The “real-life Martha” from Netflix’s ‘Baby Reindeer’ is in talks with a leading lawyer to sue the streamer over the show.
The ‘real-life Martha’ from Netflix’s ‘Baby Reindeer’ is in talks with a leading lawyer to sue the streamer over the show
Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey says the popular series – billed as a “true story”, and which provides a brutally honest account of 34-year-old comedian Richard Gadd’s experience with an alleged stalker known as Martha – paints an “obscene” and “defamatory” account of her character.
Chris Daw QC, who has acted for footballer Ryan Giggs, 50, told the Daily Mirror Netflix could now have a “big” legal problem if it is found she has never been to prison.
He added: “Netflix has sold ‘Baby Reindeer’ as a ‘true story’... ‘Martha’ was portrayed as a convicted stalker, who was sent to prison for serious crimes. She states that she has never been convicted of any crime and has never been to prison. If that turns out to be true, Netflix and Richard Gadd will have a very big legal problem.”
‘Baby Reindeer’ tells a dramatised version of the life of comic Richard being relentlessly pursued by an unhinged stalker called Martha Scott in the show, who is played by actress Jessica Gunning, 38.
Fiona recently told Piers Morgan, 59, during an interview on his ‘Uncensored’ she has been targeted with death threats since the series became one of Netflix’s biggest hits.
She added: “I find it quite obscene. I find it horrifying, misogynistic.
“Some of the death threats have been really terrible online. People phoning me up. You know, it’s been horrendous.”
Fiona added Netflix did not contact her before ‘Baby Reindeer’ was first aired worldwide in April, and added it raised duty-of-care questions.
She also said she had been “forced” into telling her side of the story after the series shot to popularity, branding it a work of “hyperbole” “fiction”.
Internet sleuths identified Fiona within days of the series starting, and Netflix has stood by ‘Baby Reindeer’, stating it was a “true story” and that it took “every reasonable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the people involve”.
Fiona added she had never been charged or received a jail sentence for stalking, as depicted in the final episode of ‘Baby Reindeer’, and denied sending stand-up Richard around 41,000 emails or contacted his parents and never heckled the comic at his stand-up gigs.
She also denied assaulting Richard’s former girlfriend and said she did not sexually assault him on a canal path.
Piers has stated Netflix could have a “problem” if it turns out she has not been to prison due to its “true story” claim that starts the show.
‘Baby Reindeer’ soon racked up nearly 54 million views since its April debut and has been Netflix’s top English-language series for three weeks in a row.
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