Woman claiming to be real Martha tells Piers Morgan ‘Baby Reindeer’ is ‘hyperbole’
Will the real Martha Scott please stand up?
At least one woman has now done so: In an interview with British television presenter Piers Morgan that was posted to his YouTube channel on Thursday, 58-year-old Scotswoman Fiona Harvey claims to be the basis for the deranged stalker of Richard Gadd’s surprise Netflix hit “Baby Reindeer.” The series professes in a title card to be “a true story.”
“I think [Gadd] always wanted this to come out, to persecute someone,” Harvey said during the 56-minute segment on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” in which she threatened to sue both Netflix and Gadd, the series’ writer, creator and star, for defaming her in the show. “I think he has extreme psychiatric problems.”
Netflix and Gadd did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
The seven-episode miniseries, which swiftly joined the streamer’s list of top TV shows after its premiere last month, stars Gadd as Donny, an aspiring stand-up comedian and bartender who first meets Martha, played by Jessica Gunning, as a patron at the London pub where he works. Under her relentless barrage of attention — including the pet name that gives the series its title — his life spirals out of control, and past traumas are unearthed. In addition to sending emails, voicemails and Facebook messages, Martha appears at Donny’s place of residence, contacts his parents and gropes him without consent, among other frightening behaviors.
British actor Jessica Gunning explained how she tackled playing the stalker Martha in “Baby Reindeer” and why she didn’t ask creator Richard Gadd about her real-life counterpart.
As evidence to support Harvey’s claim to be the “real” Martha, Morgan cited online sleuths who “outed” Harvey as the alleged basis for the character after cross-referencing her social media posts with those depicted in the show. Morgan read several 2014 tweets Harvey sent Gadd, and Harvey said that she knew Gadd for two to three months when he was a bartender about 10 or 12 years ago. She also claimed to have emailed him and sent him a letter but denied contacting him the excessive number of times depicted in the TV series.
“It’s a work of fiction,” she said. “It’s a work of hyperbole.”
“You’re basically accusing both him and Netflix of lying,” Morgan noted at one point in the interview, which consisted largely of a point-by-point breakdown of the accuracy of the Netflix series. “I am,” Harvey responded, though she admitted she has not seen the series herself, saying she learned about it through the press.
According to Harvey, she first learned of the project from a news alert about the one-man show the series is based on, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. But she said she didn’t come forward until the Netflix series exposed her to harassment, including death threats.
She accused Gadd, Gunning and Netflix of “milking it for all it’s worth, for the money,” focusing much of her ire on their promotional tour.
“Leave me alone, please,” she said when Morgan asked her to speak directly to Gadd. “Get a life. Get a proper job.”
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