The 10 best shows like ‘Baby Reindeer’

Baby Reindeer has captivated audiences the world over with its pitch-black humor and sent internet sleuths into a tizzy with its true story origins.

When it hit Netflix earlier this month, even the showrunners themselves couldn’t have predicted just how resonant it would become. Now legions of viewers have poured over the partly comedic, but mostly traumatic tale of writer and star Richard Gadd. 

The twisty thriller, adapted from Gadd’s one-man show of the same name from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, has a star out of Jessica Gunning, who portrays an obsessive stalker whose behavior becomes increasingly disturbing.

So feverish was the reception to the show that many have been eager to broaden their watchlist with similar titles. Here are ten shows that might scratch that Baby Reindeer itch.     

Beef

Subscribing to Baby Reindeer’s particular brand of black comedy, fellow Netflix hit Beef also uses humor to explore heavy themes around mental illness, trauma, and the tendency to gravitate towards people who might not be the best for us. Beef and Baby Reindeer both contain laugh-out-loud gags that also pack an emotional punch, and explore two traumatized souls who are cosmically bound, for better or for worse (but mostly for worse). 

You

While Baby Reindeer takes the point of view of a stalking victim, Netflix’s You places viewers squarely on the side of the perpetrator. Although You is certainly more of a pulpy and campy affair (the TV equivalent of a trashy beach read), it draws parallels to Baby Reindeer in the criminal element of Martha’s behavior, and the first-person narration offers an inside look into the protagonist’s mind. Don’t come to You expecting quite the same level of thematic complexity, but you’ll get your stalker fix nonetheless. 

Fleabag

Like Baby Reindeer, fellow UK hit Fleabag was also adapted from a one-woman Fringe Festival show, whose creator would go on to write and star in its adapted TV version. Though Fleabag is a much lighter affair (and in this writer’s opinion, much funnier), viewers can expect that same sense of getting an intimate look into the life of its writer, star, and narrator, while also getting a feel for the London locales both shows are set in.

For extra emotional pull, both Donny and Fleabag (played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) deal with the consequences of past traumas, and how this plays into their sex lives. In all honesty, Olivia Coleman’s scene-stealing role is reason enough to watch Fleabag. 

I May Destroy You

Perhaps the show most similar to Baby Reindeer on this list, I May Destroy You offers a stirring and at times uncomfortable look into the aftermath of sexual assault. Both shows are intensely personal, and are both written by their main star (Michaela Coen in I May Destroy You’s case). Donny and Arabella shared a kindred resolve in piecing their lives together after a traumatic event, with a somewhat happy (though still emotional) ending. 

Swarm

If you were to multiply Martha by one thousand, you’d get the type of obsessive group that is the focus of Swarm, the comedy-horror series co-created by Donald Glover. Like Baby Reindeer, this Amazon original details the dark side of obsession, though Swarm looks into how that fixation plays into celebrity fandom. In that way, both shows draw real-life parallels, and there are similarities in how Martha and Dre’s (played by Dominique Fishback) delusions are based in an emotional vulnerability.    

The Act

Similar in its real-life origins and its depiction of how love and infatuation can veer toward the criminal, The Act will give fans of Baby Reindeer another dose of true crime thrills. Based on the true story of Munchausen’s by proxy victim Gypsy Rose Blanchard, The Act delivers the same edge-of-your-seat excitement as Baby Reindeer, with both Martha and Dee Dee’s (played by Patricia Arquette) seemingly pleasant exterior hiding something much darker. Gypsy (played by Joey King) and Donny, meanwhile, are both caught in a Stockholm syndrome dynamic with their assaulters.   

Please Like Me

Another show coming from the mind of its writer and star, Australian dramedy Please Like Me delivers a similar level of emotional intimacy as Baby Reindeer, though it is decidedly heavier on the laughs. Both Donny and Please Like Me’s Josh (played by Josh Thomas) have their lives impacted by mental illness, which they suffuse with humor. The protagonists also find themselves coming to terms with their sexuality and how it impacts their lives.    

Feel Good

Also written by a comedian who portrays a stand-up comic in their show, Feel Good carries the same emotional intensity as Baby Reindeer, with similar explorations around mental health. The autobiographical elements are there (with Feel Good’s writer and star Mae Martin basing much of the story on their own life), and fans will also get a similar insight into the life of a struggling comedian, and how the profession itself can be anything but funny. Both shows also explore sexuality and how that plays into the protagonist’s struggles.  

Based on a True Story

This entry is perhaps only for those Baby Reindeer fans who were drawn to its true crime origins, since Based on a True Story is a much, much, much more frivolous affair. The heavy themes of Baby Reindeer are altogether absent from Based on a True Story, though the latter show — perhaps in a more meta sense — does delve into society’s obsession with true crime, and how that can get us into some pretty sticky situations (like attempting to identify the real-life inspiration behind Martha).

The End Of The F***ing World

Both Baby Reindeer and The End Of The F***ing World are created by the same production company, Clerkenwell Films, giving you a sense of their similarity in terms of themes and even aesthetics. Both shows detail the sometimes humorous, sometimes toxic bond between two intensely complex characters, who are drawn to the dark sides of each other. Donny and The End Of The F***ing World’s Alyssa (played by Jessica Barden) find a twisted companionship in people who spell trouble, with The End Of The F***ing World throwing in a fugitive storyline for extra measure.    

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