The television landscape is so flooded these days that it takes a truly unique and fresh concept to capture your attention. Baby Reindeer, a Netflix series, is one such show. Did you binge-watch it and are now hankering for something similar on streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video? We have got you covered. Here is the definitive list of similarly spine-chilling shows like Baby Reindeer you should watch.
Created by and starring Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer is a British psychological thriller and black comedy miniseries that is based on Gadd’s 2019 one-person play of the same name — which was in turn based on his actual experiences of being stalked and sexually assaulted in his 20s. It must have taken an ocean of courage to bring a deeply personal and traumatic real story to the screen for what is essentially popular entertainment.
And Baby Reindeer is a global hit for Netflix. After debuting at 5th position in its opening week (8 to 14 April), it has been at the top position for three weeks straight. From 29 April to 5 May, it garnered 18.6 million views, almost tripling the views of the second-ranked series, A Man in Full, which accumulated 6.3 million views in the same period.
These shows (and one movie) like Baby Reindeer fearlessly confront the depths of the human psyche and emotion. Most of the titles here also offer a delectable combination of harrowing drama and dark humour that makes the Netflix show so irresistible.
This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia India
Spine-chilling television at its best: Riveting shows like Baby Reindeer to watch
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1 /8
IMDb rating: 7.2
Directed by: Jennifer Fox
Cast: Laura Dern, Jason Ritter, Common, Elizabeth Debicki
Duration: 114 minutes
Synopsis: A famous documentarian Jennifer Fox (Dern) receives a phone call from her mother, who has discovered an essay Fox wrote when she was 13. It is about a relationship she had with an older man. Not recalling anything, Fox reads the essay and begins exploring the part of childhood she has forgotten. She discovers that during a summer camp with other girls, she was under the tutelage of a professional coach called Bill Allens (Ritter) and his lover Mrs G (Debicki) and was sexually groomed by Allens, who also raped her.
Why you should watch it: Yes, The Tale is not a show. But I thought it warranted inclusion here since like Baby Reindeer, it too has a victim of a sexual crime exploring her past through the lens of film or television. Dern is as always outstanding here, and the film itself, while well-directed, is hard to watch as it is unstinting and unsparing in its depiction of statutory rape.
2 /8
IMDb rating: 7.7
Created by: Greg Berlanti, Sera Gamble
Cast: Penn Badgley, Elizabeth Lail, Victoria Pedretti, Tati Gabrielle
No. of episodes: 40
Approximate duration of each episode: 45 minutes
Synopsis: Joe Golberg (Badgley) is a bookstore manager who falls in love with aspiring writer Guinevere Beck (Lail). That love slowly but surely transcends to obsession as he tracks her whereabouts using her social media accounts and forcibly inserts himself into her life. He basically stops at nothing and even eliminated whatever hurdles are there between him and her.
Why you should watch it: If the stalking part was what you found most morbidly compelling in Baby Reindeer, You has a lot more of it. Although fictional, it is a chilling take on modern-day obsession where the internet becomes a hazardous tool in the hands of deranged individuals.
IMDb rating: 8
Directed by: Jonathan Entwistle, Lucy Tcherniak, Destiny Ekaragha, Lucy Forbes
Cast: Jessica Barden, Alex Lawther, Steve Oram
No. of episodes: 16
Approximate duration of each episode: 25 minutes
Synopsis: A teenager called James (Lawther) fervently believes he is a psychopath and there might be some truth to that as he kills small animals. However, now he wishes to graduate to killing an actual human and chooses as his intended victim Alyssa (Barden), a rebellious girl who is his classmate. Not without her issues, Alyssa tells him that they should run away, thinking of escaping from their dull, daily lives. James readily agrees as then he will have more chances to kill Alyssa.
Why you should watch it: A delightfully twisted TV series that similarly combines gallows humour with more grave themes. It is also extremely entertaining and has plenty of surprises in store.
4 /8
IMDb rating: 8
Created by: Lee Sung Jin
Cast: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Joseph Lee
No. of episodes: 10
Approximate duration of each episode: 35 minutes
Synopsis: Danny Cho, a contractor struggling to make ends meet, and a wealthy businesswoman Amy Lau (Wong), get involved in a road rage incident. Both have their own issues in their personal life and that incident proves to be a tipping point. The incident and its aftermath consume them, particularly when Cho avenges the incident by getting into Lau’s home by using his contractor role and urinating on the floor of her bathroom. Things only escalate.
