Richard Gadd ’s Netflix hit, Baby Reindeer , produced for a song and released with little fanfare, beat the odds to become a surprise sensation. It made overnight stars of Gadd and his co-star Jessica Gunning , who have been adjusting to life in the spotlight ever since. With the tabloid press, particularly in their native Britain, stirring up reams of controversy, Joe Utichi travels across London to meet Gadd and Gunning, as they place their emphasis on the lives their show is changing for the better.
Richard Gadd is doing his best to stay anonymous, though it’s no longer all that easy for him. Since April 11, his has been one of the world’s most recognizable faces. He transformed physically for Baby Reindeer , losing weight to better recall the gaunt version of his younger self on which he based his new show, but his large blue eyes and high cheek bones are unmistakable now to anyone who welcomed him into their home on screen — or, perhaps, that he welcomed into his psyche — in the months since the show debuted.
We meet in North London, where Gadd has suggested a walk and talk around a local park. He moves at a pace, a large baseball cap pulled down low, and drops his volume whenever others get too near. He’s not hiding — a conversation like this could easily have been conducted in a private room somewhere if that was his preference — but he wasn’t exactly expecting the nosebleed adjustment to global fame that has followed Baby Reindeer ’s huge success.
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