2025 Golden Globes Nominations: Miley Cyrus, Meryl Streep and More Snubs and Surprises
For Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, it was inevitable that he'd tell his own personal horror story on stage, when he was ready.
But he couldn't have foreseen that a scripted series inspired by his life would become Netflix's No. 1 show in the U.S. and U.K., launch a viral conversation about trauma, stalking, privacy and the perils of posing a mystery that Internet sleuths will feel compelled to solve, and then win four Emmys.
"If Baby Reindeer has proved anything, it's that there's no set formula to this," Gadd, who collected three of them as an actor-writer-producer, said in September, accepting for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. "Really, the only constant across any success is good storytelling. Good storytelling that speaks to our times. So, take risks, push boundaries, explore the uncomfortable, dare to fail in order to achieve."
The seven-episode gut punch Gadd adapted from his 2019 one-man show of the same name has now added three 2025 Golden Globe nominations, including Best Miniseries or Motion Picture—Television and acting honors for Gadd and supporting actress Jessica Gunning, to its impressive tally of honors.
"I think I might need someone to pinch me to check I’m not dreaming," Gunning said in a statement after the nominations were announced Dec. 9.
By now, Baby Reindeer's reign over hearts, minds and award shows is definitely not a dream, though reality has considered to prove stranger than fiction.
Ed Miller/Netflix
"It's clearly struck a chord," Gadd, 35, told The Guardian after the series' April 14, 2024, premiere. "I really did believe in it, but it's taken off so quickly that I do feel a bit windswept."
Less than two months later, however, Netflix was sued by the woman who came forward as the inspiration for the show's stalker character played by Gunning.
Fiona Harvey, 58, filed a $170 million defamation suit against the streamer, calling Baby Reindeer's title card calling it a true story "the biggest lie in television history."
In response, Gadd detailed his alleged experience with Harvey (who he never named in the course of making or promoting Baby Reindeer) in a July 30 court filing, in which he also reiterated that the show was "not a documentary or an attempt at realism. It is not a beat-by-beat recounting of the events and emotions I experienced as they transpired."
Netflix told E! News in a statement, "We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd's right to tell his story." (In September, a judge denied Netflix's bid to have the suit dismissed; the company has appealed the ruling.)
Gadd didn't deny taking creative liberties with the show, in which he plays Donny Dunn, a struggling comedian with demons to exorcise who's bartending in a London pub.
What happens between Donny and his stalker Martha is so infuriating, viewers easily could have interpreted the action as the Wormit native trying to shock at whatever cost. But unless you were familiar with Gadd's oeuvre beforehand, you wouldn't have known about the soul-crushing experience that brought him so low.
The plot was "tweaked slightly to create dramatic climaxes," said Gadd, who wrote every episode. "It's very emotionally true, obviously: I was severely stalked and severely abused. But we wanted it to exist in the sphere of art, as well as protect the people it's based on."
And why is it even called Baby Reindeer, you ask? Spoilers ahead, but here's the story behind the most talked about show of the year:
(Originally published May 6, 2024, at 5:15 a.m. PT)
Watch the 2025 Golden Globes on CBS Sunday, Jan. 5, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.