* This article contains spoilers for Baby Reindeer and mentions of sexual abuse *
Richard Osman has claimed that “everyone” in the television industry knows the identity of the sexual abuser portrayed in Richard Gadd’s Netflix series Baby Reindeer.
In the show, Gadd’s character Donny is stalked by a woman named Martha Scott, an experience which reawakens trauma caused by sexual abuse at the hands of a TV comedy writer named Darrien, portrayed in the show by Tom Goodman-Hill.
Following the success of the series viewers have sought to identify the real identities of both Martha and Darrien despite the show’s creator and star urging them not to.
Now former Pointless star Osman, 53, alleged that Gadd has been "very open to people in the industry" regarding who sexually assaulted him as he delved into the hit Netflix series on a recent episode of his The Rest Is Entertainment podcast with journalist Marina Hyde.
Osman shared: “As you say, there’s a very, very serious thing that happens with a male comedy producer and Richard Gadd, who, as you say, did the show in Edinburgh and has been very open to people in the industry about who that person was, so people in the industry know who that person was.
“Now it comes out now and a completely different person is identified, someone who has produced Richard Gadd before, but is definitively not the person in any way.
“But the person they’ve cast in that role looks like this other guy, looks like the guy who’s been falsely accused,” he continued.
“And it’s such a weird, bizarre thing to do because this poor guy has had death threats and he’s had to issue a statement to say it’s not me.
“And it is not him, definitely not because people in the industry know who it is. And it’s definitely not him.”
Gadd has already tried to stop fans from speculating about who real-life equivalents could be and has said that although the plot is based on reality, many elements are dramatised.
The actor has specifically called out the abuse of Sean Foley, who supporters had wrongly identified as being the inspiration for a producer who takes advantage of Donny.
He said on Instagram last week: “People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation.
“Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show.”
Foley also spoke out and said that he's been wrongly targeted by online trolls who have accused him of being the real-life individual behind the character in a series of “defamatory, abusive and threatening” online posts.
The director and writer said he had also contacted police, who were now investigating the false allegations.
In Gadd's real life experience, his stalker sent him more than 41,000 emails, voicemails totalling to 350 hours, dozens of social media messages and 106 pages of letters, over the course of three years.
His play, by the same name, premiered at the renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival and later enjoyed a successful run at London's Bush theatre.
Fast forward five years, it has become one of Netflix's most successful streamed shows.
