Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning insists she was not doing an impression of the ‘real Martha’ and knew nothing about the Scottish stalker despite her convincing depiction
Her portrayal of stalker Martha in the Netflix hit Baby Reindeer has been praised for its chilling resemblance to the person it is supposedly based on.
But Jessica Gunning has insisted she knew nothing about the ‘real Martha’, Fiona Harvey, despite her convincing portrayal of the Scottish lawyer – right down to the intonations of her accent.
Ms Gunning, 38, said: ‘I definitely saw Martha as a character, I wasn’t doing an impersonation of a real person. She was very clear to me in the script, but I really didn’t know anything about the real person.
“And I didn’t feel like we were reenacting scenes for some documentary, it felt like we were doing interpretations of these characters in this emotionally true world.”
Despite her performance as stalker Martha being widely praised as chillingly similar to the main character, Jessica Gunning insists she has never met the ‘real Martha’ Fiona Harvey.
But the show has come under pressure for not doing enough to protect the identities of the people it was based on. Fans were able to easily track down Ms Harvey, 58, on social media after the show aired.
Ms Gunning said writer and creator Richard Gadd ‘deliberately changed his identity for a reason’. “But of course these days it’s inevitable, especially with a show of this size, that people are intrigued by who the real people are,” she told Radio Times.
Gadd, who stars as himself, claims the series is based on his experience of being relentlessly stalked by a woman while struggling to become a comedian.
Journalist Fiona Harvey was identified as the inspiration behind the character of Richard Gadd
Ms. Harvey was identified as the inspiration for the character, which Gadd has not confirmed, after social media posts she made were used verbatim in the show.
Mrs. Harvey has admitted that she is the real Martha, but vehemently denies that she stalked Gadd, assaulted his girlfriend, vandalized the bar he worked in or harassed his parents, as the series claims.
She has reportedly hired lawyers to sue Gadd, Netflix and production company Clerkenwell Films.