The Baby Reindeer uproar has continued in the U.K., where Scottish MP John Nicholson challenged Netflix to provide the British government evidence that Martha Scott has, in fact, spent time in prison.
Fiona Harvey, who confessed to being the inspiration behind Scott’s character, denied that she had been convicted in an interview with Piers Morgan earlier this month. Nicholson, who sits on the U.K.’s Culture Media and Sport Committee, released a letter to Benjamin King, a Netflix exec in charge of U.K. public policy, asking about the “duty of care to the woman now identified as ‘Martha’ from the series.” The show says it’s a true story about comedian Richard Gadd‘s experience with a stalker named Martha Scott and stars Gadd as a fictionalized version of himself named Donny Dunn. Gadd previously told the press that he went to great lengths to obscure Scott’s real identity, but Harvey’s interview with Morgan has made many see that that wasn’t exactly the case.
After Baby Reindeer skyrocketed to the #1 spot on the Netflix charts, it took no time at all for Harvey to be ID’d online as its potential inspiration. She ultimately admitted via social media that it was, in fact, based on her relationship with Gadd, but denied much of what he says happened during her interview with Morgan, including the fact that she spent time in prison like Martha Scott does in the series.
What evidence has Nicholson asked for?
According to MP Nicholson, Netflix exec King had told the powerful committee â which monitors “the policy, administration and expenditure of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its associated bodies, including the BBC, on behalf of the House of Commons and the electorate” â that Baby Reindeer was a “true story of the horrific abuse” Gadd experienced from a “convicted stalker.” Nicholson wrote that journalists couldn’t prove Harvey had been convicted of a crime related to Gadd, or had spent time behind bars, and so he asked King to provide the committee with more evidence supporting this specific claim.
A global sensation at this point, Baby Reindeer was produced by a British company, but it premiered on Netflix outside of Nicholson’s committee’s jurisdiction. The repercussions are currently unclear should Netflix fail to comply with Nicholson’s request.
Did Baby Reindeer defame Fiona Harvey?
Although Gadd and Netflix have not confirmed that Harvey is the real Martha Scott, Barrister Chris Daw KC, who is working with Harvey, told Deadline, “Portraying someone as a convicted criminal who has done time in prison, when that is not true, is a pretty clearcut case of defamation, as it is bound to cause serious harm to that personâs reputation.” He also said that there are, ” … [S]trict laws on the use of a personâs image for commercial gain, particularly in the U.S., which do not seem to have been considered.â
Gadd, King, and Netflix have not yet commented on MP Nicholson’s request for more evidence that Harvey †if she really is the real-life Martha †spent time in jail. King had previously said that Netflix took “every reasonable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the people involved in that story,” according to the BBC, but again, the similarities are a little too profound for that to still be believable.
As Gadd recently told The Hollywood Reporter, “I donât think Iâll ever comment on it ever again,” referring to the identity of the real Martha Scott as well as Darrien, a character on the show who sexually assaults Donny Dunn (who Gadd also says is based on a real person). “If I wanted the real-life people to be found, I wouldâve made it a documentary,” Gadd said.
