When a struggling comedian shows an act of kindness to a vulnerable woman, it sparks a suffocating obsession which threatens to wreck both their lives.
Video / Netflix
Piers Morgan has hit back at alleged Netflix Baby Reindeer stalker Fiona Harvey after she complained he only paid her £250 (NZ$517) for a sitdown interview on his popular programme Uncensored.
Dark comedy drama-thriller Baby Reindeer highlights the real-life experience of writer and lead actor Richard Gadd. The series followsseveral years of stalking the Scottish comedian claimed he suffered.
The show’s protagonist, Donny Dunn, is a struggling comedian who comes across a lonely woman at the bar where he works. After she accepts his offer of a free cup of tea, Martha - played by Jessica Gunning - is quickly revealed to be a dangerous serial stalker.
In the Netflix series, Donny Day meets Martha Scott in a bar - and then she stalks him. Photo / Netflix
Less than a month after being released, Fiona Harvey came forward claiming to be the woman Baby Reindeer is based on, appearing on Morgan’s show saying the allegations are not true.
During the interview, Harvey denied sending Gadd 41,000 emails and 100 letters while stalking him. Netflix has previously claimed that the emails in the show are the real emails received by Gadd from his stalker.
“I think he probably made them up himself,” Harvey alleged, insisting she sent him just “a handful”. When pressed by Morgan for a number, she said she sent the comedian “less than 10 emails”.
During the tense exchange with Morgan, Harvey also claimed she had only met Gadd a few times and asked him to “leave her alone”.
“I will be taking legal action against Richard Gadd and Netflix. We have instructed lawyers in part, but we want to explore all of the options out there. There are a number of people to sue.”
Harvey denied she had ever been convicted of stalking Gadd or that she had ever been to prison.
“It is completely untrue and very career damaging. I want to rebut that. I’m not a stalker. It’s just complete nonsense.”
Piers Morgan rubbishes claims
Morgan has now hit back at Harvey after she claimed he only paid her £250 for the interview.
In an interview with the Daily Record, Harvey said: “They offered me £250 and I asked if that was what they paid everyone and, if so, I wanted to see documentation to that effect.
“That documentation has not been forthcoming. I have not signed a contract for the interview and I will be seeking far more than a piddling £250. I’d settle for a million [$2.07m].”
But Morgan has since rubbished the claims, telling an Australian radio show they went above and beyond.
“We give her the same as we give 95 per cent of our guests,” Morgan said.
“I won’t say what it was, but we also paid for her to have a nice haircut, we got her a nice car and so on. I think we treated her very fairly and reasonably.”
Piers Morgan has responded to criticism from alleged Baby Reindeer stalker Fiona Harvey he only paid her £250 for an interview.
He admitted he never understood how big the Baby Reindeer interest and saga would blow up.
“I didn’t really understand what a huge phenomenon this is. But it is an absolute global phenomenon.
“To give you some idea, the interview on our YouTube channel has so far had 11 million views, one of the clips on our TikTok channel has had 26 million views. These numbers are like nothing we’d ever seen.
“We’ve had 200,000 new subscribers to our YouTube channel in the last six days, so there is something about Baby Reindeer that has captivated the world.”
Even after the interview with Harvey, Morgan said he was left with a lot of questions about the series and the experiences of Harvey and Gadd.
Baby Reindeer offers a sympathetic portrayal of the stalker and the stalked, highlighting Martha Harvey's desperate struggle with mental illness, Photo / Netflix
He also questioned whether there is any proof Harvey was convicted or jailed.
“Anyone who has watched the Netflix series and watched the interview will know the big question is: was this woman who was easily identified as Fiona Harvey, did Fiona Harvey ever actually go to prison? Did she admit to the crime? Was she ever convicted of being a stalker?” he wondered.
“And, at the moment, we are three four weeks into this series being aired on Netflix. No journalist in the world has managed to find out if there’s any conviction whatsoever.
“If that’s the case, Netflix’s claim at the start of every episode this is a true story is not true and she’ll be suing.”
Harvey told Morgan she is exploring her options over suing Netflix and Gadd.
