Donny Dunn is a character in the British drama comedy series Baby Reindeer, who is portrayed by Richard Gadd.
Biography[]
Donny is a struggling comedian who performs at a pub After an act of kindness to a Martha Scott, a vulnerable woman, it sparks a suffocating obsession.
From 14 August 2015 to 22 March 2017, Martha repeatedly harassed and stalked Donny for months on end, threatening to ruin both their lives.[2]
Throughout Baby Reindeer[]
Donny Dunn, a struggling comedian, worked at a pub. Martha Scott, a lonely woman, entered the pub. She was unable to afford a drink, so Donny offered her a drink on the house. Martha began talking about her career as a lawyer, perpetuating herself as a very successful and powerful woman. Martha visited the pub every day and talked to Donny obsessively. They exchanged compliments. Donny's friends and managers, Gino and Greggsy, took notice and joked that Martha was Donny's girlfriend. Later, Donny's email inbox was spammed by incoherent emails from Martha.
One day, Martha arrived at the pub with an expensive hamper and a quilt, hoping to go on a picnic with Donny. Donny suggested getting coffee instead, since they are just friends.
At the café, Martha explained that she found Donny's email address on his website and criticised Donny's comedy videos on YouTube. Martha began asking Donny invasive questions. She grabbed Donny's hand and insisted that he tell her who hurt him. When Donny told her to let go of his hand, Martha suddenly yelled loudly, taking the whole restaurant by surprise. Donny and Martha quickly exited the restaurant, leaving in opposite directions.
Donny decided to follow Martha and discovered that she lived in a small, messy apartment. While Donny was watching Martha from outside her window, Martha sent Donny an email, causing Donny's phone to make a sound. Martha noticed him and Donny ran away.
One night, while talking, Martha blurted out that she loved Donny. Donny went home and googled Martha, discovering that she used to be a lawyer, but was fired after being convicted of stalking. Martha behaved inappropriately around her boss - hanging around outside his house, falsely reporting him to the police for abusing his child and stabbing his mother in the street. Martha received a 4.5 year prison sentence.[3]
Donny accepted Martha's Facebook friend request. She commented on all his photos, with some making rude remarks about Donny's photos of his ex-girlfriend, Keeley. Martha confronted Donny about Keeley. Donny explained that Keeley was just a friend, but Martha responded that men and women cannot just be friends.
Martha continued to show up at Donny's workplace to flirt with him. She was keen to advance their relationship. Donny politely turned Martha down, explaining that due to their age gap, they would not be able to have children. Later, Martha spammed Donny with emails insisting that she was fertile and would have no problems having children. She even suggested naming their future children Eggbert, Keith and Neo.
Unbeknownst to Martha, Donny had been seeing Teri, a woman he had met on a trans dating site. Donny created a fake profile, claiming that he was a construction builder named Tony. Teri and Donny had many dates in a dark pub, to avoid being spotted by someone Donny knew.
Donny explained to Teri that he didn't want to meet up elsewhere because he was hiding from a stalker. Donny showed Teri the emails from Martha. Teri advised Donny to report Martha to the police, as Teri did not want to hide all the time, but Donny was reluctant to report Martha.
Donny showed Martha's emails to his friends and managers, Gino and Greggsy, but they did not take him seriously. While they were going through the emails, they jokingly sent Martha an email from Donny's phone requesting to have sex, much to Donny's annoyance.
After a night of drinking, Teri and Donny drunkenly got on the train. Teri asked for a kiss, but Donny froze and stepped off the train. Teri tried to call Donny, but he ignored her calls.
On his way home, Donny encountered Martha, who was waiting for him outside. Donny insisted that Martha leave, but she kept following him, and eventually forced herself onto him. Donny froze as Martha groped him.[4]
After being assaulted by Martha, Donny took time off work and blocked Martha on Facebook, in hopes of getting away from Martha.
Donny went to Teri's apartment to apologise and tell Teri the truth about his identity. Teri became upset, believing Donny was using her for comedic material and kicked him out. On the way home, Donny updated his dating profile with his real name and occupation.
At Donny's place, Liz introduced Donny to her cooking group. To his surprise, the new member of Liz's cooking group is Martha, who passed herself off as "Sheila", a lawyer. Liz invited "Sheila" to spend the night. While Liz was searching for blankets, Donny confronted Martha and threatened to call the police. Martha was shocked and let Donny drive her home.
