A new detail has come to light that could potentially impact the $170 million lawsuit against Netflix filed by Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey, who claims the character of "Martha" in the hit series Baby Reindeer was not-so-loosely based on her.
Harvey sued the streamer last month, claiming defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, gross negligence, and violations of her right of publicity. Though neither Netflix nor series creator and star Richard Gadd, who is not named in the lawsuit, identified Harvey, she claimed that similarities between herself and the character made it easy for internet sleuths to track her down.
She also denied having stalked Gadd and claimed that she had never been convicted of a crime, as the series, which bills itself as being a "true story," suggests. However, while resurfaced social media posts and allegations from other accusers have come forward to debase the former claim, criminal records are not available to the public in the UK, leaving a big question mark over the most serious detail in the series. Whereas in Baby Reindeer, the fictional Martha is sentenced to nine months in prison.
However, in a letter obtained by Deadline, Netflix admitted back in May that Harvey had only been subject to a court order, rather than a prison sentence.
The admission came after Scottish National Party MP John Nicolson, who sits on Parliament’s influential Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, demanded that Netflix provide evidence to back up the claims. "Journalists have thus far been unable to find a record of the conviction to which you referred," Nicolson wrote at the time. "Can you provide me with the evidence for this serious claim?"
In the newly surfaced letter, Benjamin King, Netflix’s senior UK director of public policy who had appeared before the committee in May, conceded that the one detail had been overblown.
"In response to a question about the characters portrayed in the series, I said that: 'It's an extraordinary true story of the horrific abuse ... that the writer and protagonist suffered at the hands of a convicted stalker,'" King wrote. "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."
"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," he added.
Be that as it may, when Harvey filed her lawsuit just weeks later, Netflix said that it intended to "defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story."
The new piece of evidence in the saga comes just days after Gadd submitted a declaration to a federal court in an effort to have Harvey's lawsuit dismissed.
"I am a comedian, writer, and actor. I created, wrote, and starred in the Netflix series Baby Reindeer," Gadd said in the document submitted on July 28. "I have personal knowledge of the facts set forth below and, if called as a witness, could and would testify competently thereto. I submit this declaration in support of defendants Netflix, Inc., and Netflix Worldwide Entertainment, LLC’s special motion to strike."
In light of recent developments, it seems likely that the legal battle will indeed end up playing out in a court of law.
