When Baby Reindeer was released in April of 2024, audiences around the world became fascinated by creator Richard Gadd’s onscreen adaptation of his award-winning one-man show by the same name. Based on his own life experiences, the series follows an aspiring comedian named Donny (Gadd) who meets a woman named Martha when she enters the bar where he works one afternoon. After he offers her a cup of tea on the house, Martha begins to develop a fierce attachment to Donny that quickly escalates to stalking.

Played by the brilliant Jessica Gunning, Martha might be the most complex portrait of a stalker ever seen on television. Gunning, who has appeared in series like White Heat, What Remains, and Back, and has guest-starred on Doctor Who, imbues her desperate character with wit and intelligence, alongside her intense devotion to the hesitant Donny. “I always had a warmth towards her,” says Gunning. “As soon as I read Episode 1, I kind of fell in love with both her and Donny as characters. This is the first job that I have felt extremely connected to and extremely emotionally involved in. Donny and Martha’s story I found really hard to switch off from. I think it definitely changed me as an actor.”

Gunning, who had been following Gadd’s work since seeing his Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning show Monkey See Monkey Do, was thrilled to be cast as Martha, a character she was already familiar with from his play. “You can’t help but feel a sense of care and duty and responsibility to do this story justice,” she says. “I honestly think the series is one of the best things I’ve ever read in my whole career.”