Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning in tears during emotional moment at the Emmys

Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning was overcome with emotion on Sunday night as she accepted her first Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Martha Scott in the hit Netflix show.

The star took to the stage to accept the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series, and got teary eyed as she opened up about how proud she was to be part of the show, thanking everyone from her agent to her friends and family, before her voice wobbled as she went on to thank Richard Gadd.

She said: "My biggest thanks though has to go to Mr Richard Gadd, I'm going to burst out crying, I've tried so many times to put into words what working on Baby Reindeer meant, but I fail every time."

Bringing some humor to the speech, she added: "So I'm going to sing," in reference to her character's singing in the show.

Richard, who was sitting in the audience, was also overcome with emotion as he watched Jessica on stage.The dark comedy was nominated for 11 awards at the 76th Emmy Awards and took home four. Richard, who plays Donny Dunn, was up for three awards for acting, producing and writing, for which he took the award on the night.

© Kevin Winter

The actor based the story on his own experiences of being stalked, with the show following Donny as he is stalked by Martha.

The show has hit headlines in real life too, after a woman claiming to be the inspiration behind Martha filed a lawsuit against Netflix, alleging the story is inaccurate.

© Kevin Winter

Jessica was asked about the legal case on the red carpet at the Emmys during a chat with the Hollywood Reporter.

She said: "Unfortunately because it is a legal case I don’t know if we are allowed to comment on that really but I just want to be here to celebrate the show and celebrate Richard’s bravery and the incredible writing and his story – and obviously it means so much that I was allowed to be part of it."

© Michael Kovac

On the show's popularity, she later told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the ceremony: "I just don’t think either me or Richard expected the amount of people to have seen it. I think we both thought it might be an indie British hit, and then suddenly before we knew it, people in America were talking about it, people all over the world, it was astonishing, but incredible as well.

"It has touched so many people. I think so many people have got in touch with both of us after the show finished, and just said how moved they were…and how brave Richard has been in playing that part.

© Ed Miller/Netflix

"It’s just been amazing how many lives it’s affected and how many people have watched."