QUICK SUMMARY
The new no.1 most watched show on Netflix in the UK is Baby Reindeer, a dark comedy drama with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The key words to remember when watching the show that has just hit the top of the Netflix charts in the UK are "based on a true story". I can watch all kinds of nastiness in a drama with the comfort blanket that none of it's real, but that isn't the case here.
Baby Reindeer is the new show currently lighting up the streaming service. A (super) black comedy, it's an adaption of creator/star Richard Gadd's award-winning stand-up comedy routine. Before I go on, he has to be commended for his strength and honesty.
Gadd plays Donny (names have been changed for reasons that soon become clear), a fictionalised version of himself who works in a London pub by day while struggling to make it as a standup by night. One day, an odd lonely woman walks in upset. Donny, out of sympathy, offers her a cup of tea on the house. That was his first mistake.
Martha (An impressive Jessica Gunning) quickly becomes obsessed with him, it seems innocent enough at first but rapidly escalates. She starts sending him literally thousands of curiously misspelt (and crude) emails every day, referring to him by the nickname reindeer. Despite her claims of being a high-powered lawyer, she also spends all day at Donny's work explaining she's too broke to buy drinks.
Donny himself is in something of a vulnerable place. The show starts with him going to the police to report Martha so we know things can't end well, but he's also feeling disillusioned by his comedy struggles, and battling his own sense of identity and prejudice (and trauma) while dating his new partner.
I've never seen a show like this before. It's funny in places, yes, but the overall impact is definitely more psychological horror in my opinion. Martha is dangerous and predatory, which doesn't exactly make for easy watching.
Just because it's not a comfortable watch, doesn't mean it's not well worth your time, however. The series currently sits on a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score with critics, no mean feat, and deservedly so.
If you too have also binged all of Fallout, here's your next watch.
