Richard Osman has said that “everyone” in the industry knows who abused Richard Gadd, the star and creator of the Netflix series Baby Reindeer.
Baby Reindeer has proved to been a major hit for the streamer, becoming one of the most watched shows on the platform and earning acclaim from critics.
The series centres on struggling comedian Donny Dunn’s (Gadd) strange and layered relationship with a woman named Martha (Jessica Gunning), whose initially friendly demeanor unravels as she begins to stalk Donny relentlessly.
READ MORE:The chilling true story behind Richard Gadd's stalker drama Baby Reindeer
As the show progresses, viewers learn pieces of Donny's backstory, and, specifically, his history as a survivor of repeated, drug-induced sexual assault at the hands of an established TV writer named Darrien, played by actor Tom Goodman-Hill.
The dark and dramatic series is a true story, written by and starring Gadd, who adapted his award-winning one-man play into a seven-episode limited series.
While social media sleuths have named Gadd's alleged stalker since the release of the series, the identity of the industry professional who subjected Gadd to sexual assault has not, although Tony-nominated writer and director Sean Foley was wrongly accused online of being the inspiration for the character.
However, former Pointless presenter Richard Osman has since said Gadd has been "very open to people in the industry" in regard to who sexually assaulted him and "everyone knows who he [Gadd] is talking about".
Speaking on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, Osman and journalist Marina Hyde discussed the issues of turning trauma into art, with Hyde expressing concern over whether Netflix is doing enough to ensure people wouldn't be identified.
"Well, that's the interesting thing," Osman said.
"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," he continued.
"But the person they've cast in that role looks like this other guy, looks like the guy who's been falsely accused. 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, but definitely not because people in the industry know who it is. And it definitely not him."
Gadd has pleaded with fans to stop trying to identify the real life identities of any of the people the show's characters are based on, stating: "People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation."
Foley, who worked with Gadd on the TV series Urban Myths, followed Gadd's message by posting on X that police were "investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me."
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