The actor who played Martha in Baby Reindeer has said she ‘genuinely didn’t know anything’ about the real person her character was inspired by.
Pressure has been growing on Netflix to justify their hit series - which follows a struggling comic as he is relentlessly harassed and stalked by a woman for more than four years - after the ‘real Martha’ was identified by fans.
TalkTV host Morgan interviewed Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey, who said she wanted to ”set the record straight” about details related to the Netflix show, which show creator and star Richard Gadd have said are real.
She has since threatened to sue the streaming service for allegedly defaming her after the show suggests ‘Martha’ is a convicted stalker.
The show’s creator Richard Gadd has defended the show as being the “emotional truth” and has denounced internet sleuths who went in search for Ms Harvey.
His co-star Jessica Gunning, who plays Martha, has echoed Gadd’s sentiment and said it was a “real shame” that Ms Harvey’s real identity came to light.
She asked whether it was problematic for the show to be based on real people, she told Radio Times: “I wouldn’t use the word problematic, I would say, maybe, sensitive.”
She added that she “absolutely saw Martha as a character”, and wasn’t doing “an impersonation” of a real person, saying that she “genuinely didn’t know anything about the real person”.
“I didn’t feel like we were re-enacting scenes for some documentary, it felt like we were doing interpretations of these characters in this emotionally true world,” she said.
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In the series, which has been watched by 65 million people and makes the statement ‘this is a true story’, it is suggested that stalker ‘Martha’ goes to prison.
However, there has been little evidence found to prove this.
Ms Harvey has threatened to sue Netflix after fans on the show identified her by matching social media posts featured in the show with her own.
During her interview with Piers Morgan, which has amassed over 10 million views, Ms Harvey denied that she had any criminal convictions and said the Netflix show’s suggestion that she did was “defamatory”.
Piers Morgan also alluded to the lack of evidence when justifying his controversial interview with Ms Harvey.
He told the BBC the true story claim was “serious failure by Netflix” as “nobody’s found any evidence whatsoever that she has any criminal record, let alone for anything to do with Richard Gadd.”
