Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd has revealed that the hit Netflix series had an extra episode he decided to cut.
The comedy-drama was adapted from Gadd’s semi-autobiographical one-man show of the same name, and aired seven episodes on the streaming service in 2024. It was highly acclaimed for its intense portrayal of stalking, winning six Emmys and two Golden Globes.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday that Gadd told the Future Vision television conference in Melbourne, Australia, that Netflix at one point asked him to add some lighter material to the show.
“When we were developing it, there was the note that kept coming in about the show being too dark,” said Gadd, adding that the streaming service told him: “You need to give the audience a respite from it all.”
In response, he wrote an extra episode in which his character Donny retreated to his family home in Scotland to spend time with his father Gerry (Mark Lewis Jones) and avoid his stalker Martha (Jessica Gunning).
However, Gadd said he realized while editing the show that moving the story away from Martha lessened its impact.
“I felt, in a lot of ways, the sooner you get back to her the better,” he said, explaining that as a result he restructured the show’s third episode to incorporate key material.
When he won the Emmy for Best Writing in a Limited or Anthology Series last year, Gadd described his victory as “the stuff of dreams.”
“Ten years ago, I was down and out,” he continued. “I never ever thought I’d get my life together. I never ever thought I’d be able to rectify myself for what had happened to me and get myself back on my feet again.
“And then here I am just over a decade later picking up one of the biggest writing awards on television.
“I don’t mean that to sound arrogant. I mean it as encouragement for anyone who’s going through a difficult time right now to persevere.”
Baby Reindeer had been embroiled in controversy since internet sleuths unearthed the “real Martha” as a woman named Fiona Harvey.
Harvey brought a $170m (£132m) lawsuit against the show, saying the claim that it’s a “true story” is “the biggest lie in television history.”
According to documents seen by The Independent, Harvey has accused Netflix of defamation, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violations of her right to privacy among other allegations.
Harvey’s defamation lawsuit was handed a trial date for this year but it has been delayed on appeal.
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