Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd cuts a dejected figure during outing with a female pal after being branded a ‘psychopath’ by the ‘real’ Martha – as Netflix faces backlash for its lack of safeguarding while making the series

Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd cut a dejected figure as he turned up with a girlfriend in north London as the controversy surrounding his shock Netflix series continued.

The 35-year-old actor was spotted walking around the local high street after ‘real’ Martha Fiona Harvey branded him a ‘psychopath’ in a bombshell interview with Piers Morgan after he was portrayed as Richard’s stalker on the show.

The explosive interview has caused a stir as viewers branded the TV chat ‘highly irresponsible’ and suggested Fiona Harvey was ‘exploited for sensationalism and bad taste’.

Richard looked pensive as he drove into the capital with a friend after hitting the BAFTA red carpet with his co-star Jessica Gunning on Sunday.

A month after Baby Reindeer aired, Fiona confirmed during her interview with Piers that the hit series is based on her, but denied ever stalking Richard, sexually assaulting him or assaulting his girlfriend.

Fiona Harvey had not previously been identified in reports surrounding the Netflix series before her interview with Piers.

During the interview, she confirmed that she is the woman on whom Baby Reindeer’s character Martha is based, but denied ever stalking Richard, sexually assaulting him or assaulting his girlfriend.

She also denies that she has ever been arrested by police or served time in jail.

The show claims the comedian’s female stalker waged a ruthless campaign that started after he served her in a London pub while she worked as a bartender.

In the Netflix hit, Donny Dunn (Richard) offers Martha a cup of tea on the house during their first meeting, which Fiona says never happened.

The show claims that during the stalking campaign, Gadd was bombarded with 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voice messages, 744 tweets, 48 ​​Facebook messages and 106 letters.

Fiona told Morgan this was ‘simply not true’, adding that she sent ‘less than ten’ emails to Gadd and ‘one letter’.

During the interview, Ms. Harvey referenced a scene in the show in which character Martha admits to intimidating Gadd’s character and receives a nine-month prison sentence.

“That is completely untrue, very, very defamatory of me, very damaging to my career,” she said.

“I wanted to completely disprove that on this show – I’m not a stalker, I haven’t been to jail, I haven’t had any warrants – it’s complete nonsense.”

Many viewers said they were ‘disturbed’ by the interview and called it a ‘painful’ watch.

But Piers has said he believed his show had met his ‘duty of care’ by keeping in touch with her since the interview, when he revealed Fiona ‘wants an agent’.

He told Lorraine that he had seen “no sign of anyone who I thought was mentally unwell,” but added that he does believe she has “an obsessive streak” and that she “lied a lot in the interview ‘.

He also criticized the show’s attempts to anonymize Fiona, saying it was “disingenuous” of Gadd to ask fans not to seek out the real person behind the character.

“I think that’s pretty unfair because they used parts of the exact messages she sent so that any internet sleuth could put that in there and find it on her phone.

“I think they have failed in their duty of care to Fiona Harvey, and especially Netflix,” he said.

In response to criticism of the interview, he said: ‘I felt it was important that she was allowed to have her say, as she had already been revealed by the media as the real Martha, but she was unable to tell her story.’

Viewers previously took to social media to accuse Morgan of ‘exploiting’ Mrs Harvey.

One user said: ‘Fiona Harvey’s fixed beliefs and delusions are clear signs of serious mental health issues for anyone working in this field. “It’s clear she’s being exploited for financial gain.”

Another wrote: ‘It was highly irresponsible to put Fiona Harvey on TV!’

Since Baby Reindeer’s release, Fiona has regularly posted on social media to protest her innocence.

Other alleged stalking victims have since come forward to share their own experiences with Fiona.

Richard himself previously asked people to stop speculating about the real identities of the characters on his show.

“I can’t confirm or deny anything regarding the real people the characters in the show are based on,” he said when asked about people claiming to be the stalker.