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A woman identifying herself as the inspiration for a character in Netflix’s breakout series “Baby Reindeer” has filed a defamation lawsuit seeking $170mn from the streaming service.
Fiona Harvey, the plaintiff, alleges that the show has defamed her “at a magnitude and scale without precedent”.
The seven-episode series, about a relationship between a Scottish comedian and his stalker, was adapted from a one-man play written by Richard Gadd. The opening sequence of the show states that “this is a true story”, but many of the events portrayed, including the conviction of his stalker, are fictional.
In the series, a bartender named Donny Dunn, played by Gadd, shows an act of kindness to Martha, played by Jessica Gunning, a customer who develops an obsession with Dunn and begins to stalk him. The lawsuit alleges that Martha’s character is based on Harvey.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Los Angeles, alleges that the show told “brutal lies” about Harvey.
“The lies that defendants told about Harvey to over 50 million people worldwide include that Harvey is a twice convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison, and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd,” the suit says.
The series has been a hit for Netflix, securing 10th place on the streaming service in its eighth week with 2.8mn views. It has also raised questions about so-called true-story television.
Gadd told Vanity Fair this year that “the broad strokes are very much true”, but names of characters and other details were changed. Fans of the show began searching for clues to identify the person behind Martha and determined that the character was based on Harvey, the magazine reported.
Netflix said it intended to “defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story”.
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