Why is everyone talking about Netflix’s new miniseries ‘Baby Reindeer’?

Netflix’s new miniseries Baby Reindeer is trending on Netflix – and it’s the kind of show that’ll have you glued to your TV screen.

Baby Reindeer is a British black comedy drama-thriller miniseries created by and starring Richard Gadd.

It’s an adaptation of Gadd’s autobiographical one-man show of the same name.

According to Forbes, it unravels Scottish comedian Gadd’s real life experience of being stalked and sexually assaulted in his twenties.

The series consists of seven episodes, all of which simultaneously premiered on Netflix on 11 April 2024.

It received critical acclaim and topped Netflix’s Global Weekly Top 10 TV (English).

SPOILER: To read what happens in each of the seven episodes, click HERE

PRODUCTION

DEVELOPMENT

The series was announced in December 2020, with Richard Gadd set to write the series and star. 

Clerkenwell Films was set to produce. Weronika Tofilska was added as the director in August 2022. In March 2023 Josephine Bornebusch was announced as an additional director.

CASTING

Richard Gadd was cast alongside the series announcement. Jessica Gunning was cast on 26 August 2022. Nava Mau was announced as a cast member in March 2023.

FILMING

Filming began in mid-August 2022 at the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, Scotland. Filming also took place in London and wrapped wrapped by early March 2023.

RECEPTION

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 36 critics gave the series a positive review, with an average rating of 8.8/10.

The website’s consensus reads: “A bracing work of autofiction by creator and star Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer can be a punishing watch but richly rewards viewers with its emotional complexity and excellent performances.”

On Metacritic, the series holds a weighted average score of 87 out of 100 based on 10 critics.

AUDIENCE VIEWERSHIP

Baby Reindeer debuted at No 5 on Netflix’s Top 10 TV English titles for the tracking week of 8-14 April 2024 with 10.4 million hours viewed.

In the following week it climbed to No 1 and garnered 52.8 million viewing hours.

CAST AND CHARACTERS

• Richard Gadd as Donny Dunn, a fictionalised version of Gadd
• Jessica Gunning as Martha Scott, a former lawyer with a criminal past
• Nava Mau as Teri, a therapist Donny meets on a trans dating site
• Tom Goodman-Hill as Darrien O’Connor, a television writer who takes Donny under his wing
• Shalom Brune-Franklin as Keeley, Donny’s ex-girlfriend
• Nina Sosanya as Liz, Keeley’s mother and Donny’s landlady
• Michael Wildman as Greggsy, owner of the pub Donny works in
• Danny Kirrane as Gino, Donny’s coworker
• Amanda Root as Elle, Donny’s mother
• Mark Lewis Jones as Gerry, Donny’s father
• Hugh Coles as Francis, Donny’s friend from drama school
• Alexandria Riley as Detective Culver, the detective assigned to Donny’s case
• Thomas Coombes as Officer Daniels, an incompetent police officer
• Tom Durant Pritchard as Jason, host of a comedy competition
• Laura Smyth as Glenda, M.C. of the comedy competition
• Will Hislop as Billy, fellow comedian