Netflix’s recent hit series ‘Baby Reindeer’ has come under scrutiny by Fiona Harvey, 58, who has claimed to be the inspiration behind serial stalker character ‘Martha’ from the show. Harvey has come forward publicly since the show aired in April stating that, while she was the person on whom Jessica Gunning’s character was based on, Netflix and Richard Gadd, the producer and life-story the show is loosely based around, have spread ‘brutal lies’ about her throughout the show.
Harvey, who was recently interviewed by Piers Morgan about her opinion on the show, has filed a defamation lawsuit in California on June 6th against Netflix and Gadd for defamation, negligence, gross negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of her right to privacy. The claim states that Netflix and Gadd told the ‘biggest lie in television history’ in portraying the star’s real-life stalker experience as a ‘true story’, and that it was made to ‘attract viewers’ and ‘make more money’. The lawsuit is claiming for $170m (£132m) in damages to Harvey, which continues to say how the show ‘viciously destroyed’ her life ‘at a magnitude scale without precedent’ after telling ‘lies to over 50 million people worldwide’. The claim goes on to list the lies to include that Harvey has been twice convicted for stalking, has a previous prison sentence of five years, and that she sexually assaulted Gadd. It finishes by concluding ‘simply, Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character and her life’.
When questioned how Harvey felt about the lawsuit, she said to the BBC how she ‘feels optimistic’ that she will win as ‘otherwise, we wouldn’t be doing it’.
In response to the claim, a spokesperson for Netflix said to Sky News ‘We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd's right to tell his story’. Netflix did include a paragraph in its post-credit scenes stating ‘This programme is based on real events: however certain characters, names, incidents, locations and dialogue have been fictionalised for dramatic purposes’, so it will be interesting to see if this plays a part as any defence in decreasing the success of Harvey’s lawsuit.
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