Claims ‘Everyone Knows’ Who Real-Life Darrien Is

CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses sexual assault.

Baby Reindeer has been a smash hit for Netflix, with more than 22 million people watching Richard Gadd’s harrowing tale of stalking and abuse. As it’s based on a true story, naturally, everyone has been wondering the same thing: who are the characters of his stalker Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning) and his abuser Darrien O’Connor (Tom Goodman-Hill) based on? 

A TV presenter has just revealed the identity of the real Darrien is an open secret in the entertainment industry.

Spoilers for Baby Reindeer follow, so please close your eyes if you haven’t finished the show yet. 

Episode 4 of the show is one of the most graphic and hard-to-stomach episodes, with Gadd’s character Donny Dunn recalling months of abuse suffered at the hands of hotshot comedy producer Darrien.

Although Gadd hasn’t publicly revealed the identity of his real-life abuser, TV presenter Richard Osman says “everyone knows who [Gadd] is talking about [in Baby Reindeer]”.

“There’s a very, very serious thing that happens with a male comedy producer and Richard Gadd, who, as you say, did the show in Edinburgh and has been very open to people in the industry about who that person was, so people in the industry know who that person was,” he said on a recent episode of his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment with Marina Hyde. 

Baby Reindeer fans have been so keen to identify the real-life Darrien and Martha that Gadd was forced to ask fans to stop speculating, particularly after writer and director Sean Foley was mistakenly identified as Darrien.

“The person they’ve cast [as Darrien] looks like this other guy [Sean], looks like the guy who’s been falsely accused. And it’s such a weird, bizarre thing to do because this poor guy has had death threats and he’s had to issue a statement to say it’s not me,” Osman said. 

“It is not him, definitely not because people in the industry know who it is. And it’s definitely not him.”

The drama has continued off-screen, with a woman claiming to be the real Martha recently revealing she’s considering taking legal action against Gadd. 

While Gadd hasn’t responded to this woman’s claims, he stepped out this week with Jessica Gunning for a screening of Baby Reindeer in London. The pair put on a united front despite the controversy surrounding their show, and have yet to comment on the alleged real Martha’s outrage.