‘Honestly, I expected backlash’: Richard Gadd speaks on Baby Reindeer’s staggering success

Having only been out for a mere two weeks and with practically everyone in the whole of the UK already watched it, it’s safe to call Baby Reindeer by Richard Gadd an overnight success. The Netflix show is a biopic of the life of its creator and star, who was stalked by a woman, called Martha in the show, for a number of years beginning in 2015.

Before turning the show into a television drama, Richard had already explored his experience of stalking and sexual abuse through in two other comedy shows, Monkey See Monkey Do in 2016 for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Baby Reindeer in 2019 which the Netflix show is adapted from. The shows themselves were met with a positive response but the series has absolutely blown up, receiving a 100 oper cent Rotten Tomatoes score and endless positive feedback from critics and viewers alike, something Richard Gadd has said he “didn’t expect”.

via Netflix

Appearing on ITV’s Lorraine, Richard Gadd spoke about the quick success of Baby Reindeer: “I really believed in it, I hoped it would be received well. It’s been out a week so I didn’t expect it to be this a big a hit so quickly. I thought it might maybe grow a little bit, be a bit more organic. But, yes, I am delighted, it’s been a crazy response.”

Speaking further on just how popular the show has become, Richard told TimeOut: “It’s gone really well. If I’m being honest I expected a bit of a backlash. Because it’s not a show just about me, it’s a show that incorporates other people who were also vulnerable.

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“I worked very hard to point out that it’s about a systemic failure. But we live in a day and age where people like to take offence, and at the end of the day I didn’t behave perfectly throughout this thing. I think in the end we got the balance right.”

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:

• Everything Richard Gadd has said about Jessica Gunning’s captivating Baby Reindeer performance

• Baby Reindeer’s Jessica Gunning has spoken out about people trying to find the real Martha

• Richard Gadd’s friend recalls meeting his Baby Reindeer stalker in ‘disturbing’ encounter

Featured image via Netflix.