For legal reasons, comedian Richard Gadd, who created and stars in Netflix’s hit limited series Baby Reindeer, previously told Vanity Fair that he could not give specifics about the real-life stalking situation that inspired his show. After viewers began speculating about the actual identity of his stalker—who inspired the character of Martha, played by Jessica Gunning—he implored people to stop searching for her. Now, a woman named Fiona Harvey has unmasked herself, claiming that she is the “real” Martha and that she plans to “set the record straight” with Piers Morgan.
“Fiona Harvey wants to have her say,” Morgan tweeted on Wednesday, alongside a photo of him with the woman who purports to be the real-life Martha. “Is she a psycho stalker? Find out tomorrow on Piers Morgan Uncensored.” The interview, which airs Thursday evening, will mark Harvey’s first time speaking publicly after previously revealing her identity in a The Daily Record article over the weekend.
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Speaking to The Daily Record, Harvey called the Netflix series a “load of rubbish” that was fictionalized by Gadd first in an hour-long stage show at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. “Gadd needs to prove I went to jail, which just didn’t happen. I’ve never been sent to jail. That is blatantly obvious,” she said. “This is all made up and hyperbole. There are no restraining orders, injunctions or interdicts anywhere. There’s just no way. I’ve not had the police at my door about any of these things.”
Since premiering on April 11, Baby Reindeer has been a breakout hit for Netflix, becoming its top English-language series for three consecutive weeks and earning a spur-of-the-moment awards push from the streamer. “I would always take umbrage to the bunny-boiler-style stories where somebody’s really normal, usually quite good-looking, and then it’s chipped away and they’re sociopathic or psychotic,” Gadd told VF of his approach to Martha’s character. “Real stalking is a mental illness—it isn’t as contained or insidious or malicious as it has been portrayed on film and TV before. I saw a lot of humanity in her.”
When asked whether he worried that the Netflix series would create an opening for his real-life stalker to re-engage with him, Gadd said: “The situation did result in a situation, shall we say, where she cannot contact me again.” He also spoke to the lingering effects of being trailed by another person. “When it comes to stalking, you can never really escape,” Gadd said. “There’s always the nugget of worry in the back of your head.”
Vanity Fair has reached out to reps for Netflix and Gadd for comment.
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
