'Baby Reindeer' Creator Richard Gadd Reveals True Story Behind Hit New Show | This Morning

and Richard Gad joins us here

this

morning

, good

morning

, first of all, let's start by saying congratulations to the number one on Netflix, yes, and we've talked about it, we've been discussing it all morning and how brilliantly it's written. There's really no villain or hero in

this

, it's about talking about the grayness of human beings, essentially you should be very proud of it, yes, I'm very proud of it. It has exploded so quickly and like that. fast around the world that I, I, no, I didn't expect it in a lot of ways, uh, I really believed in the

show

, but the fact that it's gone so stratospheric so quickly for such a cult, quite a niche

story

.

I mean, it's an amazing thing, so it clearly struck a chord, the underlying thing is that this is your lived experience, you actually went through this, so we're watching this very dark comedy because it's written like that and it's funny, it happens and you think everything time. Did you actually go through this? When did you think these four and a half extraordinarily traumatic years of your life would make a great comedy-drama? Well, I started doing it on stage. I started. I went through some pretty bad things, like bullying and stuff like that. I probably can't discuss it right now, but you know they're all into

reindeer

calves, they're all into

reindeer

calves, yeah, and I had a catharsis of going to the Edinburgh festival and presenting these plays and exploring the themes and just spreading it all out. and I got a kind of acceptance among them and those

show

s took off and the

baby

reindeer took off, they started at the Edinburgh Festival, they went to London and it just built and built and built and then Netflix came to me and we like to do it.

You want to turn this into a series, it just snowed and snowed and you just hope that that kind of catharsis continues on an even larger scale, so yeah, I mean, we don't want to give it all away because you. I have to see it, but essentially it all starts with a random act of kindness, yeah, and then as it develops you can look back knowing what's going to happen, all the little mistakes your character makes along the way, but is that kind of What happened in real life too, yeah, absolutely, it all started with a free drink on the house, um, and I knew almost immediately.

That's why there's so much talk about that search in episode one. You know, that search Martha does. Uh, that reminds me a lot of what happened. I almost knew the second I did it that I had made that gesture that oh something is brewing here, yeah, I didn't think it was going to get to the point that it did, but it started at that moment, yeah, and I just want to say in terms From the experience of having someone harass you, how bad did it get? Oh, it got quite bad, it became quite relentless at one point, it was like an assault on everyone. senses in all media emails phone everything uh, it felt like a barrage, kind of a constant problem 24/7, and you found out that I think one of the things that I understand about Being is that you understand that you have a responsibility within that like well, you had this in certain periods, since the cat said that you had done things that maybe when you look at it you think that maybe I encouraged some of this and I shouldn't have done it, yeah, absolutely, I want to, I didn't want to do.

In some ways it felt too easy to have a cup of tea and oh, didn't it? Am I not a victim? I didn't feel like that exactly exactly I didn't feel like that in life I let it I was in a bad place I made stupid mistakes I felt like I needed someone to divert my attention because my confidence was born Rock and I wanted to get that I wanted to show the nuances of The Condition Humana really wanted to show that people are a mix of good and bad and I think stalker stories generally tend to be good for one person and bad for one person and I wanted to get away from that.

I have to say your co-star also Jessica Gunning, yeah she's amazing how she. She goes from being incredibly aggressive and very scary in a split second to suddenly being yes, you feel so sorry for her, it's heartbreaking, it must have almost been great to be in front of her, oh, I adored her, there were moments when that we were shooting. and it would be like the camera would be over my shoulder on her and I would forget to say my lines because I'm like God, she's so good, she's so good, oh I'm sorry I've ruined the scene and she's extraordinary I think.

She is the best actress in this country, I do it and I always had her in mind for Martha, I always saw her on television shows, I saw a spark, I saw a vulnerability, I saw a light, a darkness, I saw it all and I was kind from the beginning really, so it's great, there's a little bit that we're not giving too much away, but there's a little clip in the trailer where you walk into the police station for the first time and you're like, look, I think so. You have a stalker, yes, yes, the reality of that is something you experienced too, a sort of dismissive nature of what you brought to them, what that experience was like, and what you think should be done because you're not the first. person to experience something like this, but it was necessary for you to demonstrate that there was a threat of physical violence to be taken seriously, yes, absolutely.

I think it always felt like a long, complicated process, it always felt much more, much more difficult than it ever had to be, um, I think a lot of this is due to, you know, staff cuts, lack of training. , all this kind of stuff, uh, and I remember when they told me to listen to voicemails. I had the option of changing my phone, but, but, there was this idea that something threatening can make things go into action, so it was almost an act of self-flatulence to be listening to them all the time, all the trouble it left you, Yes, yes, but in the end that's how it was.

I kind of sped things up a little bit, but yeah, it was a frustrating process, um, but I know a lot of people have been through that and had it even harder than me, so yeah, yeah, yeah, I think there's a um generalized. belief that change needs to happen, fundamental change needs to happen, did you ever find out why he walked into the pub that day, that first day when he walked in and sat at the bar? No, but I've questioned it all the time because there was a heartbreak or something had happened um and sometimes I wonder if it was the end of his stalking relationship with someone else and the beginning of a stalking relationship with me.

I guess I'll never know, but I've often wondered, actually, yeah, how was it? reliving all of that again because in some ways it must be terribly distressing and it almost takes you back to those you know, there were over 41,000 emails that you're talking about, listening to the voicemails, all of that must be distressing, but in another way manner. There should be a slightly empowering moment about almost taking control of the situation and turning it into something positive. Yes I think so. I think that's what I've gotten the most out of art and my life, from writing and doing.

All of these things have this uncanny ability to sort out overshadow the magnitude of the issues in your life and when you're struggling with things and everything is on your shoulders and it tightens your chest just by going out and writing it down putting it into something that has been the best therapy for me. , has been a kind of lifesaver. There's something about being a comedian, being a writer, and writing about your own experience. You have to expose yourself. I wonder how much you've changed because you were just being generous. and kind to this person and it has had such a huge impact, has he changed?

Yes, who you are as a person. Are you more cautious about interacting with people? Oh sure. I think so, yeah, I think I think I think I definitely think twice. like because I was going through a mess of trauma back then I definitely feel like it was a long time ago now I definitely feel like I'm more out of it and things that I hope for and I like to believe that things Now it's played differently well it's a brilliant series. Brilliant writing could be better. Congratulations, it's now available on Netflix. Now you can see it often.

That's what we did, right? We totally grabbed each other. Nice to meet you. thank you very much nice to meet you