(Credits: Netflix)

At the beginning of the year, Richard Gadd was a relatively unknown comedian and actor who the majority of viewers would never have been able to pick out of a lineup, but it would be an understatement to say times have changed since then.

Adapting his one-man stage show for the screen, Gadd became an overnight sensation when the creator, writer, and star of Netflix’s Baby Reindeer inadvertently gave rise to the most talked-about TV series of the year, one of the streaming service’s most-watched episodic originals ever, and an awards season contender.

Since premiering in April, Baby Reindeer has dominated the television discourse for better or worse, ranging from critical acclaim and widespread praise for its performances, subject matter, and handling of sensitive issues to the criticisms and looming legal action being threatened by the real-life people on which several of the characters were based.

Gadd is now a two-time Primetime Emmy nominee after being shortlisted for his lead performance and writing in the ‘Limited or Anthology Series or Movie’ categories, and experiencing such a dizzying ascent in such a short period of time understandably created mixed emotions.

“Honestly, when I first set out, I thought what I was doing was stupid in terms of owning up to the flaws in my own personality and the things I got wrong,” he told Deadline, but he confronted those fears in service of the story. “I think we live in an age of almost moral enlightenment right now where everyone is terrified of saying the wrong thing,” he continued.

“So, to put my hand up in that age of moral enlightenment and be like, ‘Oh yeah, I made these fucking stupid mistakes’, was very daunting, and it’s still daunting in the aftermath in a lot of ways,” Gadd explained. As difficult as it was, the actor and filmmaker believes Baby Reindeer “has led to an appreciation of bringing the nuance back to the discussion about people.”

With the seven-episode miniseries in the thick of the awards season hunt and continuing to gain headlines for the lawsuit stemming from Fiona Harvey’s issues with Baby Reindeer claiming to be based on a true story when Netflix has held its hands up and confirmed embellishments were made, one thing that can be guaranteed is Gadd’s story remaining at the forefront of pop culture for at least a little while longer.

It was daunting for Gadd to place himself under that harsh of a spotlight, but his lasting hope is that Baby Reindeer leads to a change in the way people talk about both themselves, and the issues they face.