Why does Martha misspell messages in ‘Baby Reindeer’?

Netflix’s runaway hit series Baby Reindeer has been one of the most talked-about shows of 2024, but why are Martha’s email messages in the show spelt so poorly?

Created by and starring Richard Gadd, the show brings his real-life experience of being stalked and sexually abused to screens, having previously told the story on stage in his acclaimed one-man show.

Gadd plays a fictionalised version of himself named Donny who is obsessively stalked by a woman named Martha (Jessica Gunning) after he befriends her in a pub.

As their unusual relationship begins to develop, we see some of the litany of emails sent from Martha to Donny printed on the screen, invariably with very poor spelling.

Why does Martha misspell her messages in Baby Reindeer?

Reflecting the real-life circumstances of the events in the show, the email correspondences we see on screen from Martha are taken verbatim from Gadd’s actual stalker.

In total, the woman sent Gadd a total of 41,041 emails, over 350 hours of voicemail messages, 106 pages of letters and many social media messages.

It is not known exactly why the real Martha’s messages were composed with such poor spelling and grammar, although it could be said that it reflects her psychological state at the time.

Others have speculated that the messages could be the result of dyslexia or a series of manic episodes. Undoubtedly, the sheer volume of communications contributed to the standard of their content, too.

Martha’s emails are also signed off with the phrase ‘Sent from my iPhone’, although in later episodes, this itself is sometimes misspelt, suggesting that it was not an automatically generated signature but actually something Martha was typing in herself, in an effort to mislead Donny.

Last week, the woman accused of being the “real Martha” said that she had received death threats as a result of the show.

Since the show’s release and despite the pleas from Gadd and Gunning, fans have attempted to unearth the identity of the real people who inspired Baby Reindeer‘s characters.

“I’m the victim here, not Richard Gadd,” the unnamed Scottish woman told the Daily Record. “I’ve had death threats as a result of his show despite the fact that a lot of the things he claimed are just not true.”

She also claimed that she has been surviving on “two hours sleep” a night due to the stress and worry caused by the alleged death threats.

The woman went on to say that she has not watched Baby Reindeer, but added: “I have seen various things.”

She continued: “I was in Richard Gadd’s company on occasions but I didn’t stalk him like he claims. His story is that this is a gross intrusion into my privacy. I haven’t seen him for 12 years.

The “real” Martha’s response to the series comes just days after both Gadd and Gunning urged viewers not to try and work out the identities of the characters in the story.

Elsewhere, some viewers of the series also believe they have spotted a hidden code hidden in Martha’s emails on the show, which appear to reference the show Lost.

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