Week after week, Martha decided to spend her days and nights sitting on the bus bench outside Liz's house, greeting Donny every time he walked past. On a cold winter day, Donny noticed that she was sitting at the bus stop, seemingly frozen, and began to have some sympathy for her. He drove her home and made her a cup of tea.
Donny took part in a comedy show, where Teri and her many friends showed up, hoping to watch him fail. Donny's show started poorly, however, he cracked a few jokes about a fictional girlfriend, which made the audience laugh. Suddenly, Martha started to sing and she professed her love for him. Donny initially tried calling her a "random stranger", before telling the crowd she was his stalker. Martha angrily denied this and began yelling that Donny poked around her house at night and emailed her asking for sex. Martha was eventually taken out by security guards.
After the show, Teri offered to talk to Martha, since she was a therapist and believed she could help Martha with her mental issues. However, Donny felt that it was a bad idea, and instead, Donny and Teri went into a pub to hide from Martha. Martha found them, and was offended that Donny was having a date with someone else. Martha insulted Teri with slurs and remarks about Teri's background and appearance. When Martha physically attacked Teri, Donny and another man pulled Martha off and Donny yelled at Martha to leave. Teri sat on the ground, injured and hurt.[5]
Donny went to the police station to make a report about Martha Scott. The police officer, Officer Daniels, did not feel that Donny was at risk and none of Martha's emails were threatening. When Officer Daniels asked why Donny took so long, Donny had a flashback to his past.
After high school, Donny moved to London and lived with his then-girlfriend, Keeley, and her mother Liz. Donny performed comedy shows at a pub, but had little success.
One day, in 2011, a bartender at the pub gave Donny a ticket to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Luna VIP Members Bar, which someone had left behind. At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Donny met Darrien O'Connor, who was a TV comedy writer on the show Cotton Mouth. Donny aspired to reach Darrien's level of fame. At the pub, Darrien coached Donny on how to do his comedy shows, which helped Donny become a success. Night after night, Donny would have a large audience, who would laugh at his jokes and pay him. However, once Darrien left, Donny's shows went back to having little success. People stopped coming to Donny's comedy shows and people at the pub would opt to watch football matches instead. Donny tried many times to reach out to Darrien, but he didn't reply to Donny's texts.
After many months, Darrien called Donny while he was in the middle of class, and they arranged to meet up. Donny wrote up a long script, which he brought to Darrien, but Darrien did not read it. Darrien encouraged Donny to keep working hard and made Donny believe that he could make him famous.
Donny went to Darrien's place on many occasions, leaving behind his frustrated girlfriend, Keeley at home. Darrien encouraged Donny to do drugs, such as MDMA and GHB. Darrien repeatedly assaulted Donny while he was unconscious. Despite knowing that Darrien was assaulting and taking advantage of him, Donny continued to go to Darrien's place. Keeley eventually broke up with Donny, but her mother, Liz, allowed Donny to continue living at her place. Liz had recently lost her older son, and perhaps Donny's presence helped Liz fill that void.
Back to the present, Donny's voice-over explains that he made the police report, he had only given the police half the story. He did not tell them Martha's identity, Martha's criminal history or Teri's assault. Since Darrien, who intentionally groomed and assaulted Donny, was never reported to the police, Donny struggled with the idea of reporting Martha, since she was clearly struggling with mental illness.[6]
Shortly after the attack on Teri, the pub managers, Gino and Greggsy, banned Martha from the pub.
Martha attacked Keeley with a Coke outside their house. When Liz learned that the attack was because of Donny's relationship with Martha and that she had been inside her house, she kicked Donny out.
Donny moved in with his friend, Francis, from drama school. Francis hosted many parties at his place, so it was always noisy and full of people. Donny later moved in with Teri.
Donny's colleagues at the pub find Donny's stand-up comedy videos on YouTube.
At the police station, Donny finally revealed Martha's identity to Officer Daniels. It turned out that the police were already aware of Martha, as she had previously stalked and threatened a police officer. Officer Daniels referred the case to Detective Joanne Culver. Joanne interviewed Donny and asked him to send her evidence, as there was little that the police could do without it.
