Comedian Richard Gadd, the creator of the hit show “Baby Reindeer,” responding to a defamation lawsuit against Netflix, said in a court filing Monday that his characters on the Emmy-nominated series were not representations of real people.
The seven-episode series follows Donny (whom Gadd plays as a fictionalized version of himself) as he navigates being stalked by an older woman named Martha (played by Jessica Gunning). Though Gadd said the story is based on his true personal experiences, he has emphasized in previous interviews that the character Martha is not meant to resemble her real-life counterpart.
Fiona Harvey, who claims she was the inspiration for the Martha character, sued Netflix last month for more than $170 million, alleging defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Netflix is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed. It filed several declarations of support, including one from Gadd.
Harvey’s lawsuit cites the show’s title card, which reads, “This is a true story,” a line that her attorneys described as the “biggest lie in television history.” The text in the closing credits of the series reads: “This program is based on real events: however certain characters, names, incidents, locations, and dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes.”
In his 21-page declaration, Gadd wrote that the show is “emotionally true” to his own life but that it is not meant to be “a beat-for-beat recounting” of events.
Martha and Donny, Gadd wrote, were intentionally portrayed with fictionalized names, dialogue and scenes, as well as some “imagined personality traits” used as dramatic devices. He emphasized that he never intended the show to enable viewers to identify anyone, including Harvey, as Martha.
“I did not write the series as a representation of actual facts about any real person, including Fiona Harvey,” he wrote. “Harvey is never mentioned in the series.”
Netflix declined to comment further. Representatives for Gadd and an attorney for Harvey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Gadd is not named as a defendant in Harvey’s suit. However, he said he if called as a witness, he would testify.
Soon after “Baby Reindeer” debuted in April, fans were quick to begin speculating about who the real-life inspiration for Martha could be. That led Gadd to issue a statement on his Instagram story discouraging the behavior, but many sleuths had already landed on Harvey — circulating her name and presumed social media accounts in internet forums.
In May, Harvey revealed herself to the public in an interview with British broadcaster Piers Morgan, in which she said she was “forced” to come forward about her experience after fans of the show began harassing her online.
In his declaration this week, Gadd also recounted his real-life experiences with Harvey — alleging that she "stalked and harassed" him from 2014 to 2017 after the two first met in 2014. According to the declaration, Harvey was looking distressed at The Hawley Arms, the pub where Gadd worked at the time, and they struck up a conversation after Gadd offered her a free cup of tea.
After that encounter, he claimed in the declaration, she began visiting him frequently during his shifts, during which she would make jokes, including “smutty innuendos,” while engaging with the customers and staff members around him. He alleged that Harvey would often try to touch him in inappropriate, and sometimes sexual, ways.
“The attention was unwelcome and I found myself constantly trying to dodge Harvey’s advances and unwanted physical contact while serving tables,” Gadd wrote. “I did ask Harvey to leave me alone and to refrain from making advances towards me on several occasions; however, she ignored my requests and, as with her wider behaviour, she was persistent and relentless.”
The situation escalated in 2015, Gadd alleged, as Harvey displayed increasingly hostile behavior, including once when she shoved him in the back of his neck after he made a retort that caused her to briefly leave the pub.
“Harvey sent me thousands of emails, hundreds of voicemails, and a number of handwritten letters,” he said, attaching several examples to the declaration. “These communications often included sexually explicit, violent, and derogatory content, hateful speech, and threats.”
Eventually, he said, he obtained a First Instance Harassment Warning against Harvey,which he said ended the emails and voicemails but did not stop her behavior entirely.
Netflix submitted an additional declaration in which Craig Seymour, former general manager of The Hawley Arms, claimed he witnessed Harvey’s “stalking and harassment” of Gadd firsthand.
The company also filed a declaration from Laura Wray, the widow of Jimmy Wray, a member of Parliament, alleging that Harvey “launched a five-year harassment campaign” against her and her husband after Wray terminated Harvey’s employment as a trainee at her law firm, L & L Lawrence Solicitors. She claimed she contacted Scotland police about what she alleged was Harvey’s stalking on several occasions from 1997 to 2002 but that they took no action.
