Baby Reindeer's Richard Gadd Calls 'Dark' Show 'Universal' After Golden Globes Win: 'People Are Struggling'

Mar. 15, 2025

Ed Miller/Netflix

On Sunday, Jan. 5, the series was named the best television limited series, anthology series or motion picture made for television at the ceremony, winning againstDisclaimer,Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,The Penguin,RipleyandTrue Detective: Night Country.

While accepting the award, the show’s creator, writer and starRichard Gaddopened up about the significance of the win.

“A lot of people sometimes ask me why a show this dark has gone on to be the success that its had and I think a lot of ways, people have been crying out for something that kind of spoke to the painful inconsistencies of being human,” Gadd explained.

CBS

“Any story when done right is universal,” Gadd added. “And all of 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 touring up the numbers and putting together the budgets for the year, remember to keep some back for the little person to tell their story.”

Not only did Gadd create, write and star in the Netflix show, but it was also loosely based on his own real life experiences.

“It’s very emotionally true, obviously: I was severely stalked and severely abused,” he toldThe Guardianin mid-April. “But we wanted it to exist in the sphere of art, as well as protect the people it’s based on.”

In addition to the show, both Gadd and Gunning were nominated for best actor in a limited series and best supporting actress respectively. Gunningtook home the prizeearlier in the evening.

The other nominees also provided viewers with captivating television this year.

Disclaimer, based on Renée Knight’s best-selling novel of the same name, followed acclaimed journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), who “built her reputation revealing the misdeeds and transgressions of others,” per the official synopsis.

As she tries to find out the writer’s true identity, she has to “confront her past before it destroys both her own life” and her relationships with both her husband, Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen), and their son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee).

(L-R )Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch in ‘Monsters’.Miles Crist/Netflix

Miles Crist/Netflix

Ryan Murphy’s Netflix seriesMonsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Storybrought one of the most notorious criminal cases of the 1990s back into the forefront.

The series examined how and whyErik(Cooper Koch) andLyle Menendez(Nicholas Alexander Chavez) murdered their parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloe Sevigny) — including the brothers' in-court allegations that their parents were sexually and emotionally abusive.

“That’s what I’m most happy about, is that they get a big stage,” he said of the importance of the show being recognized, adding that he was eager to share the news with the Menendez brothers.

Macall Polay/HBO

The Penguin, a limited eight-episode series which picks up after the events ofRobert Pattinson’s 2022 portrayal ofThe Batman, showed how Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) tries to take a leadership role in the Gotham City underworld.

In addition to the series, Farrell andCristin Miliotwere both nominated for respective best actor and actress in a limited series.

While speaking to PEOPLE in September, Farrell, 48, opened up about his dramatic transformation to portray the titular role.

“I had a bodysuit, so I was basically covered wrist to ankle. Only things that were me were my hands and feet,” he explained. “Everything else, including ears, were pieces. Everything was covered.”

Andrew Scott in ‘Ripley’.Netflix

Netflix

Netflix’sRipley,based onPatricia Highsmith’s 1955 novelThe Talented Mr. Ripley,starsAndrew Scottas con-man Tom Ripley. The story had previously been told in the 1999 movieThe Talented Mr. RipleystarringMatt DamonandJude Law, and Scott, 47, wanted to put a new twist on the tale.

“People have a lot of preconceptions about Tom Ripley,” Scott toldNetflix’s Tudumin July. “So it’s my job, I suppose in some ways, to ignore all that and try to create our own particular version of it.”

In addition to the series, Scott and his costarDakota Fanningwere also nominated for best actor and actress in a supporting role respectively.

Jodie Foster in ‘True Detective: Night Country’.Michele K. Short/HBO

Michele K. Short/HBO

True Detective: Night Countryfollows Detective Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) as she attempts to figure out what happened to eight missing men who worked at the Tsalal Arctic Research Station in Ennis, Alaska.

At the series' January premiere, Foster told reporters at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles that her character was an “Alaska Karen.”

“Liz Danvers is awful. She is ‘Alaska Karen.’ No two ways about it,” she admitted. “She’s an awful, awful character. But you see why.”

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source: people.com