While on a date with Teri, Donny received a call from his mother, but he didn't pick up. His parents, Elle and Gerry, left Donny a voicemail, completely distraught and believing that Donny had been in a car accident. Martha had gotten in contact with Donny's parents and was now harassing them.
Teri and Donny had intimacy issues. Teri felt as if Donny did not see her as a woman, and was frustrated that Donny still had not told the police about Martha assaulting her. Teri felt that on some level, Donny enjoyed the attention that Martha gave him, which is why he was so reluctant to report her to the police. She felt that she was at risk because of Donny and broke up with him.[7]
Martha harassed Donny's parents relentlessly, by repeatedly calling and messaging them. Donny decided to take matters into his own hands by coercing Martha into writing him a sexually aggressive email, in hopes of them using the email as evidence to send to the police. However, unbeknownst to Donny, Martha always wore a recording device. Martha sent Donny's voice recordings and email to the police.
Detective Joanne Culver no longer wanted to deal with either Martha or Donny, and simply asked that they stop communicating.
Martha showed up at the pub again. She was previously barred from entry, but as there were no managers on site to stop her, she took a seat and began mocking Donny with another customer, pulling up videos of his problematic and unsuccessful stand-up routines.
This pushed Donny to his limit. He revealed to the customer Martha's criminal past, including her previous arrests and details about past victims. Furious, Martha attacked Donny by smashing a glass on his head, leaving blood streaming down his face as the other customer watched in shock. The bar managers, Gino and Greggsy, begged Donny not to go to the police, as they could lose their jobs due to negligence.
At a comedy competition, Donny had an emotional breakdown and talked on stage about Martha's stalking, Darrien's sexual assault and his failed relationship with Teri. He lamented that he loved Teri, but he loved hating himself more than he loved her. Some of the audience left, disturbed, and the rest sat in uncomfortable silence. Gino and Greggsy, who sat in the audience, were shocked.[2]
After Donny's emotional breakdown during the comedy competition, a video of his breakdown was posted on YouTube. The video went viral and Donny was overwhelmed with public interest and job opportunities. Donny was offered many gigs to do podcasts and radio shows. He was so distracted that he didn't notice that Martha had stopped emailing him.
One day, Martha called Donny, angry about the way he spoke about her on stage. Martha began spamming his phone with messages. Donny travelled home to spend time with his parents. He talked to his parents about his sexuality and his experience of being assaulted. Donny explained that he was hesitant to talk about this, as he was worried he would be seen as less of a man. Donny's mother was distraught, and his father revealed that he had also been assaulted while growing up in the Catholic Church. Donny spent several days with his parents in Scotland with his phone off. He told his parents, Elle and Gerry, about Teri, Darrien and Martha.
Once Donny turned on his phone again, he was once again flooded with Martha's phone calls and voicemails. Donny went to the police station to make another report, but Officer Daniels informed him that there was little he could do about calls from unknown numbers. The officer advised off-the-record that Donny could continue using this phone number, hoping to receive a threatening message that could be used in evidence. Donny spent the next few weeks spending all day obsessively listening to all her voicemails and analysing her emotions. Finally, Martha sent a voicemail threatening that she could stab anyone in the country. She was arrested the next day and charged with 3 counts of stalking and harassment.
At Martha's plea hearing, Martha pled guilty to the charges of stalking and harassing Donald Dunn from 14 August 2015 to 22 March 2017 and stalking and harassing Gerald and Eleanor Dunn from 6 June 2016 to 22 March 2017. Martha was sentenced to 9 months in prison and a 5-year restraining order was issued.
Keeley visited Donny after Francis called, concerned that Donny had barely left his room in weeks. Keeley found his room covered in evidence and documents about Martha. Donny revealed that he had given up on comedy. Keeley invited Donny to move back into her mother's place so he could get better. Donny had already signed the lease for his apartment, but Keeley offered to pay for it. Keeley was upset by the video of Donny's breakdown.
Liz welcomed Donny back into his old room and Donny was delighted to see that his old items were still in the wardrobe. Donny found an old script that he wrote, named Hangman Harry. The comments written in the script written by Darrien unsettled Donny.
