AN SNP MP is to ask the boss of Netflix to expand on what he told a Parliamentary committee about the woman alleged to have inspired the character Martha in the hit show Baby Reindeer.
Netflix chief executive Benjamin King gave evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport committee and said the show was "obviously a true story of the horrific abuse that the writer and protagonist Richard Gadd suffered at the hands of a convicted stalker".
But MP John Nicolson believes the evidence Netflix gave may have been inaccurate.
He told the BBC "it's clear that the evidence given by Netflix to the select committee is disputed".
He added that "the charge made - of a conviction - is very important. Journalists can find no evidence to back up the Netflix claim".
Nicolson said: "I will be writing to Netflix to ask them to substantiate the claim they made."
Fiona Harvey has identified herself as the woman portrayed as Martha the stalker in the series but neither Netflix or Richard Gadd has confirmed this.
Harvey says she has not been convicted of stalking and denied stalking Gadd.
Baby Reindeer – which is a dramatised account of the stalking its writer and star Gadd says he experienced - has been watched by 65 million people worldwide and in its opening episode claims the series is a “true story”.
So far, no evidence has been produced that Harvey – who appeared in a lengthy interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored - has a conviction.
It has been reported that a writ was filed against her more than 20 years ago in a Scottish court by a lawyer who accused her of harassment. On Piers Morgan, Harvey claimed that never proceeded further and she denied harassment.
Morgan told BBC Radio 4: “"She is emphatic that there was no court case. There was no conviction. She certainly never pled guilty, she says, and there was no prison sentence.
He added the framing of Martha in Baby Reindeer as a stalker who goes to prison is a "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."
Chris Banatvala, former head of standards at Ofcom also told The Media Show there is "a duty of care" whenever you make a programme dealing with potentially vulnerable people, "whether that's Richard Gadd or Fiona Harvey".
He pointed out, for now, the streamer is not governed by Ofcom regulatory codes.
In his evidence to MPs, King said in making the show, Netflix had taken "every reasonable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the people involved in that story".
Nicolson rejected an invitation this week by Morgan to appear on his show and discuss the media exploitation of Harvey.
