How Baby Reindeer morphed into a messy real-life circus as ‘Martha’ hits back and celebs join murky game of ‘Guess Who’
BABY Reindeer creator Richard Gadd claims he went to extreme lengths to hide the identity of the two treacherous characters in his smash hit stalking serial.
But what he didn’t account for is the legions of obsessed armchair detectives desperate to unmask his real-life stalker – creating a drama within the drama.
The unsettling series – devoured by 22 million and counting – is based on the real-life experiences of Richard, a Scottish comedian who plays a fictionalised version of himself.
Over seven episodes, we see how he was relentlessly stalked by a loner ex-lawyer after he gave her a free cup of tea in a London bar.
Now, the woman accused of being the real Martha, played by Jessica Gunning, has spoken out alleging she has received death threats – and is threatening to sue the streaming giant.
Speaking to the Scottish Sun, Fiona Harvey, who denies she stalked Gadd, claims: “I have a claim against Netflix as this is being billed as part of a true story.
“I’m a highly competent lawyer. I’d have to do it myself.
“I’m very good. I have a photographic memory and can memorise huge files.
“I was top in my school at everything.”
And she told the Daily Record: “I’m the victim here, not Richard Gadd.
“I’ve had death threats as a result of his show despite the fact that a lot of the things he claimed are just not true.
“Someone online said, ‘If I find you I will kill you’.”
Fiona has also branded the star – who is now in the running for an Emmy for the show – a “wee sad man”.
Meanwhile, legal experts have warned that Netflix and Gadd should have done more to protect the true identities of the people depicted in the show to stop this from happening – and online super sleuths could be putting themselves at risk of being sued for defamation.
It comes after theatre director Sean Foley, 59, revealed that he had contacted police who are investigating online posts made against him claiming he is the real-life Darrien O’Connor.
The show’s creator and writer Gadd has also drawn on his personal experience of being groomed and raped by an older man in the comedy industry in a subplot of the gritty real-life drama, with his character Donny suffering abuse at the hands of fictional Darrien.
This led to online sleuths incorrectly identifying Sean, the Artistic Director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, as his abuser – despite having no evidence – with him receiving threatening messages on social media.
Even celebrity presenter and author Richard Osman has waded into the drama, claiming “you don’t have to be Coleen Rooney” to unmask the real-life Martha.
And his fellow podcaster Marina Hyde said Gadd should “of course be able to tell his story” but things should have been “better disguised”, with her hitting out at Netflix, saying: “I don’t think this would have happened at the BBC or ITV.”
This poor guy has had death threats and he’s had to issue a statement to say it’s not me. And it is not him, but definitely not because people in the industry know who it is
Richard Osman on the real 'Darrien'
Osman also weight in on the real identity of Darrien, telling Marina: “As you say, there’s a very, very serious thing that happens with a male comedy producer and Richard Gadd, who, as you say, did the show in Edinburgh and has been very open to people in the industry about who that person was, so people in the industry know who that person was.
“Now it comes out now and a completely different person is identified, someone who has produced Richard Gadd before, but is definitively not the person in any way.
“But the person they’ve cast in that role looks like this other guy, looks like the guy who’s been falsely accused. And it’s such a weird, bizarre thing to do because this poor guy has had death threats and he’s had to issue a statement to say it’s not me.
“And it is not him, but definitely not because people in the industry know who it is. And it definitely not him.”
Unexpected hit
It seems the streaming service might have been unaware they had a potential hit on their hands when the seven-part series arrived on its site with little fanfare or publicity on April 11.
Gadd, 34, also a writer on another Netflix hit, Sex Education, had already detailed his horrifying experiences with his stalker in his critically acclaimed one-man play of the same name at the Edinburgh Fringe show in 2019.
Both are inspired by his four-and-a-half-year stalking ordeal that started after he made a cup of tea for a stranger in the bar where he worked, as an aspiring comic.
She became obsessed, calling him baby Reindeer, bombarding him with 41,000 messages, turning up at his gigs and giving him gifts, which included sleeping tablets, boxer shorts and a woolly hat.
Netflix have since confirmed that every email that Gadd’s character Donny receives in the series are “the real emails” – including the typos – that the comedian was sent from his stalker.
One reads: “I need a nice boy totake care of me, he who looks likea baby reindeer [sic].”
The abuse became more threatening but stopped after ‘Martha’ was hit with a restraining order.
It wasn’t black or white, there’s lots of areas of grey, like in life
Actress Jessica Gunning
The surprise hit was watched by 2.6million in its first week of release before quietly climbing the Netflix charts, jumping to 13.3million the following week after becoming a word-of-mouth sensation.
Fans of the show quickly went into a frenzy to find his real-life stalker, with millions of videos being shared on TikTok.
Then, last week, actor and writer Sean, who worked with Gadd on an episode of the comedy drama series Urban Myths back in 2018, revealed on X, formerly Twitter, he had contacted police.
He said: “Police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me.”
It prompted Gadd to take to Instagram last week to beg people to stop searching for his on-screen stalker.
He wrote: “People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation.”
He added: “Please don’t speculate on who any of the real life people could be. That’s not the point of the show.”
Gadd also claimed he went to great lengths to conceal the identity of the woman who stalked him in real life and insisted that she “would not recognise herself”.
