‘Baby Reindeer’ drew from Richard Gadd’s own experiences with stalking and sexual assault. Gadd used pseudonyms for the real people involved when portraying these events on the show. Still, some viewers tried to find out their true identity on social media.
Fans believed the actor’s friend, Sean Foley, was the real-life counterpart of Darrien and harassed him online. So, Foley shared a statement from Gadd on X on Tuesday:
“Hi, everyone. People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation. Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show.”
— sean foley (@SeanFoleyJ) April 23, 2024
Cast Members Are Not Happy With The Situation Either
Darrien O’Connor grooms and sexually assaults Donny Dunn in the series. Tom Goodman-Hill plays the part. Jessica Gunning stars as stalker Martha Scott opposite Goodman-Hill.
Gunning also shared distaste for the online digging and harassment in a previous chat with BBC Scotland’s ‘The Edit’:
“If you like the show and you are a fan of it, you should stick with the story of Martha and Donny being what connects you, not trying to do any detective work and find out any real identities.”
The actress noted that the characters were more complicated than ‘goodie or baddie or villain or victim.’
All seven episodes of ‘Baby Reindeer’ were released on Netflix on April 11.
