Legal experts have claimed that Netflix hit Baby Reindeer is at “high risk” for lawsuits and that more could have been done to protect the identities of real-life people portrayed in the show.
Lawyers exclusively told MailOnline that streaming giant and show creator Richard Gadd should have changed more key details to prevent ‘armchair detectives’ from trying to hunt down real-life people based on the show’s characters.
The seven-part Netflix series is billed as a “captivating true story” based on Richard Gadd’s experience of being harassed by a stranger he offered a cup of tea to and abused by a high-profile comedy agent some years earlier. .
In the programme, Mr Gadd’s stalker is revealed to be a Scottish woman in her 40s called Martha Scott who lives in Camden, north London, all of which appears to be accurate to the woman accused of being the real stalker.
Rory Lynch, a defamation and privacy lawyer at Gateley Legal, said the fact that identifying details like this are not changed and the apparent use of real text messages sent to Gadd by her stalker could lead to an “identification in puzzles”.
Lynch said the real ‘Martha’ might have grounds to sue for defamation if she could prove that allegations made on the show are false and have caused her ‘serious harm’, such as being harassed online.
Baby Reindeer delves into Richard’s harrowing experience of real-life harassment and brutal sexual abuse as he plays a fictional version of himself named Donny Dunn (pictured).
Gunning plays Martha in Baby Reindeer, the fictional version of Richard Gadd’s real-life stalker.
Richard Gadd, 34, said the show is based on real-life events, including a rape by a television executive. Pictured: Tom Goodman-Hill as Darrien O’Connor in the show.
He told MailOnline: “I think what Gadd has done is quite high risk because he has gone public with the fact that this happened to him, it was traumatic and he has now put it on the big screen.”
‘You could argue that perhaps I should have been a little more careful about changing the facts a little more.
‘Make her different, maybe do it the other way around and make her a man as a stalker instead of a woman. Or, you know, just change it up a bit more, since there’s obviously a lot of similarities.
This could be presented as an argument for the show not protecting his true identity in a defamation case, he said.
Lynch continued, “I would try to make it as different as possible from what actually happened while still conveying the story.”
“He’s not Scottish, not a lawyer, and doesn’t have a bar in London, but maybe he’ll set it up in a library in Manchester or something.”
He added that there could also be a privacy issue regarding the scenes showing Gadd’s stalker.
But he said Gadd’s legal team would probably have been “pretty confident” in legally approving the show, since it is “clearly a drama, not a documentary.”
Baby Reindeer, produced by Clerkenwell Films, which was acquired by BBC Studios in 2021, has become a global phenomenon since broadcast earlier this month.
In the show, Gadd plays a fictional version of himself, a fledgling comedian called Donny Dunn, who is stalked by Martha, a woman he met while working in a pub in Camden.
Over the course of Gadd’s disturbing three-year ordeal, he receives more than 40,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters.
Netflix later confirmed that all of the emails Donny receives on the show are “the real emails” Richard Gadd received from his stalker, all bafflingly ending with “sent from my iPhone” even though Martha doesn’t have one.
Gadd maintains that she changed names and specific details of the story to protect the identities of those involved, even stating that ‘Martha’ ‘wouldn’t even recognize herself’ on the show.
But the 34-year-old has since been criticized for “not doing enough” to protect the identity of his stalker, with viewers claiming they have used information from the show to find her online.
The show tells the story of how, after a chance meeting in a pub, ‘Martha’ became obsessed with Richard (who is called Donny in the series).
Gadd revealed that he first met ‘Martha’ when he was working in a pub and offered her a cup of tea because she was crying.
Now, the police have even been involved after Sean Foley (pictured) was falsely accused of being the abuser.
After reposting Gadd’s insistence that the speculation stop, Foley revealed that he had contacted the police.
The woman accused of being the real ‘Martha’, who MailOnline is not naming, has since claimed she will sue Mr Gadd and Netflix.
After supposedly uncovering the real Martha, Internet sleuths attempted to identify high-profile comedy agent Darrien O’Connor, played by Tom Goodman-Hill, who allegedly raped Mr. Gadd.
The conspiracies have become so damning that the police are now involved after fans began falsely accusing prestigious theater director Sean Foley of being the “real-life” abuser.
Last week, social media trolls began accusing theater director Sean Foley, 59, of being the inspiration behind Richard’s abuser, despite having no evidence.
On 18 April it was announced that Foley would be stepping down as artistic director at Birmingham Repertory Theater in the summer.
Fans were convinced that the timing of his departure with the show’s release could not be a coincidence and soon criticized Foley for his theories, which lack evidence.
They were also struck by the resemblance between Foley and actor Tom Goodman-Hill, and the fact that Gadd and Foley had worked together on an episode of the comedy-drama series Urban Myths in 2018.
Foley directed an episode titled Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett starring Gadd, according to IMDB.
Fans have been working tirelessly to discover the real identities of the characters in Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, particularly the stalker named Martha Scott.
But on Tuesday, Sean revealed on X, formerly Twitter, that he had contacted police who are investigating the posts made against him.
He said: “The police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory, abusive and threatening posts against me.”
West Midlands Police confirmed: “We are investigating after a man reported receiving threatening messages on social media.
“Investigations are at an early stage and we are in the process of gathering information from the victim.”
However, legal experts have warned online sleuths not to try to “expose” the show’s real-life characters.
Alexandra McCready, head of reputation and privacy at Vardags, said people who speculate about serious crimes such as sexual harassment and assault risk being sued.
She told MailOnline: ‘Speculating that someone is guilty of a crime such as stalking or sexual assault, including via social media, can be legally actionable for defamation if there is no evidence to support that allegation and the aim turns out to be completely innocent.
‘If that online speculation turns into threats and abuse directed at the person involved, it can turn into a criminal matter, as recently happened with Sean Foley.
“Internet users, especially those with large social media followings, would do well to steer clear of unproven speculation about who real-life individuals are.”
MailOnline has contacted Richard Gadd and BBC Studios for further comment.
