Although the show certainly explores the dark side of Gadd’s story, there is also some comedy — after all, he is a comedian!

Ed Miller/Netflix

Is Baby Reindeer a true story?

Gadd has been very open about the fact that he was stalked for four years by a woman who called him “Baby Reindeer”. Apparently, she constantly followed him to his comedy gigs and even showed up at his house. She sent Gadd a staggering 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters. She also sent him an array of slightly sinister gifts — sleeping pills, a woolly hat, brand new boxer shorts and a reindeer toy.

As the comedian explained to The Times, his friends didn’t initially think anything of it.

“At first everyone at the pub thought it was funny that I had an admirer,” he explained. “Then she started to invade my life, following me, turning up at my gigs, waiting outside my house, sending thousands of voicemails and emails.”

In another interview with The Guardian, Gadd explained that he was far from perfect during this time of his life. “I did loads of things wrong and made the situation worse,” he said. “I wasn’t a perfect person [back then], so there’s no point saying I was. And I know as I’m doing those sections that people are thinking I’m not a nice person – which make them difficult to perform.”

Although Baby Reindeer is mostly true, Gadd admitted he did amp up the tension and suspense for the sake of the show. “The feeling you get most of all when you’re getting harassed is relentless tediousness and frustration,” he said. “I didn’t want the audience to feel that.”

Based on this experience, Gadd said he wanted to create something to tell his story and represent stalking in a different way – particularly how it is rooted in mental illness.