Netflix Addresses ‘Baby Reindeer’ Social Media Manhunt as Real-Life ‘Martha’ Speaks Out
For the past month since its premiere, there has been rampant online speculation about who inspired the abusive characters depicted in the Netflix series Baby Reindeer. Now, as the woman identified as the real ‘Martha’ speaks out, the streamer is defending itself over alleged lack of protection of real-life identities.
At a UK Parliament hearing, Netflix policy chief Benjamin King said the streamer was satisfied with their attention to the issue of privacy and that they took adequate care to to disguise the identities of the real-life Baby Reindeer characters.
King told lawmakers that Netflix and producer Clerkenwell Films had to balance protecting identities with the “veracity and authenticity” of the seven-part series.
King assured the committee that the streamer took “every reasonable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the people involved in that story.”
As pointed out by John Nicolson, a Scottish National Party MP on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, such a claim fails to acknowledge that one of the characters’ real-life identities have since been confirmed online as Fiona Harvey.
Over the weekend in a conversation with The Daily Record, Harvey revealed that she was the real-life inspiration behind the alleged stalker named Martha – after already being identified by internet sleuths. She called the Netflix series a “load of rubbish” that was fictionalized by creator Richard Gadd.
Baby Reindeer was billed straightforwardly as a “true story” and depicts a searingly raw account of comedian Gadd’s experience with an alleged stalker. Gadd plays the lead character Donny, and Jessica Gunning stars as Martha.
“Gadd needs to prove I went to jail, which just didn’t happen,” said Harvey. “This is all made up and hyperbole. There are no restraining orders, injunctions, or interdicts anywhere. There’s just no way.”
The series launched on Netflix with little to no marketing push but exploded unexpectedly on the streamer, amassing nearly 54M views since its April 11 debut. Its quickly became the top English-language series for three consecutive weeks.
Since revealing her identity publicly, Harvey has arranged an interview with Piers Morgan on Thursday night at 8p.m. GMT to “set the record straight.”
Morgan has described the series as “astounding.”
*WORLD EXCLUSIVE*
The real-life Martha from Baby Reindeer breaks cover and gives me her first TV interview about the smash hit Netflix show.
Fiona Harvey wants to have her say & ‘set the record straight.’
Is she a psycho stalker?
Find out tomorrow on @PiersUncensored pic.twitter.com/MxaE5SEiTa— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 8, 2024
While internet sleuths have named Gadd’s alleged stalker, the identity of the industry professional Darrien who subjected Gadd to sexual assault has not been confirmed – yet.
Richard Osman claimed on podcast The Rest is Entertainment that “people in the industry” know who the individual is.
Osman shared that Gadd had spoken openly about who sexually assaulted him.
“There’s a very, very serious thing that happens with a male comedy producer and Richard Gadd, who did the show in Edinburgh and has been very open to people in the industry about who that person was.”
The series has also resulted in others being falsely accused. Sean Foley, an Olivier Award winner, informed police that he was wrongly identified as Darrien after facing a slew of abusive and threatening posts. Since then, Gadd and Gunning have implored people to stop the search.
“Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be,” Gadd said on Instagram. “That’s not the point of our show.”
Gunning told BCC Scotland’s The Edit that Netflix went to “great lengths” to protect the identity of the people involved, including the use of pseudonyms for the characters as well as working closely with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a support charity for stalking victims.
To the committee, King added: “Ultimately, it’s obviously very difficult to control what viewers do, particularly in a world where everything is amplified by social media.
“I personally wouldn’t be comfortable with a world in which we decided it was better that Richard was silenced and not allowed to tell the story.”
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