Netflix says ‘Baby Reindeer’ clearly involves drama

A still from ‘Baby Reindeer’. | Photo credit: Netflix

“Baby Reindeer” is clearly dramatized, Netflix said Tuesday, in response to concerns about its compliance standards sparked by online speculation about the real-life people behind the characters in its hit mini-series.

“It’s a True Story” screened after the show opened, the chilling tale of a bartender trapped by a customer, written and starring comedian Richard Gadd.

Netflix was sued in June for at least $170 million by a Scottish woman who said the global hit, which won best limited series at the Emmys, defamed her for portraying her as a stalker.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Tuesday that the show is Gad’s true story, even though the material was clearly dramatic.

“I’m very proud of Richard and the story he told and the way he told it and it’s true,” he said at the Royal Television Society London convention.

Baby reindeer Unlike other shows in the same genre, it raises questions about the ethics of showing real people, without claiming to be based on a true story.

“It’s not a documentary, and there are elements of the story that are dramatized, we’re seeing it performed by actors on television, we think it’s abundantly clear that there’s dramatization involved,” Sarandos added.

Fiona Harvey has publicly claimed to be the inspiration behind the show’s Martha, played by actress Jessica Gunning, who shares a physical resemblance to Harvey, who likens the character to a London lawyer.

In a complaint filed in Los Angeles, Harvey says Netflix and the Gad show went too far by suggesting he’s a twice-convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison.

Harvey denies arresting Gadd, who plays a fictionalized version of himself on the show as Donnie Dunn, or being convicted or imprisoned. But she said many people can’t tell the difference, and thousands of Reddit and TikTok users refer to her as the “real” Martha.

Also read:The woman who says she’s suing Netflix for defamation of the original Martha from ‘Baby Reindeer’

Netflix responded to the lawsuit by saying it “vigorously” intends to defend the matter. Sarandos said on Tuesday that the series’ controversy was “quite unique” to Britain, that it “doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world”.

He also announced a new multi-year scripted series deal with Gad and said Baby reindeer It will be one of Netflix’s top four global shows — all produced in Britain — when the company releases its audience engagement report later this week.