Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd pleaded with broadcasters and streamers to make stories that let the “little person tell their story” after winning his first Golden Globe award for his Netflix hit series.
The dark comedy series, which was inspired by Gadd’s claims of being stalked and sexually assaulted, won the award for best limited TV or anthology series or TV movie.
His co-star Jessica Gunning secured her first win for best female supporting role on television.
However, Gadd missed out on securing best TV performance by a male actor, after Ireland’s Colin Farrell took home his third Golden Globe, for playing Batman villain Penguin in HBO series The Penguin.
Gadd told the audience at the ceremony that people embracing the story “means the world” to the cast and producers, and he was “so grateful to Netflix… for giving me the chance to tell this messed-up story to the world”.
The Scottish actor said that when people asked him why a show that dark had become a success, “I think in a lot of ways, people were kind of crying out for something that… spoke to the kind of painful inconsistencies of being human.
“I think for a while now, there’s been this kind of belief in television that stories that are too dark and complicated won’t sell and no one will watch them.
“So I hope that Baby Reindeer has done away with that theory. Because I think right now, when the world’s in the state that it’s in, and people are really struggling, we need stories that speak to the complicated and difficult nature of our times.
“Any story when done right, it’s universal, and all the weird, idiosyncratic struggles we go through on a daily basis are just as worthy of being committed to screen as any.
“So commissioners, streamers, when you’re totting up the numbers and putting together the budgets for this year, remember to keep some back for the little person to tell their story.”
Almost tripping on the stairs to collect her award at the Beverly Hilton in LA, Gunning joked “you almost saw my Golden Globes” before sharing an anecdote about getting a hamster for Christmas as a child.
She said she kept saying “I can’t believe that is happening to me” in her “very Yorkshire accent”, which has become the “soundtrack of my life this year”.
She added: “Thank you to Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer has changed my life in ways that I can’t even explain… I know the eight-year-old me would be chuffed to bits.
The series tells the story of a comedian and barman (Gadd) who is stalked by an older woman (Gunning) after he offers her a cup of tea at the pub where he works. It has already won multiple prizes, but more recently hit the headlines over its “based on a true story” claims.
It previously won big at the Emmys, taking home six prizes, three of them for writing, producing and starring in the series, and one for Gunning for best supporting actress in a limited or anthology series.
Gadd also collected prizes at the Gotham TV Awards, Television Critics Association Awards and the Astra TV Awards last year.
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