Why you should watch it: Most of us who drive four-wheeler vehicles have been involved in road rage of some kind and it is likely that we are stressed from worries related to finances or jobs and have let our baser emotions get the better of us. Beef captures that unfocused, mindless rage with eerie accuracy.
IMDb rating: 8.1
Created by: Michaela Coel
Cast: Michaela Coel, Weruche Opia, Paapa Essiedu
No. of episodes: 12
Approximate duration of each episode: 35 minutes
Synopsis: After a night out with friends, a young London writer Arabella (Coel) is raped when drunk in a toilet. When she wakes up, she is unable to remember exactly what happened to her but has flashes of the traumatic incident. The series has Arabella grappling with her memories and tackling the challenges of seeking justice in a society that often resorts to victim-blaming.
Why you should watch it: For the simple reason that if you wish to watch something exactly like Baby Reindeer, I May Destroy You is your best bet. It is a similarly gripping and thoughtful exploration of sexual assault-induced trauma. But more than that, it is also based on a real incident that happened in the life of Coel, who admitted to being sexually assaulted while working for her British sitcom Chewing Gum (2015–2017).
IMDb rating: 8.1
Created by: Anthony Cipriano, Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot
No. of episodes: 50
Approximate duration of each episode: 45 minutes
Synopsis: A prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic psychological horror film 1960 film Psycho, Bates Motel tells the story of teenage Norman Bates (Highmore) who lives with his mother Norma (Farmiga). They have moved to a new town called White Pine Bay in Oregon and have purchased the Seafairer Motel to get by. The series recounts how Norman’s delicate mental state becomes fragile as he loses more and more of his sanity, finally ending up as the figure we meet in Psycho.
Why you should watch it: Not only Bates Motel tells the backstory of one of horror cinema’s iconic characters (or should we say villains?), but it is also a compelling take on a twisted mother-son relationship and the psychological deterioration of a young mind. Farmiga and Highmore are incredible in this, both firing on all cylinders.
7 /8
IMDb rating: 8.1
Created by: Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Cast: Jodie Comer, Sandra Oh, Fiona Shaw
No. of episodes: 32
Approximate duration of each episode: 42 minutes
Synopsis: This spy thriller series is about a British intelligence investigator Eve Polastra (Oh) who is pursuing a talented and psychopathic assassin Villanelle (Comer). As the cat-and-mouse game goes on, the two become more obsessed with each other than is healthy and it is no longer clear who is the hunter and who is the prey.
Why you should watch it: It is funny that most of the series on this list are British. There is indeed something compellingly caustic about British humour. Based on the Villanelle novel series, Killing Eve is superbly written, but it is the performances, particularly by Oh and Comer, that hurl it into the “great” territory. This show is for you if you like spy thrillers with a darkly comedic tone.
8 /8
IMDb rating: 8.7
Created by: Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Cast: Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Sian Clifford, Olivia Colman
No. of episodes: 12
Approximate duration of each episode: 30
Synopsis: A young woman in London, called just Fleabag (Waller-Bridge) in the show, deals with the recent loss of her best friend, her complicated family and a string of failed or dysfunctional relationships with self-deprecating dark humour. Her sister Claire (Clifford) wants to help her but she has her own issues to deal with.
Why you should watch it: While not based on a true story, Fleabag feels real and relatable. That is because it is written by Waller-Bridge with a candid eye for detail and she derives her plots and characters from people she comes across in her daily life. Like Baby Reindeer, Fleabag deals with sensitive, serious topics with dark humour. And if that weren’t enough, it is also based on a one-person show, also called Fleabag, which Waller-Bridge first performed in 2013.
(Hero image: Courtesy of Aimee Spinks – © BBC/ IMDb; Featured image: Courtesy of Anika Molnar/BBCA – © 2021 BBC America/ IMDb)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
-Which is the best show to watch after Baby Reindeer?
I May Destroy You (2020) on JioCinema is another provocative and boundary-pushing drama series that has oodles of black humour and is based on real events.
-Are there any other shows like Baby Reindeer on Netflix?
Beef (2023–) is an excellent show on Netflix that you should watch if you like Baby Reindeer. It deals with unfocused, maddening rage that many of us carry with us in the modern world.
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