Unraveling The Baby Reindeer Legal Issues

Netflix’s hit series ‘Baby Reindeer’ has run into legal trouble with the lawyer who claims she has been mischaracterized in the series about a lawyer-stalker of a struggling comedian, based largely on fact.

And another character, allegedly a senior London theatre personality, groomed and raped the central character also, which has lead to police interest in his identify.

The woman, who prefers to remain unidentified, told the Daily Mail that the character of Martha in the series, is intended to be based on herself when she had befriended the central character, Richard Gadd and whose character is stalked relentlessly.

The series, written and directed by Gadd, has been viewed more than 13 million times in the past fortnight and hit number one on the Netflix charts in over 30 countries.

The pet Baby Reindeer nam is given to Donny, the character played by Gadd, by his deranged stalker Martha.

The woman, 58, expressed distress over the attention garnered by the Netflix series and contemplating legal recourse against Gadd and others.

“I’m the victim. He’s written a bloody show about me.”

Gadd’s claims that he has protected her identity by changing key details but the problem for him is that several details are identical – both women are Scottish, both studied law at university, both are around 20 years older than Gadd and both use highly sexualised language in their speech and writing.

She criticized Gadd’s portrayal of her in the series, labeling it as a narrative of “bullying an older woman on television for fame and fortune.”

Furthermore, she claimed to have faced online harassment from supporters of Richard Gadd, including death threats.

Baby Reindeer Legal Issues

The series covers the barrage of communications Gadd received from Martha during the period of her alleged stalking, including numerous emails, tweets, and voicemail messages.

Since the show’s debut on Netflix, viewers have been attempting to identify the real-life Martha, a Scottish lawyer.

While Gadd has acknowledged fictionalizing aspects of “Baby Reindeer,” he maintains that the emotional core of the story remains true. In response, the woman refuted accusations of stalking, attributing Gadd’s actions to a perceived “main character syndrome.”

While he acknowledged that the show might provoke his stalker, he said it was a risk worth taking, ‘a last roll of the dice’ to shine a spotlight on stalking. He also insisted that it was about highlighting that harassers needed more care than punishment. ‘She needs help,’ he said at the time, ‘but she’s not getting any. So her instability would come down the phone at me every day.’

In an interview to publicise the new Netflix series, Gadd said that the stalking issue had been resolved, but the woman being identified as ‘Martha’ said Gadd had developed ‘main character syndrome’.

‘He always thinks he’s at the centre of things. I’m not writing shows about him or promoting them in the media, am I? If he wanted me to be properly anonymous, he could have done so. Gadd should leave me alone.’

Meanwhile, the male rapist claim has also lead to legal issues. Sean Foley, an award-winning director, said on X that police officers were investigating ‘all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me’.