Truth or fiction? The $170M legal battle over Netflix’s Baby Reindeer

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One of the top shows on Netflix could end up costing the streaming giant a significant financial penalty.

Fiona Harvey, who is portrayed in Baby Reindeer, which is allegedly based on creator Richard Gadd’s experience being stalked, has filed a $170 million lawsuit in California, citing defamation, emotional distress, negligence and violations of her right of publicity, reports The Guardian.

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Harvey is portrayed by actress Jessica Gunning in the role of Martha, a woman who becomes obsessed with bartender and comedian Donny Dunn, a character based on Gadd. Harvey was identified by internet sleuths watching the series, which begins with a title card noting, “This is a true story.”

Harvey then appeared on Piers Morgan’s YouTube show and gave interviews to the media, saying she had no choice but to come forward after receiving death threats online.

“I was forced into this situation,” she told Morgan last month. Here’s what to know.

The lawsuit and allegations

The lawsuit characterizes calling the series “a true story” as the “biggest lie in television history,” reports Fortune.

“It is a lie told by Netflix and the show’s creator, Richard Gadd, out of greed and lust for fame; a lie designed to attract more viewers, get more attention, to make more money, and to viciously destroy the life of Plaintiff, Fiona Harvey,” the lawsuit alleges.

Harvey has refuted much of the series premise, which depicts her character sending Dunn tens of thousands of emails and text messages and leaving hundreds of hours of voice-mail messages.

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“It’s taken over enough of my life. I find it quite obscene,” she said. “I find it horrifying, misogynistic. Some of the death threats have been really terrible online. People phoning me up. You know, it’s been absolutely horrendous.”

Harvey has claimed she never had Gadd’s phone number, never left him any voice mails and sent him “less than 10” emails.

“There may have been a couple of emails exchanging, but that was it. Just jokey banter emails,” she told Morgan.

Harvey also claimed Gadd propositioned her but she turned him down as she was in a relationship at the time. The series also depicts Martha as a twice-convicted stalker who had been sentenced to five years in prison, which Harvey denies.

The $170 million sum includes “all profits from Baby Reindeer,” per The Guardian.

Netflix’s response

In a statement, Netflix said it will “defend this matter vigorously” and stands by Gadd’s “right to tell his story.”

The seven episode series has spent eight weeks in Netflix’s “Global Top 10.”

The lawsuit arrives just days after Netflix settled a defamation lawsuit by former prosecutor Linda Fairstein over her portrayal in When They See Us, a 2019 series about the Central Park Five rape case three decades earlier, reports Insurance Journal.

Netflix agreed to donate $1 million to the Innocence Project, a nonprofit that works to free wrongly convicted people, and also moved a disclaimer that some characters may have been altered for dramatic purposes to the start of episodes from the closing credits.

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U.K. government weighs in

The series also prompted a statement from the U.K. government after Harvey’s identity was revealed, with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) noting that new streaming laws will soon place high standards on video-on-demand services like Netflix and allow for complaints regarding accuracy and harmful material.

The U.K Media Bill will align streaming services’ obligations with those of traditional broadcasters, reports Deadline, including focusing on audience and participant protections.

Netflix reportedly faced scrutiny for not adequately communicating with Harvey before the release of the series.

Other allegations against Harvey

Following the success of the series, and the identification of Harvey, Laura Wray, widow of former Scottish Labour MP Jimmy Wray, came forward with her own story about Harvey.

Wray claimed she was granted an interim restraining order against Harvey in 2002, when she went by Fiona Muir-Harvey.

Speaking with Scottish media after Morgan’s interview with Harvey, Wray claimed she was worried she may be targeted again as their past incident resurfaced.

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Wray said that she gave Harvey a two-week trial working at her Glasgow-based law firm in 1997 but said she was fired after a week for alleged abuse.

Wray alleges Harvey then reported her to social services with claims that she was hitting her child.

Speaking with the Mirror, Wray said she had “forgotten” much of that ordeal but said the interview was a “trigger.”

“Watching her last night (on Piers), how did I manage to cope with that for so long? My partner and I am concerned about what she might do next. Is she going to come after me? She is posting things on Facebook accusing me of all sorts, and of being abusive. You don’t know where it will end.”

Wray further alleged that Harvey made threats to her staff and clients. Harvey has denied the allegations and said she resigned on her own, a claim she also made on Morgan’s show.

Harvey was also implicated in allegations from Daily Mail journalist Neil Sears, who claimed he received a four-day “barrage of calls and voice mails” from Gadd’s “real life” stalker, though Sears did not name the woman.

Sears wrote that the “tsunami” of calls happened after he met with the woman for an in-person interview. Sears claimed that within 10 minutes of the interview concluding, the calls began.

He said he received three calls on his short drive home, 10 the next day, 14 the day after that and 24 the following day, all from a ‘No Caller ID number.’

“When I failed to answer — as, I have to admit I began to do as that ‘No Caller ID’ message kept popping up — there were the rambling stream-of-consciousness messages — just like the ones the fictional Martha leaves in the TV show,” he wrote.

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