Jessica Gunning, who played Martha in the Netflix series Baby Reindeer, has said that she did not depict an impersonation of a real person. The series, which tells the true story of comedian Donny Dunn’s harassment by a woman named Martha, has been a hit. But real-life “Martha”, Fiona Harvey, recently denied many aspects of the show’s narrative during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored. Harvey has confirmed that she is planning legal action against all those who have lied about her.
Gunning said she felt “fiercely protective” of writer/creator Richard Gadd, on whose experiences the show is based. She believes Gadd is “a survivor of sexual assault” but has been critical of the show’s claim to be “true”, saying it is inevitable that people will want to know who the real-life characters are. Harvey is widely believed to be the woman upon whom the Martha character was based.
Despite the controversy, Gadd urged people to stop trying to work out the real-life identity of Martha in the show, adding: “That’s not the point of the show.” Gadd had previously said that the production team had gone to great lengths to disguise Martha to the point that she would not recognise herself. He also emphasized that Martha was a victim and that depicting her as a monstrous stalker would be wrong: “Stalking and harassment is a form of mental illness. It would have been wrong to paint her as a monster, because she’s unwell, and the system’s failed her.”
The BBC reports that Harvey intends to sue “for the damage done to me over the course of the past four years”. Harvey has consistently denied charges in the show about stalking and attacking Gadd’s girlfriend. The case is likely to focus on whether it was clear that Baby Reindeer was a work of fiction or a true representation of events
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