Netflix has far outdone itself this time, like Richard Gadd's drama Baby Reindeer – based on his real life experience with a stalker – simply took a sinister turn to the real world.
Fiona Harvey, who claims to be the inspiration behind stalker Martha – who harasses, sexually assaults and physically abuses comedian Gadd in the series – has been released Piers Morgan's Uncensored in a tell-all interview about her alleged portrayal on the show.
The Scottish lawyer, 58, hoped to set the record straight after internet sleuths tracked her down online, believing she was the 'real Martha'.
The 34-year-old writer and actor Gadd begged online investigators to do so leave the 'real Martha' alone but to no avail.
Harvey is said to be considering legal action over her performance in the hit series, which Gadd admits is based on a true story.
Speaking to 59-year-old broadcaster Morgan on tonight's Uncensored, Harvey said she thinks Gadd is 'obsessed' with her and denies she has even watched the series, and most of Martha's actions in it.
Harvey said she had only known Gadd for a few months and called Baby Reindeer “sick” and “misogynistic.”
“It's been horrible,” she said. “It's fiction, an exaggeration, and there are two real facts: he's Richard Gadd and he's a bartender.”
Recalling her encounter – which she said was 10 to 12 years ago – Harvey claimed: 'He didn't offer me a cup of tea. I was ready for a meal with a drink of lemonade. I'm diabetic, so I was very hungry.”
She said Gadd “directed” the conversation she was having with another bartender, adding, “From then on, he seemed obsessed with me.”
Harvey did admit that she had a reindeer toy, but “categorically” denied that it ever appeared outside her house as depicted in the show.
When asked about the 41,000 emails, she said, “That's just not true. Absolutely not. None of that is true. I don't think I sent him anything. There may have been a few emails.”
She admitted to tweeting Gadd about eighteen times, and didn't understand Piers' question about Martha in Baby Reindeer signing “sent from my iPhone,” seemingly as if she had one.
However, Harvey did say she had six email addresses and multiple phones.
Harvey, who claims to have a photographic memory, also denied sexually assaulting Gadd, assaulting his girlfriend or shooting at him across a bar – something Martha did on the show.
Viewers told X how surreal it was that Baby Reindeer seeped into real television.
'OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! The interview so far is surreal!!!' said @neetal4u, while others called it 'bizarre'.
Earlier today Harvey said she felt “used” by Morgan looking back on the interview.
Harvey told Daily record: 'I have my own thoughts about it that I would like to keep to myself, but I wouldn't say I was happy. It was very quick to try to trip me up. He did it at a fast pace to catch me off guard.”
She claims Morgan questioned her about sending 41,000 emails to Gadd during ten minutes of the interview.
She defended herself by saying that even if the emails are true, it doesn't mean the entire saga was completely factual.
'It looked like I had been framed. I feel a little used,” Harvey added.
Morgan reportedly described the interaction as a 'sparring match' between the pair, for which his interviewee claims she received just £250.
Harvey claims she was bombarded with interview requests and said yes to the former Good Morning Britain presenter because she liked him.
“Piers said it went well,” Harvey continued. “He called it a sparring match. He gave me a few punches and I gave him a few punches. He asked me if I liked Richard Gadd and I said you were kidding.”
In parliament, Netflix emphasized that it has “taken all reasonable precautions to conceal the real identities of the people involved in that story.”
Previously, Gadd spoke about the process of turning his ordeal into a TV show Metro.nl he wanted Baby Reindeer to be 'three-dimensional'.
'I wanted to nuance it. “I just remember that my idea of stalking in life was so different from what actually happened,” he said.
“My idea of what a stalker was was that they're essentially psychopathic characters. But that just wasn't the case. I saw someone who was very vulnerable, actually.'
He added that there was no “moral point that people could take away” but there was “a subtle reference to the fact that this is a vulnerable person who needs help.”
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