'I behaved like a p***k – but my stalker is a victim' says Baby Reindeer star

Baby Reindeer's creator and star Richard Gadd has admitted he "behaved like a p***k" towards his stalker and claims that she is a victim too.

The comedian wrote the hit Netflix series about his experience of being stalked after offering a free cup of tea to a woman appearing to have a bad day who came into a pub where he was working – kicking off a stalking campaign that saw him targeted with more than 40,000 emails, hundreds of hours of voicemails and gifts.

She also turned up at his gigs and his home, but surprisingly, Richard says that he sees her as a victim and thinks that he "egged the situation on". Talking to The Independent, the 30-year-old comedian said that he had wondered whether he deserved the experience and wasn't sure where his "wrongdoing" stopped and hers began.

He admitted: "I certainly egged the situation on before I realised that it was as dangerous as it was. I behaved like a p***k at times."

Richard said that initially, he had flirted with the woman who was much older than him out of a sense of pity, which he now feels was patronising. He also said that he views his stalker – represented as a character called Martha who is played by Jessica Gunning in Baby Reindeer - as a victim.

"I can’t emphasise enough how much of a victim she is in all this," he said. "When we think of stalkers, we always think of films like Misery and Fatal Attraction, where the stalker is a monstrous figure in the night down an alleyway. But usually, it’s a prior relationship or someone you know or a work colleague."

He added that the behaviour was mental illness and said: "It would have been wrong to paint her as a monster, because she’s unwell, and the system’s failed her."

Richard said that he thought the current harassment laws were "stupid" because they were too "black and white" as they classed the behaviour of his stalker as legal and didn't take into account the effect it could have on a victim's life.

He also appeared on This Morning on Wednesday, 17 April, where he called for "fundamental change" in how stalking was addressed by police after sharing his frustrating experience in trying to report it.