EXCLUSIVE: In an admission that could go to the heart of a $170M Baby Reindeer lawsuit, Netflix has conceded that the show’s real-life Martha was not convicted of stalking.
Deadline can reveal that Netflix has acknowledged that Martha — who was identified as Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey soon after Baby Reindeer premiered — has only been subject to a court order over her interactions with Richard Gadd, creator of the Emmy-nominated series billed as a “true story.”
The admission came in a letter to British Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee after a lawmaker questioned evidence Netflix supplied MPs during a hearing earlier this year. Netflix’s letter has gone unreported until now.
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Appearing before the committee in May, Benjamin King, Netflix’s senior UK director of public policy, said Baby Reindeer was a “true story of the horrific abuse” suffered by Gadd “at the hands of a convicted stalker.”
John Nicolson, who was a member of the committee until it was disbanded for the UK election, later wrote to Netflix demanding evidence to support King’s claim, given that “journalists have thus far been unable to find a record of the conviction to which you referred.”
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In a letter of response (read it below), King said, “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. “
King added: “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.”
Netflix’s letter to UK lawmakers
The alleged stalking conviction is at the heart of questions facing Netflix. In Baby Reindeer, Martha (played by Jessica Gunning) is portrayed as pleading guilty to stalking and being sentenced to prison. Since being identified, Harvey has denied the allegations and sued Netflix for defamation.
In her Los Angeles federal court suit filed in June, Harvey claimed that the darkly comic series portrayed her via the Martha character as “a twice convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison.” She argued that Baby Reinder’s “true story” billing was “the biggest lie in television history.”
The emergence of Netflix’s letter to UK lawmakers comes days after Gadd submitted a court statement in support of Netflix’s efforts to get Harvey’s suit struck out.
One of Gadd’s central arguments was that Harvey is not Martha. “I never intended the series to identify any real person as Martha Scott, including Harvey,” he said in the 21-page declaration. “Like all characters in the series, Martha is a fictional character with fictional personality traits that are very different than Harvey’s.”
Having said this, the writer and actor cataloged how he was “harassed and stalked” by Harvey over several years. Detailing emails and more from Harvey, many of which are redacted exhibits now in the court docket, Gadd noted that he “obtained a First Instance Harassment Warning against Harvey” from UK police in 2016, but he stopped short of providing evidence of a conviction.
“Overall, it was an incredibly stressful and worrying time, with a sustained period of relentless behaviour taking place over several years,” he added. “It is impossible to be exhaustive in setting out all of Harvey’s conduct, as there were so many instances of unwelcome personal interaction and attempts to engage, as well as deeply troubling communication.”
In a memorandum accompanying Netflix’s motion to strike, the streamer stressed California’s anti-SLAPP statutes and the line between fact and fiction when it comes to actually stating a claim.
“Harvey’s defamation claim fails because she does not allege a provably false statement of fact was made about her,” Netflix’s attorney Latham & Watkins attorneys stated (read it here). “None of the alleged statements can form a legal basis for defamation. In fact, Harvey is incapable of showing reputational harm. Her reputation was already tarnished by past news stories detailing her previous harassment and stalking of public figures. And as a public figure herself, she must allege actual malice.”
Netflix’s filing also included a declaration from Laura Wray, who cataloged allegations of harassment and stalking against Harvey, a former colleague. It resulted in Wray being granted a court order against Harvey in 2002.
Earlier this month, Baby Reindeer cemented its status as one of the breakout hits of 2024 by bagging a total of 11 Emmy nominations, including for best limited or anthology series.