“Reindeer” is the new big hit on Netflix. The miniseries “quietly” debuted on the platform and quickly attracted crowds of viewers. What is the production about? The story of “Reindeer” focuses on Donny, who finds himself at the worst moment of his life. And the whole spiral of these traumatic events began when Martha – the perpetrator of the whole tragedy – entered the bar where the man worked.
The series was based on real events, but there is plenty of fiction in it. What is fact and what is myth? We check it out below!
The main role of Donny was played by a Scot, Richard Gadd, who is both the creator of the series and… a person who experienced this story. The hero is a bartender and an amateur stand-up comedian. A man who had been harassed by an older woman for several years. “It's a true story, based on my life when I was in my 20s and went through some really crazy things,” Gadd said in the Netflix material.
In one of the episodes of “Reindeer” we meet Darrian, a man who decides to help Donny break out in the world of stand-up. She initially gets involved by giving him advice on his performance. Over time, this relationship becomes increasingly murkier. It turns out that the intentions of the newly met man are not honest. Donny spends more time in Darrian's apartment, starts taking drugs with him, and finally… becomes the victim of an attack. This is by far the most traumatic episode of the entire miniseries.
Richard Gadd talked about this event in the Netflix material: “There is an episode where we go back to the moment when Donny goes to the Edinburgh Fringe and meets a person from the industry. Initially, he helps him develop his career, and then he attacks him. This is, of course, drawn from my real experiences,” he confessed.
It must be emphasized, however, that Darrian is a fictitious name. The man's identity was changed for the needs of the series. It has not been revealed, although many people in the industry have guesses who he could be.
In the series, Donny falls in love with a woman named Teri. Donny initially does not reveal his true identity to the woman and tries to keep the relationship a secret. Teri finally finds out about Martha and supports her beloved.
Teri was based on a real person. Although the couple is no longer together, Richard Gadd spoke fondly of his ex in a behind-the-scenes video for Netflix. It was important to him that Teri was portrayed as a “voice of reason” in the series.
In the series, Donny's stalker, Martha, is sentenced to nine months in prison. However, the reality was slightly different.
As Richard Gadd revealed in several interviews (for Time), over the course of four and a half years he received from the woman 41,071 e-mails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, 106 pages of letters and various strange gifts . Each email that appears in the Netflix series is a message Gaad received in real life.
The woman did not actually go to prison. The man admitted that, in his opinion, she herself was in many ways a victim of this situation. Gadd never revealed details of the final resolution of the situation beyond the fact that he had “mixed feelings” about her and the woman was reportedly granted a restraining order.
Read more: “Reindeer”: The most important series of this season? No one has ever talked about difficult topics like this (review)