This story just won't end. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we're uncovering everything we learned AFTER the shocking Netflix series, Baby Reindeer.
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00:00 In 2024, Richard Gadd's critically acclaimed comedy-drama "Baby Reindeer" was released
00:26 on Netflix.
00:27 Largely through word of mouth, the series dominated Netflix in both the UK and the US,
00:34 with people fascinated to hear the true story of how Gadd was stalked by a mentally ill
00:39 woman for years.
00:48 In the show, Gadd played a fictionalised version of himself, Donnie Dunn, who winds up on the
00:54 receiving end of Martha Scott's affections when he takes pity on her one day and gives
01:00 her a cup of tea on the house in the pub he works at.
01:13 To re-summarise, things quickly spiral out of control in Gadd's life.
01:18 The series is one of moral greys, as Gadd also engages in stalking behaviour more than
01:25 once and tries to trick Martha into incriminating herself.
01:38 The police treat them like they're equally culpable and, for years, refuse to do anything.
01:44 In the end, Martha gets a prison sentence for the stalking and harassment of Gadd and
01:49 his parents.
01:50 Jessica Gunning's performance as Martha has been critically acclaimed, as has Gadd's
01:56 writing and his bravery for revealing so many traumatic parts of his life.
02:10 As well as following Martha, the show also covered Gadd's assault at the hands of a
02:14 television writer and producer.
02:22 In the cases of both Martha and Darian, the aforementioned producer, Gadd went to great
02:28 lengths to disguise their identities, believing that this would be enough to stop the public
02:34 from finding out who they were.
02:36 Disguising these people wasn't the point of the show, and yet, as often happens, this
02:42 fell on deaf ears.
02:44 Despite Gadd publicly asking fans of his show not to out the real-life faces of the characters,
02:51 it didn't work.
02:53 People scoured social media for accounts that used certain, very particular phrases that
02:59 Martha used in the show, the titular "Baby Reindeer" nickname among them.
03:14 Eventually, the real Martha went to the tabloids and, while she initially remained anonymous,
03:21 her identity was revealed and she's since gone on the record.
03:25 Her name is Fiona Harvey, and she's now done extensive interviews telling her side
03:31 of the story, culminating in an appearance on "Piers Morgan Uncensored".
03:38 But what exactly has she been saying?
03:42 Well, she's denied being a stalker publicly, and has made many more statements about how
03:51 she knows nothing about Gadd, to claims that he asked her out despite being, in her words,
03:57 a "gay man", though Gadd himself identifies as bisexual and has done for years.
04:10 She also had nothing nice to say about Jess Gunning, who, by all other accounts, did a
04:16 phenomenal job in the show, and also claimed that Gadd was stalking her.
04:29 Most infamously, Harvey has now said that she wants to sue Netflix.
04:40 As in the show, she is a qualified lawyer, saying that the production has invaded her
04:45 privacy and is defamatory.
04:53 Other lawyers have mixed feelings about whether this could work, though one says that there
04:59 is potentially a case as Netflix arguably could have done more to hide her identity.
05:10 But it's also worth noting that Harvey did end up outing herself, and has made myriad
05:15 contradictory public statements.
05:18 And given that neither Netflix nor Gadd ever named her, and discouraged the public from
05:23 doing so, maybe there is no legal leg to stand on.
05:27 That, and the fact that Gadd didn't paint himself to be some kind of hero.
05:36 Elsewhere, and others have threatened Netflix with legal action, notably writer and director
05:43 Sean Foley.
05:44 As well as trying to find out who Martha was, online investigators also want to identify
05:49 Darian, despite the fact that if Gadd wanted him publicly identified, he could have done
05:55 this himself years ago.
06:01 They decided that Foley was the one Darian was based on, which prompted Foley to report
06:07 the accusers to the police for making false allegations against him.
06:11 Gadd then publicly said that Darian was not Sean Foley, again reiterating that this is
06:17 what he didn't want the show to become.
06:27 Other stars of the small screen have had things to say about the show too, Richard Osman in
06:32 particular.
06:33 On the podcast "The Rest Is Entertainment", which Osman co-hosts with journalist Marina
06:39 Hyde, they criticised Netflix for, again, not doing enough to protect the identities
06:46 of those in the story.
06:47 Osman also revealed that Darian's real identity is widely known to those in the industry.
06:59 Hyde also drew a comparison that many others had made to "Baby Reindeer", that being
07:04 2020's seminal limited series, "I May Destroy You".
07:08 "I May Destroy You" was written by and starred Michaela Cole, and was a dramatisation
07:14 of her own assault and how it affected her.
07:17 Starred via a fictionalised version of herself, but Cole's real-life attacker was never
07:23 identified, unlike the real-life Martha.
07:28 It's also true that all of the on-screen messages in "Baby Reindeer", complete
07:36 with typos, are real messages that Martha sent to him.
07:44 Using her very specific phrases, people were able to easily Google things and find the
07:49 various social media accounts she'd been using to harass Gad publicly, unearthing her
07:55 identity.
07:56 On the 8th May, things came to a point where Harvey went completely public with her identity,
08:02 and on the following evening, appeared on "Piers Morgan Uncensored" for an hour-long,
08:08 tell-all interview.
08:09 Morgan's been widely criticised for this, though she's hardly the most controversial
08:22 person he's ever had sitting opposite him.
08:25 Seeing her talk in person, it's clear that what Hyde and Osmond said about Netflix not
08:30 disguising Martha enough is true.
08:33 She's extremely similar to how she appears in the show.
08:36 They even kept her character Scottish.
08:46 She denied just about everything Richard Gad put in the show, though she admitted that
08:51 she hadn't watched it, saying various contradictory things.
08:55 At one point, she says she couldn't have been getting free drinks from his pub in Camden,
09:00 because in real life, she doesn't drink - though Martha doesn't drink in the show
09:04 either.
09:17 With the exception of that first cup of tea, she's always served a glass of Diet Coke.
09:23 She did, however, admit to having a stuffed reindeer and telling Gad about this.
09:29 Admitting to a lot of the things that happened, but saying that they were misconstrued jokes.
09:39 She also went back and forth on saying she'd spent any time with Gad, whether she'd ever
09:44 sent him an email, whether she'd ever sent him a letter, and so on.
09:53 We're sure that those same sleuths who found her will be going through this interview with
09:59 a fine-toothed comb to find every single time she contradicts herself, which she seems to
10:05 do frequently.
10:08 It's led to a lot of questions for Netflix, which has been criticised many times in recent
10:17 years for how it handles its true crime properties, as well as its dramas based on real events.
10:28 Piers Morgan's interview has been dubbed "irresponsible" by many, and it's clear
10:32 that, while the show is excellent and raises many questions about mail assault and stalking
10:39 that we desperately need to talk about, it did fall short where privacy was concerned.
10:45 But all those people online certainly should have listened to Gad, at least when he asked
10:50 them to stop speculating.
10:58 After all, if he wanted the identities of those involved to be known, he could have
11:03 named them himself, and he chose not to for this very reason.
11:08 And there's no excuse to send anybody death threats online.
11:18 And that was everything we've learned after "Baby Reindeer".
11:26 What do you think?
11:27 Should Netflix have done more, or are those internet sleuths to blame for violating a
11:32 woman's privacy?
11:33 Let us know your thoughts.
11:35 [MUSIC]