Baby Reindeer: Where is “Martha Scott” now?
NetflixBaby Reindeer, the new hit Netflix thriller, is based on the true story of Richard Gadd’s harrowing stalking ordeal — so, where is “Martha Scott” now?
Netflix series Baby Reindeer follows Donny (Richard Gadd, playing an autobiographical version of himself, who also wrote and directed the show), a struggling comedian and bartender who unwittingly makes a massive mistake: he offers a crying woman a free cup of tea.
Her name is Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning), and she becomes a nightmare from which he can’t wake up. He’s accosted in the pub and on the street, bombarded with emails and phone calls, and even physically attacked, forcing him to go to the police.
As the show is based on Gadd’s real experience with a stalker, many will be curious to know what happened to Martha Scott in real life — well, it’s not quite that simple. Here’s what you should know.
What happened to “Martha” from Baby Reindeer?
Baby Reindeer’s Martha Scott is a fictional character created to represent Gadd’s stalker. Gadd didn’t originally disclose any details — name, age, or whereabouts — about his real-life stalker.
NetflixIn the final episode, Martha sends Donny a particularly threatening voicemail. She’s arrested the next day and sentenced to nine months behind bars for harassing both Donny and his parents.
Speaking to The Times about the series, Gadd said the situation with his stalker had been “resolved” — but he didn’t add any further comment. “I had mixed feelings about it — I didn’t want to throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell in prison,” he said.
“It’s pretty truthful. Any time it veered too much into embellishment I would always want to pull it back. It’s extremely emotionally truthful. Of course, this is a medium where structure is so important, you need to change things to protect people… but I like to think, artistically, that it never moved too far from the truth,” he also told GQ.
Gadd was also asked how he thinks his stalker would react if she watched it. “I honestly couldn’t speak as to whether she would watch it. Her reactions to things varied so much that I almost couldn’t predict how she’d react to anything. She was quite an idiosyncratic person. We’ve gone to such great lengths to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognize herself. What’s been borrowed is an emotional truth, not a fact-by-fact profile of someone,” he said.
How does Fiona Harvey fit into Baby Reindeer?
Fiona Harvey has been repeatedly accused of being the real-life inspiration for Martha in Baby Reindeer after being outed through social media posts, though she has denied the allegations.
It’s important to note that all of the on-screen emails that punctuate Baby Reindeer’s story are all real, right down to the constant typos. This is what led fans to match dialogue up to posts by Fiona Harvey, a 58-year-old woman from Scotland.
Later appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored in order to “set the record straight,” Harvey denied multiple plot points raised in Baby Reindeer, claiming that the show is “a work of fiction and hyperbole.”
“I’m not a stalker, I’ve not been to jail, I’ve not got injunctions… it’s complete nonsense,” she maintained. Harvey also claims not to have sent Gadd the 41,000 emails that he claims to have received, or ever communicated with him over text or WhatsApp.
“Going to prison’s in vogue,” Harvey added. “I think they’re [Gadd and Gunning] milking it for all it’s worth for the money. They’re clearly very happy with themselves.”
As the interview wrapped up, Morgan asked Harvey what her message for Gadd was, should he have been watching. “Leave me alone, get a life, get a proper job — I’m horrified at what you’ve done,” she says.
As confirmed at the end of the interview, she plans to sue both Netflix and Gadd for defamation, though details of any lawsuit have yet to be revealed.
Baby Reindeer is streaming on Netflix now. You can also read our guide to every article about Fiona Muir, the hoax surrounding Fiona’s fake nephew, and a breakdown of Baby Reindeer’s ending.
You can also find out what other shows are coming to streaming in April, and true crime documentaries you should add to your watch list.