Apparently, Richard Gadd was relentlessly harassed and stalked by this unnamed woman; just like Martha does in the show, the stalker began showing up at his stand-up comedy shows and announcing her presence from the audience. She watched his house and abused him, and even started targeting and harassing Gadd’s parents (another horrifying circumstance that’s depicted in “Baby Reindeer”). Gadd says that he received thousands of emails, hundreds of written letters, and endless social media interactions and voicemails from the woman. When Gadd spoke to the police in real life — yet another situation he dramatized for the show — they dismissed his concerns, apparently feeling as if a case where a woman stalks a man wasn’t serious.
“When a man gets stalked it can be portrayed in films and television as a sexy thing,” Gadd said during his interview with The Times UK. “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 trivialized.”
Not only that, but Gadd says that he was genuinely worried that the woman would come after him physically: “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.”