Real life stalker Martha is the VICTIM in Baby Reindeer admits actress Jessica Gunning saying ‘she’s complicated’
THE actress who plays Martha in TV show Baby Reindeer believes the stalker is in fact a victim.
The Netflix hit tells the true story of creator and star Richard Gadd’s own ordeal of being stalked by a loner ex lawyer, played by Jessica Gunning.
In real life the woman, Fiona Harvey, has spoken out to deny the accuracy of the show.
Richard claims she stalked him for five years by sending more than 40,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemails and 106 pages of letters – before it culminated in threats of violence and a restraining order.
In the show, Richard’s barman character Donny Dunn becomes the object of obsession for Martha, played by Jessica.
Asked if she thinks the real Martha is also a victim, Jessica said: “I do. The thing that first sprung off the page was that it didn’t feel like a villain vs victim story. Richard is very honest, in his portrayal of Donny, that he liked the attention and he flirted back with her.”
The actress continued to Stylist magazine: “She makes errors and behaves badly in certain moments but she’s also a very complicated character that’s been through a lot in her past as well and so I tried to do that side of the character justice.
“It wasn’t black or white, there’s lots of areas of grey, like in life.”
The traumatic story was first turned into a critically acclaimed play, before Netflix made it into a series of the same name.
Richard claimed he went to great lengths to conceal the identity of the woman who stalked him in real life and has begged fans not to search for her.
But last week, law graduate Fiona Harvey spoke out, claiming fans of the show has accused her of stalking Gadd in real life.
And she vowed to sue Netflix, claiming she will “kick their a***s” in court.
Baby Reindeer by numbers
The Netflix series has become quite the breakout smash hit...
- 7 Number of episodes in the series
- 30 Number of countries the series has topped the Netflix chart in
- 64 Percentage increase in viewers the show earned in its second week, compared to its first
- 97 The show’s percentage score on industry bible Rotten Tomatoes
- 41,071 Amount of emails Richard claims he was sent by the real life Martha
- 13.3 million Number of viewers who tuned into the show during its first week
Fiona, 58, is from Fyvie, Aberdeenshire and says she met Gadd years ago when he was a bartender at The Hawley Arms in London’s Camden.
She admits to befriending him and claims she gifted him a pair of “tartan M&S pants” to congratulate him on one of his comedy shows.
But she denies she stalked him.
