Baby Reindeer Review

What separates this from every other stalking drama is that it is not interested in the stalker as a monster or the target as a victim. Gadd plays a version of himself who encourages the situation, who keeps replying, who finds in this woman's obsession the only evidence anyone has ever wanted him, and the show is honest enough to make that pathetic rather than tragic. Jessica Gunning's performance is remarkable precisely because she is charming, funny and clearly unwell in the same breath.

The fourth episode, a long account of grooming and assault by a mentor, is among the most difficult half hours the platform has ever carried, and it recontextualises everything before it. Nava Mau brings enormous warmth as the one relationship he cannot bear to be worthy of. The production is plain and slightly cheap looking, which suits it. Its real failure lies outside the frame: the identifying details were thin enough that viewers found a real person within days, and the fallout that followed was foreseeable and badly handled.