that happened in the life of Richard Gadd who not only wrote the show but also stars in it as the main character, Donny.

In the show, Teri is depicted as the light that leads Donny out of the darkness of the sexual assault we see take place in episode four. In a behind-the-scenes video with Netflix about Baby Reindeer, Richard opened up about the real woman who Teri is based on, calling her “the voice of reason.”

He said: “The real-life person always used to call me out on my shit and I always used to find it confronting. My behaviour was irrational and so it was very important to have Teri be the voice of reason in the show.

“I mean, she was the voice of reason in my life at that point as well, not that I listened to her as much as I should have,” he added.

via Netflix

Speaking to the Independent, Richard confirmed that the storyline of his relationship with Teri in Baby Reindeer did draw on his own real experience of dating a trans woman. He said: “It’s in the public consciousness now, but it wasn’t back then, when I was dating.

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“It felt so new that it added a certain pressure, to me, that I really regret now. But that’s what it explores in the show. This story was set back in a time when things were very different.”

He also told GQ: “Transness is very much in the public consciousness now but back then it wasn’t spoken about. I’d fallen for someone who was trans but with that came a lot of questioning and all of this unfortunate shame that you have when you’re young.”

Teri was impeccably played by the award winning Mexican actress Nava Mau who said she felt a “great sense of responsibility” in playing the character. She said: “When I read [the script], I could tell that Richard really loved her, whoever inspired this character.

“I knew that it was based on real life and it seemed really important to show people that trans women exist in real life and in relationships with real people. I could see Richard’s heart in the writing and I hope that people will see it too.

“I felt a great sense of responsibility, and I cared a lot about telling the story in the best way possible.”

Baby Reindeer is available on Netflix now. For more like this and all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

Related articles recommended by this author:

• Richard Gadd speaks about how similar Baby Reindeer’s Martha actually is to his real stalker

• People think they’ve found the real Martha from Baby Reindeer laughing in a stand-up video

• Baby Reindeer’s confusing and symbolic ending explained: What happens to Donny and Martha?

Featured image via Netflix.