Richard Gadd reveals he ditched missing final episode of Baby Reindeer set in Scotland
Richard said he scrapped the last scene which was set back in Scotland.
Richard Gadd has revealed there is a missing final episode of his hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer that was based entirely in Scotland.
The star and creator of the “true story” about his alleged stalker ditched the eighth episode, which was cut before the series was released.
Gadd, who stars opposite Jessica Gunning as his stalker, said he made the decision to get rid of the final part of the story after receiving notes from Netflix to include a trip to Scotland.
Network executives had suggested including lighter material to offset the series’ intense stalking narrative, leading to the creation of an episode where Gadd’s character Donny Dunn escapes to his Scottish homeland to visit family.
Gadd rarely gives interviews about the show which has proved controversial, not least because he is the subject of a multi-million lawsuit in the US, filed by real-life Martha, Scots lawyer Fiona Harvey.
Speaking at a TV summit in Australia, Gadd said: “I really fought to cut an episode of Baby Reindeer. I really wanted to cut it.”
He claimed the episode had been written as a pressure release of sorts, as Gadd’s hapless standup comedian Donny Dunn is reeling from the relentless attention of former lawyer-turned-stalker Martha Scott.
He returns to Scotland to be with his family, but decided against it being the last episode and dropped it.
Baby Reindeer revolves around Martha becoming dangerously obsessed with Gadd after he serves her a free cup of tea in a London bar in the first episode.
Gadd was working as a barman in the Hawley Arms in London and failing as a comedian when he first met Harvey.
He said: “I remember when we were developing it, there was the note that kept coming in – and probably rightfully so – that the show was just too dark, you need to give the audience a respite from it all. And so there was an episode where I escape London to get away from Martha and everything, and I go and visit my parents.
“There’s a whole episode where I go to the football with my dad, I spend a day with my dad, and stuff kind of happens.”
Realising that Martha, who attacks a trans girlfriend of Gadd’s and sexually assaults him in Baby Reindeer before being imprisoned for a second time for stalking him, was “sort of relentless”, Gadd said, and he decided the advice that the audience needed a break from her seemed reasonable.
“When we got to the edit, I felt you miss her every time she’s not on screen, and I felt in a lot of ways, the sooner you get back to her, the better. And so episode three is an amalgamation of a few episodes.
“The episode that’s missing ended with her in my kitchen, which is actually how we started episode three. So the edit was almost a complete rewrite of what was in the script.”
The series has been viewed 96 million times on Netflix, won three BAFTA awards and six Emmys, including three for Gadd.
Of the missing episode, which involves his father, played by Mark Lewis Jones, Gadd said: “It’s a shame, because Mark Lewis Jones, who plays my dad, is one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with,” Gadd said. “He’s astonishing. And it’s a shame because people will never quite realise how much he gave to that project.”
Baby Reindeer is based on two stage shows Gadd produced, Monkey See, Monkey Do, which won the top comedy prize at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016, and Baby Reindeer, which debuted in Edinburgh in 2019.
Both shows draw on his own experience of sexual abuse and stalking, and in its marketing for the TV series, Netflix insisted everything in it was true.
Within days of the show being streamed in April 2024, Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey was quickly identified by internet sleuths as the real-life Martha.
London-based Harvey, who has never been convicted of stalking, is suing Netflix for defamation in the Central District Court of California.
She is seeking up to £132 million damages and claims her health has deteriorated significantly since the show aired.
Her case hinges on the show’s depiction of her as a twice-convicted stalker. To prove her defamation case, her legal team has produced a document that shows Harvey has no recorded convictions.
Netflix is represented by lawyers including Marvin S. Putnam, who has represented J.K Rowling and a “who’s who of Hollywood royalty”.
Harvey is represented by Richard Roth of New York law firm Roth Law.
Last night, Roth hit out over the latest revelation and claimed it only goes to strengthen Harvey's case against Netflix.
He said: "The most recent disclosure about the cutting of an episode of BR is consistent with our investigation and further confirms: (i) the amount of thought and work that went into every decision, every scene and every episode; and (ii) the inner working conflict between Netflix and Gadd throughout the process. It, thus, strengthens the case as it, once again, makes clear that the decision to deem the story “true,” when it was not, was intentional and malicious.”
Top showbiz news
Gadd has completed production on his next major project, Half Man, a new BBC and HBO collaboration featuring Jamie Bell. The six-episode series, filmed in Glasgow, examines fractured family relationships.