Baby Reindeer is one of the best Netflix shows ever made, but it’s also (still) at the centre of a high-profile lawsuit from the alleged “real-life Martha”, Fiona Harvey.
At the start of Baby Reindeer, it claimed it was a “true story”.
The series followed Donny (played by Richard Gadd), a struggling comedian relentlessly pursued by a woman from the bar he works in (Jessica Gunning). It drew from Gadd’s real-life stalking ordeal, as well as the sexual abuse he suffered.
The show won countless awards, including six Emmys. But alongside the acclaim came intense scrutiny, online speculation, and eventually, legal action. With Half Man now arriving, here’s how the situation unfolded.
Baby Reindeer lawsuit: When was the show released?
Baby Reindeer landed on Netflix on April 11, 2024. Word of mouth took over quickly, pushing it to the top of Netflix’s charts with over 80 million views.
Within weeks, it became one of the most talked-about shows of the year.
Viewers searched for Richard Gadd’s real-life stalker
As with any “true story”, viewers wanted answers.
Speculation quickly spiralled online, with people attempting to identify the real-life figures behind the show — including Gadd’s stalker and abuser.
Sean Foley, a friend of Gadd, was falsely accused of being his attacker. Police looked into the claims, and Gadd publicly confirmed it was not him.
He urged viewers to stop digging. “Please don’t speculate on who the real life people could be. That’s not the point of our show,” he wrote.
Despite that, names continued to circulate — until attention focused on Fiona Harvey.
Baby Reindeer lawsuit: Who is Fiona Harvey?
Fiona Harvey, a 60-year-old woman from Aberdeenshire, has been widely identified online as the alleged inspiration for Martha.
She has repeatedly denied the claims.
“Your tweets cheer me up. I’ve not been able to get into Hawley past three Saturdays. Your timeline is good,” she wrote in a 2014 post to Gadd.
As scrutiny intensified, she responded publicly: “I am not Martha, I am Fiona… I am Not Martha.”
In later posts, she also said: “I didn’t stalk him like he claims.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she described the toll the situation had taken.
“Some weeks I do not leave my apartment. I am suffering from, among other things, constant panic attacks… fear and insomnia,” she claimed.
What happened when Fiona Harvey went on Piers Morgan?
Harvey appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored on May 9, 2024, where she denied the scale of the alleged harassment.
“That’s simply not true. If somebody was sending somebody 41,000 emails or something, they’d be doing how many a day? Lots,” she said.
“I think there may have been a couple of emails exchanging, but that was it. Just jokey banter emails.”
She also addressed the origin of the show’s title.
“I had a toy reindeer and he’d shaved his head… it was a joke. So I have inadvertently penned the name of the show.”
When asked about legal action, her answer was clear: “Absolutely. Against both him and Netflix.”
“It’s taken over enough of my life… He’s making money out of my misery, he’s making money out of untrue facts,” she said.
How true is Baby Reindeer?
Harvey denies stalking Gadd and says she was never convicted. Gadd, however, has defended the show’s authenticity.
“Any time it veered too much into embellishment I would always want to pull it back. It’s extremely emotionally truthful,” he told GQ.
“We’ve gone to such great lengths to disguise her… What’s been borrowed is an emotional truth, not a fact-by-fact profile of someone.”
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos also backed the series.
“It was no one’s intent to use a label recklessly. That is Richard’s true story,” he said.
When did Fiona Harvey file her lawsuit?
Harvey filed her lawsuit against Netflix on June 6, 2024.
She accused the platform of defamation, negligence, and emotional distress. Gadd was not named as a defendant.
The lawsuit states: “The lies that Defendants told about Harvey to over 50 million people worldwide include that Harvey is a twice convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison, and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd. Defendants told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money.”
“Netflix, a multi-national billion dollar entertainment streaming company did literally nothing to confirm the ‘true story’ that Gadd told. That is, it never investigated whether Harvey was convicted, a very serious misrepresentation of the facts.
“It did nothing to understand the relationship between Gadd and Harvey, if any… as a result of Defendants’ lies, malfeasance and utterly reckless misconduct, Harvey’s life had been ruined. Simply, Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character and her life.”
How much money is she seeking?
Harvey initially sought $170 million (£125 million) in damages.
According to The Guardian, Harvey sought $50m for actual damages, and at least $50m in compensatory damages for “mental anguish, loss of enjoyment and loss of business”.
The lawsuit also sought at least $50m for “all profits from Baby Reindeer” and $20m for punitive damages.
Is the lawsuit going to court?
In September 2024, a judge dismissed parts of the lawsuit, including negligence claims and punitive damages.
However, the defamation case was allowed to proceed.
“There is a major difference between stalking and being convicted of stalking in a court of law,” Judge Gary Klausner said (via The Times).
A trial was scheduled for May 6, 2025.
Latest update in Baby Reindeer lawsuit
The case has since been delayed. Netflix filed an appeal in May 2025, arguing the lawsuit “does not allege a provably false statement of fact”.
As of now, there have been no further major updates.
Harvey’s last public Facebook post came in October 2024: “Had offer to tel my side of story. I’m not desperate for fame like wee gadd [sic].”
Speaking ahead of Half Man’s release, Gadd was asked by The Times how he feels about Baby Reindeer after the lawsuit.
“Well, some of that’s going to be quite tricky to speak to,” he said.
“But I’m very proud of Baby Reindeer, and in all of the noise and things that happened it did a lot of good. It had a phenomenal impact.
Read more: The best movies you need to watch on Netflix this month
Half Man episode 1 will be available on BBC iPlayer on Friday, April 24. Baby Reindeer is available to stream on Netflix.
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