Donny visited Darrien. Darrien told Donny that his on-stage breakdown was brave and invited Donny to work with him again. Donny was hesitant, but Darrien explained that there would be a reboot of Cotton Mouth and Donny would be paid for his work. Darrien assured Donny that it wouldn't be like before. Donny agreed, but began panicking after he left Darrien's place.
On the way home, Donny listened to Martha's voicemail, complimenting his appearance and clothes and talking about her feelings for him.
At a pub, Donny listened to one of Martha's voicemails that he had not listened to before. In the voicemail, she explained that she called him "baby reindeer" because when she was young, she had a cuddly fluffy reindeer toy that went with her everywhere. It was the only good thing from her childhood, and she still had it as an adult. Martha felt that Donny resembled her reindeer toy and she explained that Donny meant a lot to her. Donny began to cry.
When the bartender served Donny his drink, Donny realised he had left his wallet at home. The bartender offered to pay for it, reminiscent of how Donny once paid for Martha's drink.[8]
Personality[]
Physical appearance[]
Appearances[]
- Season One
Quotes[]
- "Can't take my mum anywhere."
- —Donny's response to Martha's heckling[src]
- "This is Martha, my stalker. Say hello to Martha."
- —Donny introduces Martha to his audience[src]
- "Shut your f*cking mouth and listen to me! There isn’t a f*cking parallel world where I would want you, okay? So you stay away from me, do you hear? If you so much as f*cking sniff in my f*cking direction, I will see to your grave. Do you understand? Do you f*cking understand?!"
- —Donny yells at Martha[src]
- "If you leave my family alone… I will hang your curtains tonight. I wanna make sure I get it right though. All of it. So put it in an email. What you want to do to me. How you want me to… hang them. But I like it rough, okay? So make sure it’s as sick, twisted, as depraved as you can write it, yeah?"
- —Donny attempts to get Martha to write an incriminating email[src]
- "And isn’t getting groomed magical? Before you realise you’re actually getting groomed. Until you’re passing out from GHB on his living-room couch, while he tears at your trousers with his disgusting hands. And you know it’s wrong, deep down, what he’s making you do. But you just keep going back. And you start to think, “Is my self-respect so f*cking low, is my lust for success so f*cking high, that I will repeatedly go back to this man’s house and let him abuse me for a little peep at fame?” “Oh, you’re a victim. You mustn’t blame yourself.” Good sentiment, but let’s be honest, the fourth or fifth time you’ve passed out and woken up with your dick in his mouth, you should probably think about not going back. But, no, I just had to keep going. I just had to get f*cking raped. Anything funny to say, boys?"
- —Donny talks about abuse during the comedy competition[src]
- "I met this trans woman. You should see her. She’s the most beautiful person you’ve ever met, and I just couldn’t… I just couldn’t… …love her. And I see it now. I see what it was that I lost in her. Moreover, I see why I messed it up in the way that I did. And it’s because of this, right? It’s because I loved one thing in this world more than I did her, right? One thing. And do you know what that one thing was? Hating myself. I love it. I’m addicted to it. I don’t know anything else. Because God forbid ever taking a chance at life. God forbid ever taking a chance at happiness. And that’s why I messed it up with her. Because I hated myself so much more than I loved her. And I loved her so very much."
- —Donny talks about Teri during the comedy competition[src]
- "I just feel so f*cking embarrassed, and I guess I never wanted you to know because I didn’t want you to think less of me, you know… …as a man."
- —Donny talks to his parents about his abuse[src]
Trivia[]
- Donny's mobile number is 07700 900656, according to his out-of-office email auto-reply.[8]
Gallery[]
References[]
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|---|
| Characters |
| Donny Dunn • Martha Scott • Teri • Darrien O'Connor • Keeley • Liz • Gino • Greggsy • Detective Joanne Culver • Officer Daniels • Gerry Dunn • Elle Dunn • Francis |
| Cast |
| Richard Gadd • Jessica Gunning • Nava Mau • Tom Goodman-Hill • Shalom Brune-Franklin • Nina Sosanya • Danny Kirrane • Michael Wildman • Alexandria Riley • Thomas Coombes • Mark Lewis Jones • Amanda Root • Hugh Coles |
| Episodes |
| Episode 1 • Episode 2 • Episode 3 • Episode 4 • Episode 5 • Episode 6 • Episode 7 |