Fiona Harvey, 58, has accused the streaming giant of the “biggest lie in TV history”.
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Internet sleuths say she inspired the character Martha, played by Jessica Gunning, who harasses a comedian based on the show’s creator, real-life comic Richard Gadd.
But Harvey claims the show, which is billed as a ‘true story’ and has been watched by 50million, defames her by wrongly portraying her as a twice- convicted stalker.
Now, speaking to Piers Morgan Uncensored, her US legal representative Richard Roth says she had a “very, very strong case”.
Mr Roth went on to admit he expects Harvey, Gadd and Netflix executives will testify in court in California.
Harvey, who did her first TV interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored, is demanding £135 million from the streaming giant.
In a candid interview with award-winning broadcaster Piers Morgan, Roth concludes the fallout from the Baby Reindeer case “could be a watershed moment for streaming TV.”
Asked why he had taken the case, Roth explained: “I think there’s probably three reasons.
“Obviously, I’m in the business of making money and I think there’s a lot of money to be made here.
“I think the second reason is that it is really just reprehensible when someone says something’s ‘a true story’… And if Netflix is going to say this is a true story, then it better well be true. And to do that is irresponsible of them.
“And the third reason is that Fiona Harvey, you’ve had her on your show, she’s been destroyed. She’d been shattered by this. She gets death threats, she doesn’t want to leave her apartment.”
On what will end up being the ‘smoking gun’ in their case, he went on: “There’s a lot of smoking guns… One of the big smoking guns… is that you don’t put ‘this is a true story’ on the front, first frame of a six part series, unless it’s gone through the wringer.
“Who actually said it is a true story? Did legal look at it? It is not a true story.
“There’s clear falsities in it, which are very damning. So I think one thing is going to be what did Netflix do to determine this was a true story, when it’s clearly not?”
Asked whether he expected Fiona Harvey to give evidence in court, he replied: “Oh, she’ll certainly give evidence. We’ll have Richard Gadd testify, we’ll have her testify.
“We’re gonna have a string of people at Netflix testifying as to what they did… why they agreed to the language in the front. What they did to check it. I also can’t wait to find out how, how [the executive] who testified in front of Parliament.
“My goodness, I mean, that’s not a blunder. That is real, real inappropriate conduct… [and could have] big repercussions from my lawsuit.
“Honestly, if he goes [back] in front of Parliament and says ‘I lied or I was wrong or I misspoke’. That’s very problematic for Netflix.
“This could be a watershed moment for streaming TV.”
Richard Gadd, 35, of from Wormit, Fife, wrote the show about his ordeal at the hands of a stalker based on events the show states are “real”.
The programme, which had 13.3 million viewers tuning in during its first week, depicts ‘Martha’ being jailed after accepting guilt for stalking.
Mr Roth was asked about one Netflix executive telling Parliament that Gadd’s stalker had been convicted, and that the company had done everything they could to protect the real life identities.
The lawyer said: “It’s so irresponsible for him to testify under oath in front of Parliament saying she was convicted when it’s clear she wasn’t, that’s the first thing.
“The second thing you raise is that, you know, you said the word ‘internet sleuths’. I think that’s sort of a loose term. You don’t have to be a sleuth… It was very easy for anyone and everyone.”
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
On reports in the press at the weekend saying Gadd, who plays lead character Donny Dunn in the show, was against calling it a “true story”, he added: “It’s actually great news for me. I heard about that story this weekend… It’s one thing if Richard Gadd says to them,’It’s true, it’s true, it’s true’, and they fail to do their due diligence.
“It’s even worse if Richard Gadd says, ‘Well, I don’t really want this to be a true story’. And Netflix says, ‘No, no, no, no, we want it to be true’… And they say, ‘We don’t want to listen to you. We’re making it a true story’.
“I mean, we’re going beyond, this is far worse than negligence. This is intentional misconduct, if they actually were told, ‘Don’t make it a true story’ and they said it were true.”
He added he believed Gadd has “no credibility” as a witness following some of his own admissions in the show, including drug use and other troubling behaviour.
“So the man, the person they most most rely on, for the truth of the story has been shattered before I even get to cross examine him,” Roth explained.
He went on: “Netflix has unbelievable culpability for saying at a minimum, that she’s a twice-time convicted felon. You saw the scene where she’s crying, and she pleads guilty? That’s all fabricated.”
Roth said that Harvey was not coping well with the recent headlines.
He said that it was so bad that “she is afraid to go out and get groceries”.
Mr Roth added: “Honestly, she’s not well, she’s clammed up in her apartment. She doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t know where to go.
“She’s hurting. I mean, she really has been shattered by this. There’s going to be a big percentage of the populace that don’t believe her and think she is the Martha who’s depicted in that series.”
Asked by Piers if his client’s past behaviour, and the claims made by Scottish lawyer Laura Wray of stalking, would go against Harvey, he said Wray herself seemed to admit this behaviour had not been deemed “criminal” in the past.
He went on: “What I care about is that Netflix and Gadd represented that she was a convicted, twice-convicted – once before and once during the show.
“He says she was a criminal for four and a half years and Laura Wray said none of that is true.”
What Fiona claims is true in Baby Reindeer saga
Fiona Harvey – who claims to be the inspiration for the Baby Reindeer character Martha – says there is only a handful of things true in the Netflix show.
The seven-part series, which premiered last month, was written by comedian Richard Gadd and purports to be based on his own personal experiences of being stalked and sexually assaulted.
Gadd, 34, plays a fictionalised version of himself – Donnie Dunn – but Harvey, who was ‘outed’ by internet sleuths within hours of the show being uploaded, is adamant the story is “completely untrue”.
The 58-year-old law graduate previously said: “It’s a work of hyperbole, as I’ve always said. And there are two true facts in that. His name is Richard Gadd, and he works as a jobbing barman on benefits, in the Hawley Arms. And we met, two or three times…”
On whether she said he looked like a ‘baby reindeer’ toy she had as a child, she added: “I had a toy reindeer and he’d shaved his head, that bit is true, and there were reindeer in the shops because it was Christmas time or something. It was a joke.
“So I have inadvertently penned the name of the show.”
On the huge sum of money being discussed in the lawsuit, he said: “It is a huge number, no doubt about it… If they wronged her, then she is entitled to their profits.
“We don’t know what that number is. Again, this is very early. We just filed the lawsuit. But we know that over 60 million people have viewed it.
“We know that it either has or is becoming the largest show ever on Netflix and we know that Netflix is making a tremendous amount of money from it.
“In fact, Richard Gadd is on a US tour promoting it. He was on the Today Show in New York. He was on The Tonight Show.
“So they are pumping this story and they’re making oodles of money from it. So we will see, once we get discovery, what the real profits are.”
He added, in his view, the burden of proof was with Netflix, saying: “This is a woman who was really thrust into the limelight. This is not a situation where you have a public figure, who essentially was defamed.
“This is a situation where a woman lives her own life, and she all of a sudden, found getting death threats, can’t leave her apartment. Really, really just inappropriate.
“Why is Netflix not calling her up and say, ‘Listen, we’re about to do this story, we’d like you to look at it. We’d like to fact check’.”
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