'Messy saga leaves a bad taste'
By Jack Pusey, Digital TV Editor
Netflix is famed for cashing in on shocking real-life stories – be that with its countless true crime documentaries or, as is the case with its latest hit Baby Reindeer, dramatising testimonies.
The problems come when internet sleuths sink their claws into the narrative and take it upon themselves to track down, harass and bully individuals connected to the case.
Unlike in a courtroom, a TV show isn’t compelled to provide context, balance or fairness – it’s simply there to entertain.
But so much more should have been done by Richard Gadd and Netflix to obscure details of the alleged stalking ordeal that inspired the series.
When vulnerable people feel compelled to go public and defend themselves from mob justice you have to wonder, has this gone too far?
The Baby Reindeer circus leaves a bad taste in my mouth – and I fear it’s far from over.
Yet, over the weekend, a woman came forward saying she knew who ‘Martha’ was – because she had also been stalked by her.
Lawyer Laura Wray told the Mail On Sunday she and her family were harrassed for five years, with the woman even threatening to kill her husband, the now late MP, Jimmy Wray.
She said: “I know Martha by her real name, but my jaw dropped watching the series.
“It brought so many things back to me that I’d forgotten. She did the same to me, made my life a nightmare.
“[Gadd] has got her spot on. His reaction was exactly the same as mine. I felt sorry for her.
“Everybody she’s come across and pestered the life out of has felt the same, it seems.”
Please don’t speculate on who any of the real life people could be. That’s not the point of the show
Richard Gadd
Laura says she first met the law graduate in October 1997, after she gave the woman a two-week trial at her company.
But she fired her shortly after, after she started screaming at staff.
Laura claims the woman started bombarding her with messages and in September 2001, made a death threat against her husband, then MP for Glasgow Baillieston, who died in 2013, aged 78.
Then, in April 2002, Laura alleges the woman falsely accused the couple of assaulting their three-year-old son Frankie, who was born with a rare chromosomal disorder.
There is even a storyline in the Netflix drama that appears to allude to this earlier harassment.
Laura, who says the stalking stopped after she got a restraining order, said of Gadd: “’He’s had an Edinburgh Fringe show that featured this story and now he’s got this hit series on Netflix and absolutely good luck to him, but it must have occurred to him that people were bound to speculate on who Martha is – and whether she’s done this to anyone else.
‘High risk’ drama
Rory Lynch, a lawyer specialising in defamation and privacy at Gateley Legal, also told the publication: “I think what Gadd’s done is quite high risk because he’s publicised the fact that this happened to him, and it was traumatic and now he’s taken it to the big screen.
“You could argue that maybe he should have been a bit more careful about changing facts a bit more.”
And Alexandra McCready, head of reputation and privacy at Vardags, said: “Speculating that someone is guilty of a crime like stalking or sexual assault, even through the medium of social media, can be legally actionable in defamation if there is no evidence to back-up that allegation and the target turns out to be entirely innocent.
“If that online speculation turns into threats and abuse directed towards the person involved, that can become a criminal matter, as with the recent targeting of Sean Foley.”
Despite Gadds’ pleas, it has done little to deter the super sleuths, with the real-life Martha being unmasked as Fiona, 58, from Fyvie, Aberdeenshire.
Fiona has admitted to befriending the comedian after meeting him in a pub in Camden, North London, and claims she gave him a pair of “tartan M&S pants” to congratulate him on one of his comedy shows.
But she denies she stalked him, saying: “I am very attractive. He’s not Brad Pitt.”
You could argue that maybe Richard Gadd should have been a bit more careful about changing facts a bit more
Lawyer Rory Lynch
She has also called the show “a gross intrusion into my privacy”, adding: “I don’t want people to know where I live but I will not be silenced.”
Fiona, who now lives in London, also disputes some of the aspects of the drama.
She has said: “I’ve never owned a toy baby reindeer and I wouldn’t have had any conversation with Richard Gadd about a childhood toy either.”
And she has said: “There’s a fat actress that’s supposed to be me.”
Fiona also said of character Martha: “She sort of looks like me after I put on four stone during lockdown but I’m not actually unattractive.”
Baby Reindeer by numbers
The Netflix series has become quite the breakout smash hit...
- 7 Number of episodes in the series
- 30 Number of countries the series has topped the Netflix chart in
- 64 Percentage increase in viewers the show earned in its second week, compared to its first
- 97 The show’s percentage score on industry bible Rotten Tomatoes
- 41,071 Amount of emails Richard claims he was sent by the real life Martha
- 13.3 million Number of viewers who tuned into the show during its first week
Baby Reindeer has helped to make Jessica, 38, a star but in the latest twist of the drama she says she believes the real Martha is also a victim.
Jessica said: “I do. The thing that first sprung off the page was that it didn’t feel like a villain vs victim story. Richard is very honest, in his portrayal of Donny, that he liked the attention and he flirted back with her.
“She makes errors and behaves badly in certain moments but she’s also a very complicated character that’s been through a lot in her past as well and so I tried to do that side of the character justice.
“It wasn’t black or white, there’s lots of areas of grey, like in life.”
And with viewing figures rising, the drama – real life and fictional – isn’t set to go away anytime soon.