Inside Baby Reindeer's terrifying true story based on star Richard Gadd's early life

The real-life story behind Netflix's Baby Reindeer is a chilling one, involving an on-stage breakdown, abuse and the character Martha.

The show has captivated audiences worldwide with its harrowing true tale.

Richard Gadd, who also portrays Donny in the miniseries, experienced stalking in his 20s and created the Netflix series to share his traumatic experience.

Gadd's character is a struggling comedian working as a bartender who becomes the target of a woman's obsession.

Martha and Donny's relationship begins when he kindly offers her a free cup of tea, a gesture he would later deeply regret.

Read More:Rebel Moon 2 reviews slam Zack Snyder's 'tedious' Netflix sequel as 'even worse'

Jessica Gunning, who portrayed Martha in Baby Reindeer, revealed to Tudum: "That one act of kindness changes Donny's life forever, because for the next three years Martha stalks him.

"She sends him 41,000 emails and hundreds of hours worth of voice messages, but it's not your conventional stalker storyline."

Reports suggest that Martha inundated him with 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages, 106 pages of letters and a variety of peculiar gifts. These included sleeping pills, a winter hat, underwear and a toy reindeer.

But Martha's obsession didn't end there - she followed Donny to his home, attended his performances and even reached out to his family and friends in an attempt to get closer to him.

DON'T MISS...

Meghan brutally savaged over 'friendship' claims after she 'dumped' everyone [INSIGHT]

Glen Powell stars in jam-packed new trailer for Netflix's comedy movie Hit Man [VIDEO]

Meghan and Harry's new move shut down by Loose Women star in three-word response [COMMENT]

Richard has since spoken out about his ordeal with the woman, confessing that initially, people did not take his concerns seriously.

The actor revealed to The Times that "everyone at the pub thought it was funny" and initially believed she was just a harmless "admirer," but when she "started to invade his life and follow him," things took a serious turn.

In the series, Donny suffers an on-stage breakdown due to stress, although there's no evidence to suggest this occurred in reality and may have been dramatised for the narrative.

However, when he attempted to escalate matters with two police investigations, he described the experience as "hilarious, fly-on-the-wall terrible". His advice for others in similar situations?

"It's a f***ing nightmare process and it takes years."

Richard chose to maintain Martha's real identity and other details about her confidential. He made sure to "go to great lengths" to conceal the woman's identity, joking that she "wouldn't even recognise herself".

In the series, Martha is eventually apprehended and charged with three counts of stalking and harassment, to which she pleads guilty. She receives a nine-month prison sentence and a five-year restraining order is put in place.