Baby Reindeer, the wildly successful Netflix show about aspiring comedian Richard Gadd and his female stalker Martha Scott, begins with the statement: “This is a true story.”
Well, is it?
As I wrote earlier, the real-life Martha Scott (Fiona Harvey), whose identity was easily uncovered by fans of the show, contested this claim. Now, she is suing Netflix for a whopping $170 million, claiming defamation of character and negligence.
The sum is said to be an estimation of how much money Netflix has made from the show, which has been among the streaming service’s most-watched offerings in twelve countries.
Under the framework of being “a true story,” the series makes several factual assertions: that Martha was convicted of stalking and spent four and a half years in jail; that Martha sexually assaulted Gadd; that Martha sent him 41,000 emails, 744 tweets, and more than 350 hours of voicemails over several years.
At the end, a disclaimer states that names and dialogue have been changed. Yet there is no disclaimer that the series plays fast and loose with the facts, which Harvey’s lawyer argues is in tension with the truth claim established at the outset.
In response, Netflix has stated that it intends to “defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
Note: His story. Not “the truth.” Before the lawsuit, Gadd told Variety: “It’s all emotionally 100 percent true.” But what does that mean? That Gadd feels like it’s true, so it is?
While many today may be satisfied by “my truth,” in court, it is “the truth” that counts.
This comes down to objective and ascertainable facts. Nobody denies that Harvey is the real Martha. Either she has a criminal record, or she doesn’t. Either she sent Gadd 41,000 emails or she didn’t. All this will be revealed in discovery.
The fall-out from the show, much like the show itself, is full of interesting twists.