Last June, the Edinburgh Fringe was put under the microscope in a way it hasn’t been for years when Baby Reindeer exploded onto Netflix.
In the Emmy award-winning show, comedian Richard Gadd takes audiences through his real-life struggle of finding his big break while being stalked by a woman called Martha. He also detailed his harrowing experience of sexually assault by a nameless comedy industry predator.
Through it, Richard – renamed Donny in the series – produced one of the bravest and most successful autobiographical TV shows perhaps ever made.
But Baby Reindeer started life as Gadd’s Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning Fringe show Monkey See, Monkey Do in 2016. Fleabag producer Francesca Moody then introduced Baby Reindeer to the world via a stage show in 2019. It was only then Netflix picked up Richard’s shows and created an amalgamation of the two.
Flight of the Concords and The Mighty Boosh originated at the Edinburgh Fringe many moons ago, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fringe hit Fleabag is one of the festival’s biggest modern successes, released on TV nine years ago and sparking a flurry of one-woman shows.
I was curious, therefore, to see whether Baby Reindeer’s global success has impacted the Fringe a year on. So I asked performers on the ground what they thought, with a little help from the visionary herself, Francesca Moody.
On the Royal Mile, I get blank stares from performers flyering their work. Of course, everyone knows the show and Gadd’s name. But many performers at the Fringe don’t seem to have thought about Netflix or the BBC skulking the streets.
Those who don’t have the backing of PRs or an agent are simply trying to survive the month and get more than five people into their shows. Netflix feels 1,000 steps ahead.
On a few occasions, the vacant expressions are followed by an explanation that they are performing theatre for theatre’s sake. Each is spending roughly £5,000 (booking their venue and accommodation, etc) for the sheer love of it.
Sean Wareing from immersive theatre show It’s Gonna Blow! tells Metro the Fringe has ‘always’ been a place to get noticed, so that’s naturally in the back of minds.
‘People might write shows that could be adapted to Netflix but the main aim is not to get it adapted, it’s to get in the room and have a conversation,’ he says.
Emma Jones, director of one-woman climate change show Single Use, tells me: ‘The longevity and success of this play for us doesn’t eventuate on screen. Success for us looks like getting our play in print, going on tour and keeping it alive.
‘I do understand the want to be on screen because of the exposure and the money. But theatre for theatre’s sake is still so crucial. That’s why we’re here at the Fringe, to keep this show alive.’
Francesca Moody’s predictions on what the next Baby Reindeer will look like
Francesca Moody took Baby Reindeer, Fleabag and now Weather Girl – which is being adapted for Netflix – to the Edinburgh Fringe and landed them onto our TV screens.
What on this good earth is her secret?
‘I think the secret is following your gut instincts on things, which doesn’t feel like much of a secret, if I’m honest,’ she laughs in a chat with Metro, ahead of Francesca Moody Productions’ sold-out show Ohio’s Edinburgh Fringe run.
While she can’t predict what exactly will be the next ‘big thing’, Francesca has some ideas.
‘It sort of feels like everything we were talking about in Fleabag times we’re talking about again, we’re constantly regressing,’ she says.
‘I think there’s a conversation somewhere around that and the commodification of feminism. Also the presentation of ourselves publicly versus privately.’
Francesca would also like to see an exploration of reality TV, and within this the capitalisation of real people and their real emotions.
‘I think about Love Island or even Traitors… They say something about where we’re at as a human race that I think could be quite interesting in theatre,’ she says.
Contrary to sparking trauma-led, personal comedy shows, Baby Reindeer seemed to simply catch and ride the highest wave of this trend, which started around 2015.
Now there’s a sense of trauma-porn fatigue in the theatre world, even if Netflix only caught up – or had time to produce the show – years later.
Character comedian Laurie Stevens – behind David’s One-Man Band (F*ck You, Steven) – tells Metro that the comedy world is finding a different way in to talk about serious, important topics.
‘I think the shows that delved into personal issues peaked a couple of years ago and people are rebelling against that by going more abstract, still to explore the same issues,’ she says.
‘Trauma porn became a kind of buzzword and we’ve gone sillier, but still to get to the root of things.’
Certainly, there’s a buzz in the Edinburgh air around character-led comedians as opposed to traditional stand-up. These shows tend to be sillier, while still making salient societal observations.
But even traditional stand-ups are rebelling against the Baby Reindeer trauma-led format Netflix seems to be after.
With her 2025 show Behold!, Amy Mason intentionally moved away from to-the-bone autobiographical shows she’s historically leant towards.
‘There’s been a shift. We’re trauma-ed out. People have realised it’s not necessarily great for our mental health unless you’ve got lots of stuff in place, to relive trauma on stage every day,’ she tells Metro at Pleasance Courtyard.
‘But also I think there’s only so much we can do. There are only so many times people can make a show about certain topics. Especially because there’s so much stuff going on in the world, audiences are responding well to silliness.’
For Amy, performing a light show every night is a ‘joy’ – and it’s being received well.
‘I think the [trauma trend] was about breaking taboos and that was great a few years ago. Then it flipped slightly, it became an expectation on people – especially marginalised people – to always share their trauma in their work,’ she says.
‘But actually, the permission to just be stupid and talk about silly, light stuff and not necessarily give away loads of yourself is great.’
Last year Alex Kitson took his show Must I Paint You A Picture to the Edinburgh Fringe, which told the story of his sexual assault and the suicidal ideation it triggered.
‘The show was a success, but some reviews were very dismissive, some seemed shockingly cold in ways I can only assume was caused by “trauma show” fatigue. One critic said that the bar for sexual assault was low that year, another wrote my story seemed made up,’ Alex tells Metro.
‘I’m not seeing many people trying to mimic this formula this year. If anything, the opposite. It makes me suspect that, post Baby Reindeer, trauma-based “comedy” is showing all the signs of going the way of the knock-knock joke.’
If anything, the Fringe and Baby Reindeer have changed TV – not the other way around.
By the time it launched on Netflix the festival had already moved on. But that’s why it’s worth keeping an eye out: the Edinburgh Fringe is the eyes, ears and beating heart of our arts and cultural landscape.
But with huge costs attached to taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe – and with working-class artists being priced out – how is it going to stay this way? Can TV start saving theatre, rather than eating it?
Francesca Moody, with her acclaimed self-titled production company, says: ‘I think historically, there has been a little bit of a “yoink” mentality of TV coming in, grabbing and taking an artist away from theatre and then making loads of money, but like not really remunerating at that end.’
She explains: ‘I think we need each other in order to survive. Ultimately, there has to be a bit more cohesion between the different mediums, because the interesting, unusual, knotty, thorny, risky stories and artists are always making work in small scale theatre. That’s a place where you can take risks.
‘TV and film need those artists, because that’s how interesting murk gets made.’
So has the Netflix lure derailed or detoured the Edinburgh Fringe? Not really.
If anything Baby Reindeer simply confirmed something we already know, but sometimes need reminded: that the Edinburgh Fringe is packed full of stories worth telling.
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