Some where out there in the Netflix archives there is a lost episode of Baby Reindeer that never went to air.
Speaking at yesterday’s FUTURE VISION conference in Melbourne, the creator and star of the worldwide hit Richard Gadd revealed that he had made, and ultimately cut, an ‘Episode Eight’ of the series.
The episode, according to Gadd, would have seen his character Donny Dunn going back to his native Scotland to visit family.
This break in the narrative was created at the request of executives at Netflix, who thought the series needed a light-hearted moment to give audiences a reprieve from the intense stalker storyline.
For those not in the know, Baby Reindeer follows Donny, a struggling comedian who has a warped relationship with a female stalker that ultimately impacts him to the point of having to face a deep, dark buried trauma.
‘There was the note that kept coming in about the show being too dark,’ Gadd told Australian screenwriter Tony Ayres, who was moderating the Spotlight session in ACMI’s Cinema 1.
He did not reveal much of what happened in the cut episode, beyond his character leaving London to visit relatives in Scotland ‘where stuff kind of happens’. A sports game may have been involved, as he lamented losing scenes at the football with actor Mark Lewis Jones (who played the character of his father, Gerry).
‘He’s astonishing and it’s a shame people will never quite realise how much he gave to that project because of that episode,’ Gadd said.
What ever happened to Baby Reindeer episode eight?
Upon putting the planned episode together in the editing room, Gadd immediately had a strong instinct to cut it.
Though he admitted that ‘the dark show about sexual abuse and the weird lady he’s egging on’ was risky for Netflix to put to air, he emphasised that he never once lost faith in bringing the story to the public, and that he believed strongly in his original vision.
Ultimately, when it came to the ‘light’ Episode Eight, Gadd felt that time spent away from the character of Martha Scott (played by Jessica Gunning) would make the series lose momentum, and thus lose audience interest.
‘I felt you miss her every time she’s not on screen,’ Gadd said. ‘And I felt, in a lot of ways, the sooner you get back to her the better.’
He also revealed that the cut episode ‘ended with her being in my kitchen’, which eventually became the opening scene of Episode Three. ‘Episode Three is an amalgamation of a few episodes,’ he said, implying that scenes that were cut from prospective episodes became condensed into the third episode.
The 36-year-old comedian said he had written the entirety of Baby Reindeer while sitting on a garden deck chair in a near-bare apartment, but, by the time it was ready to distribute, ‘the edit was actually a complete rewrite of what was on the script’.
‘It was a monumental effort, for sure,’ he said.
Baby Reindeer premiered on Netflix on 11 April 2024 and quickly became a global phenomenon, reaching the number one position for streamed series in 76 countries.
It won six Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes, including Best Lead Actor and Best Comedy Writing for Gadd.
Presented as a ‘true story’, it is now the subject of a US$170 million lawsuit by the woman who has identified herself as Gadd’s real-life stalker.
The ongoing lawsuit meant that further discussions of the ‘authenticity’ of the series were completely off the table at FUTURE VISION.
Gadd is currently working on a BBC and HBO drama, Half Man, a six-part series he wrote and stars in opposite Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Rocketman), which explores the complex relationship between two estranged brothers.
Baby Reindeer is currently streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer.
