- The hit Netflix series Baby Reindeer has won praise across the globe for writer and actor Richard Gadd, who based the show on his own real-life experience with a female stalker
- While fans have sent their support in droves, legendary novelist Stephen King has gone so far as to write an essay of admiration of Gadd’s work in the Times
- He has even compared the tale to his 1987 novel, Misery – and says he is glad that his book came out first, so he couldn’t be accused of copying Gadd’s true tale
The show may be getting rave reviews from fans across the globe.
But it’s not every day that one of the world’s most famous thriller writers acknowledges your work as a thing of genius.
That’s exactly how Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd – who also starred in the true-life story about his own experience as a victim of stalking – must have felt when none other than Stephen King praised the Netflix short series.
And not only that, but the writer – who has released novels including Carrie, IT, and The Shining, which have all been made into movie adaptations – has also penned a letter of admiration towards Gadd, 34, and his show.
“Unlike most streaming series’ episodes, which can feel bloated at 50 minutes — or even longer — the episodes of Baby Reindeer, each about 30 minutes, are like short, swift stabs administered by a very sharp knife,” wrote King.
“Here, less than two minutes into the first episode, we can see what sets Baby Reindeer apart from so many dramas, dramedies and psychodramas that populate the occasional richness (and more common mediocrity) of streaming TV, we’ve been given the essential nature of two pivotal characters in less than two minutes.” Meanwhile, Hilary Duff has welcomed her fourth child, sparking confusion among fans about the baby’s name.
And if that wasn’t praise enough, King also compared it to his 1987 novel, Misery.
Adapted into a film three years later, starring James Caan and Kathy Bates, the story follows a novelist who is rescued by a former nurse after a car crash – but things take a dramatic turn when it is gradually revealed that he is in fact being held hostage in the home of his ‘number one fan’.
“My first thought was to thank God my novel [Misery] came first, or people would assume I’d stolen it from Richard Gadd, who wrote and produced the seven-episode series and also stars in it,” King continued. “My second thought was that Donny Dunn (Gadd) actually looks like a baby reindeer, with his big eyes and timid manner. The scruffy beard adds to this impression rather than distracting from it.”
“Then comes Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning), who appears one day in the pub where Donny works. It’s a showstopper of an entrance, hands down the equal of our introduction (‘I’m your No 1 fan’) to Misery’s Annie Wilkes. We take Martha’s measure before she has said a single word: overweight, slump-shouldered, frowsy-haired; her pillocky pink sweater turned up on one side, her colorful bag hanging dispiritedly from her hand.” Additionally, the sighting of a baby great white shark, caught on camera for the first time.
