The truth about Richard Gadd: From his relationship with his parents and ... trends now
It's the dark and twisted tale that's taken on a life of its own.
Baby Reindeer is the seven-part drama written by a comedian (who also plays the lead character) based on his real-life experiences with a female stalker – the fallout of which is now turning into a phenomenon that threatens to eclipse the original story.
When Richard Gadd decided to turn his stalking ordeal into a work of performance art for the Edinburgh Fringe five years ago, he surely never could have imagined the result would be a Netflix hit viewed nearly 60million times in a month. And certainly not that Fiona Harvey, the woman identified by online sleuths as his stalker, would end up outing herself this week in a TV interview with Piers Morgan, a spectacle that itself has now garnered nearly four million views on YouTube.
Needless to say Harvey, 58, vehemently denies allegations that over four-and-a-half years she sent the 41,071 emails, 744 tweets, letters totalling 106 pages and 350 hours of voicemail messages, which is what Gadd says his stalker did. (Harvey admitted sending Gadd no more than 10 emails, one letter and 18 tweets.)
Baby Reindeer is the drama written by comedian Richard Gadd (who also plays the lead character) based on his real-life experiences with a female stalker, played by Jessica Gunning
Gadd's comic style at Edinburgh festival has always mixed humour with a shock factor
Ms Gunning, Gadd and their fellow castmate Nava Nau. Ms Nau plays a trans woman who dates Donny during the series
But one thing is indisputable in this tangled web of claim and counter claim: Gadd's background could not be in starker contrast to the chaotic and traumatic experiences charted in Baby Reindeer (the show also documents in flashback how he is groomed and raped by a man he considered a friend, another experience based in reality).
As the Mail has discovered, Gadd's middle-class childhood, growing up on the shores of the River Tay in Scotland, was anything but tortured.
Gadd, 34, grew up with his older sister Kate and parents Geoff – a university professor and scientist – and Julia – a school secretary – in a large, detached home in Wormit, a village in north-east Fife. There, he went to the local primary school, played football and tennis for the local club and made his first appearance treading the boards in his school nativity play as one of the Wise Men.
As he himself says: 'I had a happy childhood, it was amazing, I wasn't anxious at all.'
After primary school, Gadd moved on to Madras College, the alma mater of newsreader Alastair Stewart and singer KT Tunstall, a 1,400-strong comprehensive set in historic buildings in picturesque St Andrew's.
It was at Madras that Gadd's love of drama flourished (he dropped Latin in favour of drama) – not least when he landed the starring role of Macbeth in his final year.
Piers Morgan last night with Fiona Harvey, the inspiration for Martha, where she gave a bombshell interview on his YouTube show Uncensored
There was an early taste of acclaim in the Madras 2005 Christmas newsletter, which remarked: 'Richard Gadd excelled in the title role. He delivered a wonderfully physical performance in which he was perfectly prepared to smash his head off the set when the role demanded it!'
The production also fuelled a school romance with Gadd's leading lady, the young woman appearing alongside him as Lady Macbeth.
Another member of the cast this week spoke glowingly of his erstwhile school pal.
'I've known him since we were five or six years old,' says the friend. 'We're from the same village, went to the same primary school. I'm happy to see him doing so well and if I could speak for the people of Wormit I'm sure everyone there is extremely proud to call him one of our own.'
But it would seem there are uncanny parallels between the young Gadd and his character Donny in Baby Reindeer.
Just as Donny takes pity on Martha, offering her a cup of tea on the house when she appears at the pub where he is working, claiming to be a lawyer but seemingly unable to afford a drink, back in his school days Gadd was also quick to look out for the underdog, in this case his friend who was being bullied.
'He stuck up for me when I was being bullied in secondary and nobody had done that for me before,' says the friend, Rob. 'He was one of the good ones when I knew him and it makes me happy to see him doing so well.'
As for Macbeth, Rob says: 'In my opinion he was a brilliant Macbeth and even then he was a very committed, capable and natural actor.'
After the production, and in their final year, the Rob and Gadd went on to take part in the National Theatre's nationwide annual youth theatre festival Connections, winning leading roles in Gregory Burke's play Liar.
Gadd's performing ambitions were obvious even then.
The comedian was a hit at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016 with his Monkey See Monkey Do show, which explored masculinity and mental health. Throughout the performance he runs on a treadmill trying to escape a figure in a monkey costume - a metaphor for his trauma
Tayside, Scotland, where Gadd enjoyed a 'very happy' childhood. There, he found his passion for theatre
'While we were rehearsing he told me that while he was focused on getting his results, he was really enjoying his theatrical endeavours and wanted to pursue them,' Rob recalls.
'I remember that during our run of Liar we both were approached by an agent who had seen the show; nothing ever came from it for either of us as far as I know, but I remember how buzzing the both of us were that we had been singled out.
'I'm really happy to see he's doing something now that he could only dream about back then.'
By Gadd's own account, his time at Madras was 'inspirational'.
'The drama department was like a gem, the teachers
