Baby Reindeer - Netflix

[Spratt]

Got a day off today so I’m binging Baby Reindeer. Two episodes in and it’s great so far, I see that it’s previously been a stage show but I’ve never heard of it so looking forward to finding out what happens. It’s about a comedian being stalked by a woman in her 40s.

The show is top of the Netflix charts in U.K. and USA, you can Google to find the stats, they have already stated which category it will be entered for at the Emmy's. It's a global hit because it's a human (true) story.

"Martha" has given an interview in the Daily Record.

Oh well as long as its a global hit then that's great!

Fuck me. That's all

This is a valid point. I had some v dodgy sexual encounters in my early 20s cos my self-esteem was through the floor. You just accept shite cos you want validation through someone wanting you.
I also did t realise him shagging Martha was imaginary. Seems odd as once that happened he slept with Teri properly (loved Terri btw / I hope she is doing well IRL now).

I very much doubt it’ll be tougher on his mental health than his actual fucking rape or being stalked by a deranged person for years. Someone who has victimised multiple other people. I very much doubt you actually care much about his mental health either.

I very much doubt it’ll be tougher on his mental health than his actual fucking rape or being stalked by a deranged person for years. Someone who has victimised multiple other people. I very much doubt you actually care much about his mental health either.

@Itsnamechange
I agree, I spent years being gaslit and silenced by the police and my family. I finally saw justice nearly three years after my rape, every statement and video recording and court testimony I gave felt fucking amazing.
Fuck this woman and fuck his rapist.
He deserves all the praise in the world for making this show.

Here here, this with bells on!

Piers Morgan has got an interview with her, it's going to be on his YouTube channel at 8pm tonight 😬

I'm guessing 'anything goes on his YouTube channel. (I've no idea if it has the same constraints as TV broadcasting channels) It's going to be car crash viewing that's for sure. All she keeps repeating on her social media is that she doesn't believe he was raped.

I see Jessica Gunning has also spoken out and said that people 'didn't watch the show properly' if they are now interested in who the real Martha is. I find that quite fucking patronising, actually.

She also said that Netflix and RG went to 'extreme lengths' to change details / protect identities, which is utterly untrue.

I have to admit, I might just watch it. I'd be interested to see if he asks what she apparently called RG (as in the pet name that inspired the baby reindeer title)

I'm willing to bet it's going to be something blatantly obvious like 'Bambi'

I'll be watching with interest.

It does make me wonder whether she does actually have any diagnosable mental illness though.

Surely he couldn't wheel her out for entertainment if she was seriously ill, he would get in a world of shit wouldn't he? She would have a mental health team that would intervene (I'd hope).

Yes, @BlackFriYay It's a very delicate situation. Potentially, if she is diagnosed with a mental health illness, then he could be seen as exploiting her. I think, for this reason, a regular TV channel wouldn't go there. There's also the possibility that things she may say, may end up being inflammatory / defamatory (based on what she posts online) That said, I believe she deserves to tell her side of the story.

He started this all, unfortunately.

Do I think PM would wheel her out for ratings? it’s literally his MO. Providing she has capacity, she can do what she likes. Not that that makes it okay, of course.

I have been fascinated by the peripheral goings on with this programme and have sat in the galleries watching as characters are discovered in real life but seeing the multiple articles about ‘Martha’ and her exposing herself in a very public way is unsettling.
she certainly did commit crimes and I believe she had a hugely negative impact on the mental health and lives of those she came into contact with.
i have dealt with stalkers and I cannot begin to explain how far reaching and devastating their actions can be but she is clearly battling ongoing mental or neurological issues and piers Morgan interview feels very much like a night time Jeremy Kyle.
i could be wrong.
I should wait and see really. Piers always has an agenda, this time maybe it is just viewing figures, she is very much the zeitgeist at the moment, or maybe he is anti gadd for whatever reason.
maybe gadd snubbed him (understandable) maybe Morgan is friends with gadd’s rapist , who knows but it doesn’t sit right with me at the moment.
also whilst ‘Martha’ is making herself SO accessible, people are not talking about the real cold blooded criminal of the story who is still at large and doubtless committed the same crimes with hundreds of young and vulnerable men looking for a way into showbiz.

his behaviour has all the hallmarks of an Epstein/weinstein/ saville level operation and is being almost completely overshadowed by the easy wins of wheeling out a mentally unstable woman possibly for entertainment but also as the fall guy for an evil person .

I will no doubt watch it whilst feeling hypocritical and uncomfortable for buying into this modern day freak show..

