Baby Reindeer creator says "ambiguous" ending can be interpreted differently

The seven-parter follows Donny (Richard Gadd), a barman who offers a free cup of tea to Martha (Jessica Gunning), who becomes his stalker.

The fictionalised retelling is inspired by Gadd's real-life experience, who was stalked over three years and was sent more than 41,000 emails, voicemails totalling 350 hours, 744 posts on X (formerly Twitter), 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters.

With the episodes running from 30 to 45 minutes, plenty of people have binged the series and are likely still pondering on the ending scenes.

In the final moments of Baby Reindeer, Donny orders a drink at a bar. When he realises he has misplaced his wallet, the barman feels sorry for Donny and gives him the drink on the house. The scene has clear parallels to the first episode, in which Donny offered Martha a drink on the house because she couldn't afford it.

The ambiguous ending is something creator Gadd is happy with and is admittedly keen to see what audiences feel about it.

In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Gadd said: "I quite like the ambiguity of the ending, I sort of don't want to put a meaning on it. I think it can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. I know what it is in my head – that ending's my favourite thing in the whole series, the way it ends.

"From plugging in the headphones to going all the way to the end, hearing the voicemail, looking up, that's my whole favourite bit in the whole series. I think it can be interpreted in multiple ways and I like that it can. I'm quite keen to see what people think actually."

Elsewhere in the final episode is the revelation of why Martha calls Baby Reindeer, which the show is aptly named. In a voicemail, Martha tells Donny she had a cuddly baby reindeer toy when she was younger, which Donny reminded her of.

"You are the spit of that reindeer," she says. "Same nose, same eyes, same cute wee bum."

Gadd's co-star, Jessica Gunning, revealed she "clung" to the voicemail when portraying Martha because of its emotional value.

"That's the thing I always went back to," she told RadioTimes.com.

"So in the courtroom scene, in the scene when she’s on her own at the bar, that’s actually the voicemail I read just to get me into that – I find it so emotional, that final voicemail. That’s the thing that I clung to in terms of her past. That voicemail is absolutely the thing I clung to for sure because I just found that so emotional."

Speaking of the series finale, Gunning explained that by the end, there is "no winner" and that is clear for audiences to see.

She added: "It's not a success story, there's no victory there. That's why that stage direction is so amazing – there's no jump scare like, 'Ha ha, got you'. It's two lost people and that's captured so well."

Anyone affected by Richard Gadd's story can find support by visiting the NHS website or contacting Victim Support.

All seven episodes of Baby Reindeer are now available to stream on Netflix. Signup for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guideto find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.