Netflix has admitted the woman who inspired the character Martha in its “Baby Reindeer” series was never convicted of stalking Richard Gadd, a concession that could very well vindicate the real Martha’s $170 million defamation lawsuit against the streamer.
Billed as his “true story,” Gadd created and starred in “Baby Reindeer” as a failing comedian/daytime bartender who one day meets a woman named Martha who soon becomes his stalker. She’s then shown harassing and assaulting him in various episodes and being arrested twice for stalking, one time being in Gadd’s case.
Soon after its release, fans discovered Fiona Harvey was Gadd’s real-life Martha after uncovering years’ worth of tweets she had sent Gadd — a plot point that was shown in the form of thousands of texts Martha sent Gadd’s character in the series, including one that nearly was word-for-word of one tweet.
Last month, Harvey sued Netflix in federal court for claiming the show “insufficiently disguised” her as its inspiration for Martha. She claimed Netflix then defamed her by falsely claiming she was convicted of any crime, that she’d ever sexually assaulted or attacked Gadd and other violent plot points that were part of the “true story.”
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In May, Netflix’s U.K. policy director Benjamin King said at a hearing for the British Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee that the series told Gadd’s “true story” of abuse “at the hands of a convicted stalker.” A then-member of the committee wrote to Netflix asking for evidence of the conviction after being unable to find a record of it.
In response, King wrote back on May 23 saying he “wanted to clarify our understanding that the person on whom the show is based — who we have at no point sought to identify — was subject to a court order rather than a conviction.”
The letter was sent prior to Harvey’s lawsuit, and a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline that it doesn’t impact its legal position. It had said after Harvey’s filing that it intended to “defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
On Monday, Gadd, who wasn’t listed as a defendant in Harvey’s suit, filed a declaration of support in Netflix’s motion to strike her complaint. He states in the 21-page document that although he used “real trauma” for the basis of “Baby Reindeer,” the characters and scenes were created to “support the fictionalized story” that is “not a documentary or an attempt at realism.”
“While the series is based on my life and real-life events and is, at its core, emotionally true, it is not a beat-by-beat recounting of the events and emotions I experienced as they transpired. It is fictionalized and is not intended to portray actual facts,” the document states.
Gadd goes on to say the series was not intended to depict any real people, including Fiona Harvey, before he explores some of his and others’ real-life experiences with her as a stalker, some of which were part of “Baby Reindeer.” He also notes he had urged viewers to stop trying to speculate about the real-life characters before they found Harvey.
Despite being in a legal battle, “Baby Reindeer” has been seen as a successful breakout since its May release. Earlier this month, the limited series snagged 11 Emmy nominations, including for Lead Actor, Supporting Actress and Best Limited Series.
