'Baby Reindeer' wins six Emmys but is still in the middle of a legal battle: NPR

The dark comic from Netflix Baby reindeer was one of the surprise hits of 2024. The series has now won 6 of its 11 Emmy nominations – including the award for Best Miniseries or Anthology Series. But it is also in the midst of a legal battle instigated by a woman who believes she inspired a main character in the series.

Scottish comedian Richard Gadd wrote, starred in and executive produced the series after initially developing it for the stage. Baby reindeerwhich was the most-watched English-language TV show on Netflix for three weeks this spring, he recounts his experiences as a failed stand-up comedian and bartender who is pursued by a woman named Martha. In the story, they meet in a London pub where he works. She flirts with his character Donny Dunn and calls him her “baby reindeer” in a series of emails, DMs and voicemails.

In a Video for Netflix and in statements to the media, Gadd has said that the story is autobiographical and that he went to great lengths to conceal the real identities of the characters. In the series, he details his own tormented past and behavior, and shows Martha sexually abusing him and attacking his lover. On screen, Martha is portrayed as a convicted stalker who has spent time in prison.

The “real” Martha?

After Baby reindeer began streaming, a Scottish woman named Fiona Harvey claimed that the character Martha was based on her. In the TV show Piers Morgan uncensored In May, Harvey called the show “obscene” and “a work of fiction, a work of exaggeration.” She said that while she had met Gadd a few times, she had never sent him as many messages as Martha did on the show; she said she did have a toy reindeer, but “that was a joke.”

She is suing Netflix for $170 million for defamation and has requested a jury trial in California. The lawsuit, filed in June in the Central District of California, centers on the fact that Baby reindeer calls the events of the show in the first episode a “true story” – which, according to the lawsuit, is “the biggest lie in television history.” Harvey claims, among other things, that she was never convicted of a crime and never sexually abused Gadd.

As a result of the portrayal and “defamation” in baby reindeer, Harvey “was immediately identified by members of the public and received hate mail and death threats so severe that Harvey suffers from insomnia, panic attacks and a general fear of going outside,” a recently filed lawsuit states.

Netflix, which distributed the series, told NPR in a statement that the network intends to “vigorously defend this matter and support Richard Gadd's right to tell his story.”

Questions about character – even before the lawsuit

Even before Harvey's lawsuit, the character of Martha seemed to raise questions. In May, Benjamin King, senior director of public policy at Netflix, told the UK's Culture, Media and Sport Committee that Martha was based on a “convicted stalker” – but he later wrote to the committee chair to clarify: “The person on whom the series is based – and whose identity we have never attempted to establish – was the subject of a court order and not a conviction.” According to a Netflix spokesperson, “this letter has no impact on our legal position.”

Although Baby reindeerThe first episode of begins by describing the show as a “true story.” The end credits of each episode state, “This program is based on true events. However, certain characters, names, incidents, places, and dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes.”

Gadd filed a written statement in July explaining that the series was a fictionalized retelling and not a documentary.

The network’s lawyer, Marvin Putnam, made a statement in court that Baby reindeer “is inspired by Gadd's real-life traumas and emotions. The characters, scenes, dialogues and events convey Gadd's story in an imaginative style.”

In recent court filings, Putnam wrote: “Harvey did in fact harass and stalk Gadd in real life. She sent him thousands of emails, handwritten letters and social media posts and left him hours-long voicemails. Many of these messages, which Gadd submitted to police, contained offensive, violent and astonishingly racist, xenophobic, homophobic and otherwise hateful content.”

Netflix's motions to dismiss the lawsuit are still pending in court.