‘Baby Reindeer’ Stars Jessica Gunning and Nava Mau on Playing ‘Nuanced, Complicated’ Real People and Why Martha and Donny ‘Need Each Other’ (2024)

In April, Netflix quietly released Richard Gadd’s seven-part limited series, “Baby Reindeer.” The show, which fictionalizes Gadd’s personal experiences, immediately went viral.

Set in London, the psychological drama follows struggling comedian Donny Dunn (Gadd), who is stalked by a woman named Martha (Jessica Gunning). Though Donny initially indulges Martha’s antics, she begins infiltrating all aspects of his life. From attacking his girlfriend, Teri (Nava Mau), to sending him increasingly unhinged emails and texts, Martha rapidly becomes undone, unraveling Donny’s life and her own.

Yet, “Baby Reindeer” is more than a tale of harassment. With Gunning’s Martha and Mau’s Teri anchoring Gadd’s Donny, the series is a thoughtful and nuanced account of how abuse ricochets, affecting the survivors and those who orbit around them.

With 11 Emmy Award nominations, including acting nods for Gadd, Gunning and Mau, and a nomination for best limited or anthology series, “Baby Reindeer” is still very much the talk of the small screen.

Below, Gunning and Mau open up about the responses to the show, how they view their characters and much more.

JESSICA GUNNING:Nava, I wanted to know how your experience [with the show] has been in the States compared to how Richard and I have had things here [in the U.K.].

NAVA MAU:Things have just moved so quickly. It’s been phenomenal to have so many people connect emotionally with the series and our characters. It’s just the greatest gift as an actor.

GUNNING:I’ve been working for 17 years, and occasionally, I would’ve had people come over and mention a show they’ve seen. So, the effect that “Baby Reindeer” had has been crazy, especially [in the U.K.]. But even when we were out in L.A. and New York, people would come over on the streets and say what the show meant to them. That’s the most incredible thing. I always thought “Baby Reindeer” would be a niche, more indie-select thing because it is quite hard-hitting and out there with some dark material. But what surprises me the most is the different age ranges of people who come over and chat.

MAU:I was not expecting so many people to be terrified of Martha and see her as a villain. I didn’t see her that way, and you probably didn’t either. I’m curious about how you approached playing a character like that.

GUNNING: As soon as I read the script, I actually fell in love with Martha and Donny and thought, “This is really a moving story about two lost, lonely people who find each other at this time in their life when weirdly they need each other.” That’s one of the reasons why I fought for the part and went in so many times — quite embarrassingly — to audition. I kept thinking that if somebody does this and plays her at any moment as crazy, as a baddie, or as a villain, then you are ruining Richard’s amazing writing and creation of this really nuanced, complicated woman. Sometimes, you have to be on your character’s side. Teri and Martha have only one interaction. It’s obviously a very intense one. There was a reason she was so aggressive toward Teri, and that’s because she’s with this man; he’s everything. And this very confident, attractive, sexy woman is suddenly there, giving as good as she gets.

MAU:It ends up being 10 seconds of a fight, but it is hours of you straddling me or having to be as if she’s pulling my hair, scratching my face. So, there is a physical intimacy to it, which I think requires trust and consent. I remember, of course, the transphobic and racist language. I remember being like, “Whoa, that actually hurt.” That was the first time I saw you or Richard act on screen. There’s a lot behind what he’s saying and feeling, and it really sets up the episode where Teri and Donny are holed up together, and you can feel how this trauma has bonded them.

GUNNING:I always felt like I was acting with Donny. I never felt like I was acting with Richard, which I think is a really good thing. It made the space feel very safe. It was important that we saw the two as distinct, otherwise, that would’ve been too muddy a line.

MAU:I feel like [for] the first chunk, I really hadn’t met Richard. It was actually in the second half when Teri and Donny are in the apartment together, that’s when I met Richard for real. He’s obviously a different person than the character he’s written and the story. Jess, what was it like for you to tackle the challenge of playing somebody that’s based on a real person, who then experienced life with that real person?

GUNNING:I absolutely wasn’t impersonating anybody. I was doing my interpretation of the character, Martha. Everything I had for Martha genuinely was in the script, especially that final voicemail [Donny] listened to at the end in the bar. I was just so blown away by how [Richard] chose to end the series. And also, what she says in that voicemail sums up why he’s so special to her, why he matters to her, why she calls him Baby Reindeer, and all of those things. How about you?

MAU:It sounds silly or made up, but I felt like [Teri] was a part of me, and I was a part of her. One of the surprises for me has been people just so wholeheartedly saying, “Teri’s so strong.” For me, I had to open up this pit of despair that Teri enters in this relationship with Donny. I keep saying that she is willing to take the risk of falling in love, and she falls. The process became about getting back up. I see Teri and Martha as having a very similar journey, oriented around the same person.

GUNNING: They are both two kinds of tragic, unconventional love stories.

VARIETY:“Baby Reindeer” has been nominated for 11 Emmys, which is incredible. Was this something either of you expected once the show blew up?

GUNNING:It’s so surreal for me, especially being over here in the U.K. The Emmys are such a huge thing. I’m shocked and delighted, obviously. I can’t believe it.

MAU:I’m getting emotional. This series has really just been about this story and the personal experience of being a part of it. It’s rare for that kind of story to be in the same sentence as the Hollywood glamour and world stage of it all.

GUNNING:Nobody thought about things like the Emmys or awards or anything. We told the story as best as we could, so it’s been a surprise in that way. It was just told in the most truthful way with a lot of care from all of the crew. Hopefully, that’s what came through, and that’s why it’s become what it has.

MAU:We had permission to be free in the story, and that’s how it should be. I feel very lucky, grateful and proud.