As the high-profile lawsuit between Fiona Harvey and Netflix continues, the streaming service has now admitted she was never convicted of stalking Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd.
After the global release of Netflix series Baby Reindeer, 58-year-old Fiona Harvey was tracked down by fans and accused of being the real-life inspiration for Martha, a character who stalks and harasses Donny (played by Gadd).
Opening its eight episodes with the statement “This is a true story,” the plot went on to show Martha convicted of stalking and being sent to prison in the final episode. This resulted in Harvey appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored, where she denied the show’s events and revealed plans to sue Netflix and Gadd.
Harvey followed through with her statement, filing a claim for a hefty $170 million. The lawsuit is currently underway as of writing, with Gadd submitting a court filing with his account of events earlier this week. Now, Netflix has admitted that Harvey was never convicted.
According to Deadline, Netflix acknowledged that Harvey had only ever received a court order, which was also confirmed in Gadd’s declaration.
Prior to the trial, Netflix’s senior UK director of public policy Benjamin King was quoted as describing Baby Reindeer as a “true story of the horrific abuse at the hands of a convicted stalker.”
In a letter of response, King clarified: “I wanted to clarify our understanding that the person on whom the show is based – who we have at no point sought to identify – was subject to a court order rather than a conviction.
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“The writer of Baby Reindeer endured serious harassment over many months (as it now seems has been the case for many others), which had a significant impact on his wellbeing.”
The streaming service’s legal team, Latham & Watkins, upholds that Harvey’s lawsuit will fall flat because “she does not allege a provably false statement of fact was made about her.”
As explained in his declaration, Gadd also reaffirmed Martha is fictional, alleging he “never intended the series to identify any real person as Martha Scott, including Harvey.”
When interviewed by Morgan in May, Harvey claimed: “I’m not a stalker, I’ve not been to jail, I’ve not got injunctions… it’s complete nonsense.”
Harvey has made no further public comment, including on personal social media channels, since June this year.
You can look at every tweet Fiona Harvey sent, Harvey’s real name, and if the viral breakdown video of Richard Gadd is real. You can also check out more shows to watch like Baby Reindeer.