I still believe that gadd was right, and has the right to make his programme and tell his story but I don’t think he reckoned on the modern day armchair detectives and the power of social media.
im sure if he is the person he portrayed on telly he will have some guilt about how this has played out.
he obviously never watched don’t fuck with cats.

It is a situation whereby you have someone who:

• proclaims that previous complaints against her were politically motivated
• does not admit to what should be easily provable (emails/voicemails)

and Gadd has changed elements between stage and screen:

• being groped at the pub becomes assault at the canal
• physical assault of his ex when it was a verbal attack
• physical assault in the pub when in the play he punched her 3x in defence
• jails sentencing when there was no conviction

The problem will be that Fiona says she has not seen the show. Had she watched it, alongside Piers' production team, she could have specified exactly where she believes she has been maligned. It is fair that she has a right to reply if she has not been convicted of a crime and there were no restraining orders issued against her. She said in the Daily Record “This is all made up and hyperbole. There are no restraining orders, injunctions or interdicts anywhere." It was reported that Laura took out an interim interdict and Richard had a First Instance Harassment Warning. The former never went to court (why?) and the second was not pursued (why?). Piers will have done his homework and will hopefully ask the right questions whilst giving her a chance to defend herself in the court of public opinion, given there was no actual court case. This is not a defence of her alleged behaviour but a lot of money has been made from someone who could be perceived as being vulnerable/unstable and whose identity was never protected as claimed. The opposite in fact - in the play, she was portrayed as Irish so changing her back to Scottish was a deliberate and strange choice to make.

I managed to watch most of the PM interview. She (Fiona) seemed more eloquent than I imagined she would be, however, there were also parts of the interview that were utterly awful. Had she had representaion? Advice? I doubt it. As expected, this came across as exploitation of a rather vulnerable person (I know some will argue that she wasnt the victim, she had the right to reply)

I'm not sure if she was arguing that she was Martha, but it was all blown out of proportion, or that she wasn't Martha.

I missed the end, due to family commitments.

The whole thing is a mess.

I see that the other long running Baby Reindeer thread has been deleted.

I know it's pointless to speculate but it all smacks of BPD to me. I know somebody similar who vents her spleen on Facebook day in and day out, just like her.

When something pissed her off, which was a daily occurrence, she would literally roll up her sleeves and start bashing away at her phone or keyboard. Endlessly. Threatening people, outing people for their perceived failings, making up blatant lies.

She's never the problem and it's always somebody else's fault.

A very dangerous person to know.

I've now watched the PM interview. My feeling is that I don't think that there is any danger she was duped or coerced having now watched it. PM is a seasoned interviewer and I think Fiona Harvey thought him a worthy adversary, hence choosing him over another show which may have received higher ratings. She seems very fixated on how much Richard Gadd has made from the show and I think it is the success of the show that has irked her more than the show being about her. I thought she was rather like Prince Andrew in her demeanour in the sense she truly believes everything she is saying. I'd imagine she left that interview like PA and thought 'well that went well'.

After watching it, I actually think that the theories about Richard Gadd 'accidentally' exposing both "Martha' and 'Darrien' could be spot on.

I actually think Fiona Harvey may have some sort of undiagnosed Narcissistic Personality Disorder - she really reminds me of my Mother (now deceased) who definitely had it - a massive grudge bearer, the need to be right all of the time, the need to point out how clever she was in comparison to everyone else, the need to exaggerate achievements and when errors/mistakes/holes in her story was pointed out, became immediately defensive. She also had no sense of what was appropriate conversation so people just smiled and nodded which of course she took to mean that they were enjoying/believing what she was saying. In reality, she came across as a bit unhinged. There is not a lot you can do to change someone with NPD - they are rarely able to accept the possibility they have it and on top of that are not capable of self-reflection to change their behaviours either.

All in all, I think she has rather snookered herself in terms of being able to bring a court case about, but my guess will be that it won't stop her trying to.

Just read an interview with Richard Gadd in which he says the sudden fame of the show has resulted in fans camping in his garden and following him in the streets. That...can't be good for him? Given the very topic of the show. He admitted wishing for fame, but the monkey's paw never gives you exactly what you asked for.

I agree, for all the questions that are being raised about poetic licence/being unfair to "Martha" etc, I think in the long run it can only serve us well to examine the experiences of being stalked, sexually assaulted and raped from a male perspective. Perhaps only then will society start to understand how the power imbalance works, how it feels to be violated under those conditions. I really appreciated him saying "I would love to say I left."

I have just realised where I know the actor who played Darrien the rapist from -he's in The Office as one of the people who recruit David Brent to do motivational speeches!

He was also a main character in Mr Selfridge.

He was also in Hustle as Alfie- the posh toff who was dim and tried to con the hustle crew and failed