Richard Gadd will be forced to testify in court, claims Fiona Harvey’s lawyer, Richard Roth. Appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Tuesday, the US legal representative stated that Gadd – the creator of Baby Reindeer – is expected to take to the witness box alongside Netflix executives in California.
© John NacionAsked if his client, Fiona Harvey, would give evidence in court, Roth 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.”
Harvey, who claims to be the ‘real Martha’ portrayed in Baby Reindeer, is demanding £135 million from Netflix, alleging that the facts in the drama are not true, despite the show being billed as a true story.
“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,” explained Roth.
“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?”
During the interview, Roth was also asked how Fiona Harvey had been coping with recent headlines. “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,” noted Roth.
© Ed Miller/Netflix“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. And so she’s afraid to go out and get groceries. It’s that bad. This could be a watershed moment for streaming TV.”
Harvey has publicly said the character of Martha in Baby Reindeer, played by Jessica Gunning, is based on her. But she has denied being a stalker and has refuted claims that she sent Richard 41,000 emails, hundreds of voice messages and 106 letters.
The lawsuit, which names Netflix as a defendant, states: “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. Defendants told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money.”
Releasing their own response to the lawsuit, a Netflix rep said: “We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
As for Gadd, while the writer and comedian has continued to make public appearances, most notably on The Tonight Show on June 6, he has refrained from commenting directly on the lawsuit.
