Did Netflix do enough to protect real-life 'Martha's' identity?

From their Scottish accents to their similar physical appearances, Baby Reindeer’s ‘Martha’ bears undoubtable similarities to Richard Gadd’s alleged real-life stalker Fiona Harvey.

Following the show’s phenomenal global success, comedian Mr Gadd, who based the Netflix hit on his real life, said he did not want the true identities of his abusers to be revealed, adding that it’s ‘not the point’ of the series.

The show sees Mr Gadd’s character Donny Dunn fall victim to a relentless stalking campaign by ‘Martha’, which starts after he served her in a London pub while working as a bartender.

Until now, the Mail has chosen not to identify the real Martha – instead withholding her name and pixelating her face, to protect her privacy. Now she herself has placed her real identity in the public domain, we will name her as Fiona Harvey.

Mr Gadd previously made it clear that he changed names and specific details of the story to protect the identities of those involved, even claiming that ‘Martha’ ‘would not even recognise herself’ in the hit show.

But many viewers have taken to social media to criticise the show’s creator’s for choosing an ‘identical’ actress to play Mr Gadd’s real-life stalker.

Netflix’s Senior Director of Public Policy Benjamin King was asked about the streamer’s duty of care regarding Baby Reindeer and whether he was concerned that the characters might be identified. He claimed both Netflix and Baby Reindeer producer Clerkenwell Films took ‘every reasonable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the people involved in that story’.

Since the real-life Martha last night revealed herself as 58-year-old Fiona Harvey on Piers Morgan Uncensored, MailOnline takes a look at some key parallels between the two women.

Fiona Harvey (pictured) said the choice of actor to portray her was ‘hardly flattering’

Baby Reindeer’s ‘Martha’ is played by actor Jessica Gunning in Baby

Views of the show took to social media to comment on the similarity between Martha and Fiona Harvey

Similar physical appearance

After seeing actor Jessica Gunning play her character in Baby Reindeer, Ms Harvey claimed to be insulted by her physical portrayal.

But there are some noticeable similarities between the two women, including their hair colour and ‘build’.

During last night’s interview, presenter Piers Morgan said: ‘I’ve never met you before but you do look and sound very similar to the actress in the drama.’

Ms Harvey replied: ‘I haven’t seen the actress, we’re both Scottish, we’ve both got dark hair. She’s considerably younger than me – I think she’s about 18 years younger than me.’

When Piers commented on the ‘resemblance’ between the two women, Ms Harvey laughed: ‘Do you think so? That’s hardly flattering.’

She added: ‘I mean people compare me to Lorraine Kelly, but I look nothing like Lorraine Kelly. We all happen to have dark hair and we’re Scottish.’

Many views of the show took to social media to criticise Martha’s striking similarity to Ms Harvey, saying it put the woman at risk.

‘What I don’t get – why make a show called Baby Reindeer, cast an almost identical actress, and tell everyone it’s a true story if you felt sorry for her and didn’t want people to find her and hound her?’ one person wrote.

Another said: ‘The Piers Morgan Baby Reindeer thing is scary how similar she is to Martha.’

A third added: ‘I remember an interview with the Baby Reindeer writer and she said that the Martha character was changed so much the person wouldn’t recognise herself. That’s simply only true because she’s delusional, they’re identical, scarily so as well and very dangerous for her.’

The chilling real-life drama was inspired by the ordeal suffered by Scottish creator and leading man Richard Gadd at the hands of ‘Martha’ (played by Jessica Gunning, right)

Scottish accent

Both Ms Harvey and the character of Martha have Scottish accents, although the real-life woman said there is a significant difference between the character’s accent and her own.

‘I think the actress is from Glasgow, I think, but I’m not sure,’ she said.

Ms Harvey said she is from the central belt, despite previous media reports stating she is from Fyvie in Aberdeenshire.

Background in law and high-powered contacts

In the show, Martha calls herself a lawyer and often talks about how she knows high-powered people – with famous politicians such as Gordon Brown and David Cameron appearing as contacts on her phone.

One scene shows Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd) looking at her Facebook page to discover badly photoshopped images of Martha with the famous figures.

Baby Reindeer, the extraordinary hit Netflix drama, has been viewed more than 60 million times in the past month

Last night’s interview saw Ms Harvey claim she has been in a relationship with a lawyer for the past five years, adding that she has other successful lawyers as friends.

The Scottish woman also said she has a law degree from Aberdeen University, which she studied for in the 1980s.

When questioned by Piers about her degree, Ms Harvey said: ‘[I got] alright grades. I mean not top of the year or anything, but alright grades.

‘You’re asking me what marks I got for 13 subjects – I can’t remember.’

She added: ‘I did alright, I didn’t do top of the year.’

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