Interview with the ‘real Martha’ from ‘Baby Reindeer’ was a difficult watch, but should it have gone ahead at all?

The Netflix series, which depicts a three-year stalking ordeal, is billed as a true story

From the moment the announcement came, it was apparent Piers Morgan’s exclusive interview with the “real Martha” from Baby Reindeer was going to be a major box-office draw.

An X-Factor-style teaser only served to stoke the hype, as did a highly dramatic countdown at the interview’s outset. Indeed, Morgan posted on X that, a good two hours before the interview ran on Piers Morgan Uncensored, his YouTube channel, at 8pm on Thursday, over 6,000 people were patiently waiting for the interview with Fiona Harvey to drop. At last count, the video had been viewed more than three million times.

In Baby Reindeer, comedian Richard Gadd portrays a fictionalised version of himself, named Donny Dunn.

The Netflix show is billed as a true story – and depicts a harrowing three-year stalking ordeal, with the character of Martha bombarding him with more than 40,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters.

Gadd has made it clear he does not want fans of the show to speculate on who the characters are based – writing on Instagram: “People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly caught up in speculation. Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show. Lots of love, Richard x X.”

Despite mental health campaigners deeming Morgan as “irresponsible” for giving a platform to the supposedly vulnerable woman, any concern for either Harvey or Gadd was lost among an online cacophony. “She deserves her right to reply,” wrote one X user.

And have her right to reply, Harvey very much did.

With Morgan appearing to press Harvey on a number of points, the hour-long interview made for supremely uncomfortable and stressful, if compelling viewing.

Asked at the interview’s outset why she decided to go public, Harvey said: “The internet sleuths tracked me down and hounded me and gave me death threats. So it wasn’t really a choice. I was forced into this situation.”

Later, Harvey said she has also stopped using Facebook. “I’m afraid to google ‘BBC breaking news’ in case I’m on it,” she said.

A little later on, Harvey said she had got wind of Baby Reindeer when Gadd had produced it years ago as a theatre show.

“I’ve only met this guy two or three times. I don’t know him,” she said.

Later, Harvey acknowledged she met him “five or six times”.

Morgan showed Harvey a pundit commenting on the show: “I feel he has done this on purpose [made Martha recognisable to others] because he knew that people would find her and he wants to make her life hell a bit.”

On that, Harvey was in agreement. “I think he always wanted this to come out. Persecute someone and take the attention away from him… I generally think he’s got extreme psychiatric problems,” she said.

Harvey also noted that the relationship between Donny and Martha was far removed from hers with Gadd in more ways than one.

In the series, Donny initially offers Martha a free cup of tea, and the act of kindness appears to spark her ardour.

Gadd and Harvey met in the Hawley Arms in London, but the similarities in that scene end there, Harvey said

“He didn’t give me a cup of tea,” she said.

“He interrupted a conversation and said, ‘You’re Scottish’ and commandeered the conversation when I was talking to someone else. He seemed to be obsessed with me from that time onwards.”

Later in the interview, Harvey alleged: “I gave him the brush off. He asked me to sleep with him, and he had a big green spot on his face, and I said no. I said, ‘Do you want me to come home with you?’ and I said I’ve got a boyfriend.”

“Did you fancy him?” Morgan asked.

“I didn’t fancy him. I don’t fancy little boys without jobs,” she replied.

During the interview, Morgan was keen to ascertain whether Harvey had, like Martha, sent Gadd 40,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters.

Harvey has disputed this strongly, admitting she wrote one letter to Gadd. “How long would it take someone to type up?” Harvey asked rhetorically, referring to the accusation that 40,000 emails were sent to Gadd by ‘Martha’.

“There may have been a couple of emails exchanged, but that was it – just jokey banter emails,” Harvey said.

Later, she concluded that the number was “less than 10”.

Harvey admitted that she had tweeted Gadd “years and years ago”. “It wasn’t numerous times – about 18 tweets.”

“That’s a lot for someone who’s not that well-known,” Morgan replied.

“But we were all friends. You know, it was banter,” Harvey said.

Asked about the idea that she logged many hours’ worth of voicemails to Gadd, Harvey disputed this too.

“I mean, somebody could have been taping me in the Hawley Arms with a dictaphone,” she said.

“I didn’t have his number.” Intriguingly, Morgan asked if Harvey would, in theory, take a lie detector test. “Yeah, possibly. I’d need to consult other lawyers,” she said.

Morgan also asked, in the event that she provided a handwriting sample, it could be established once and for all whether Gadd had received over 100 letters from her.

“I mean, people forge a lot of things,” Harvey said.

“People will be asking watching this, either she’s genuinely innocent here or she is a terrible liar, who is capable of all of these things,” Morgan said.

“I don’t lie,” Harvey said empathically. “I tell white lies if I absolutely have to.”

Morgan then allowed Harvey to make a direct address to Gadd, whom she says she is now taking legal action against. “Leave me alone please,” Harvey said.

“Get a life. Get a proper job. I am horrified at what you’ve done.”

While the interview has succeeded in causing a huge reaction in the media and online, it’s done nothing to “set the record straight” and has left many with more questions about Gadd’s story.

Netflix’s duty of care is to protect identities and Fiona Harvey’s credibility. But should the Piers Morgan interview have been allowed to go ahead at all?

“The internet sleuths tracked me down and hounded me ... I was forced into this situation”