“My Little Reindeer”, the Netflix series that blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality

3 mins

From our correspondent in London,

Donny, a Scottish comedian without much success, supplements his income by working as a waiter in a bar. There he meets a certain Martha, who quickly becomes obsessed with him to the point of bombarding him with emails, text messages, phone calls… My little reindeer (baby reindeer in original version) is presented by Netflix as “ a captivating true story », that of Richard Gadd, creator of the mini-series and interpreter of Donny.

In addition to harassment lasting several months, My little reindeer depicts the conditioning and rapes suffered by Donny at the hands of a producer named Darrien at the start of his career, as well as the difficult acceptance of his bisexuality… The title takes up the nickname given to Donny by Martha, who owned a stuffed reindeer child. In one month, the mini-series – which also aims to spark the debate on mental health – reached second place on the podium for the most watched programs on Netflix.

Nearly 60 million viewers

Among the estimated 60 million viewers, some took on the mission of identifying the real Martha (played by Jessica Gunning) and Darrien (Tom Goodman-Hill), scouring Richard Gadd’s social networks. Several people in Gadd’s entourage are accused of harassment, sexual abuse and manipulation. Internet detectives then come dangerously close to the actions denounced in My little reindeer.

The virtual investigation grew so much, so quickly, that on April 23, Richard Gadd published a story on his Instagram account: “ people that I love, that I admire, with whom I have worked… Find themselves embroiled in these speculations. […] That’s not the point of the series. » In the same story, he also refutes the theory that Darrien represents Sean Foley. The same day, the British director indicated on X, formerly Twitter, that he was being targeted by threats and insults.

Two weeks later, in an interview at theHollywood ReporterRichard Gadd adds: “ I don’t agree with the amateur investigators. […] If I had wanted the real protagonists to be identified, I would have made a documentary. »

The real Martha gives her version of the facts

Last week, it was finally one of the people named by the digital detectives who put a piece back into the media machine. Fiona Harvey, a Scottish lawyer (like Martha), had already identified herself as probably the person from whom the harasser of My little reindeer, while being offended by his treatment, which according to her was very exaggerated. On May 13, she is the guest of journalist-controversy Piers Morgan on his show Uncensored, broadcast on YouTube. Fiona Harvey describes having met Richard Gadd, having attended one of his shows, owning a cuddly toy in the shape of a reindeer and sending a few messages, but not 41,000 e-mails, as the actor says. She would never have been convicted, unlike the character of Martha who receives a prison sentence in the series. A few days after the interview, Fiona Harvey denounced “exploitation” on the part of the show and demanded one million pounds sterling from the team.

The origin of the problem is the message “this is a true story” displayed by Netflix at the start of each of the seven episodes: a promise of truthfulness renewed on May 8 by Benjamin King, director of political strategy for Netflix in the Kingdom -United and Ireland, interviewed by a parliamentary committee at Westminster. A truth however contradicted by Richard Gadd himself: “ [la série] exists in a sort of fictional realm, although it is based on truth,” he said.

A Scottish MP, John Nicolson, indicated this Friday that he plans to write to Netflix to ask the company to “ provide the evidence “, without which, its representative would have lied to Parliament, a symbolic offense in the United Kingdom.