Everything We Learned AFTER Baby Reindeer

MsMojo

This story just won't end. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we're uncovering everything we learned AFTER the shocking Netflix series, Baby Reindeer.

Transcript

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]

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