‘Baby Reindeer’ Martha actor: “I wasn’t doing an impersonation of a real person”

Jessica Gunning, the actor who portrayed Martha in Baby Reindeer, has said that she was “not doing an impersonation of a real person” in the show.

The Netflix series, which has been a major hit, claims to tell the “true story” of struggling comedian Donny Dunn (played by the show’s writer/creator Richard Gadd, upon whose experiences the events are based), who is stalked maliciously by a woman named Martha.

Fiona Harvey is widely believed to be the woman upon whom the Martha character was based, and she appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored earlier this month (May 9), her first television interview since the show aired.

In the interview, which has been viewed over 10 million times, Harvey denied many aspects of the show’s narrative, saying that she did not stalk Gadd, attack his girlfriend, destroy the bar he worked in or contact his parents. She also strongly denied being convicted of any charges, which is the fate that befalls Martha in the show.

But Gunning has said that she is not engaging with the real-world controversy surrounding the show. In an interview with Radio Times, she has said she feels “fiercely protective” of Gadd, adding: “I think he was incredibly brave to bare all. He really did put everything into that show, warts and all, errors, mistakes that were made.”

When asked whether she finds it problematic to be depicting a character that the show claims to be real, she replied: “I wouldn’t use the word problematic, I would say, maybe, sensitive. I absolutely 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 genuinely didn’t know anything about the real person.”

“But Richard is playing a character as well. When I was acting with him, I felt like he was a character. I didn’t feel like we were re-enacting scenes for some documentary, it felt like we were doing interpretations of these characters in this emotionally true world.”

Gunning also explained that she believes Gadd is “a survivor of sexual assault”, adding that “any search for real people almost undermines that slightly”.

“He said in the past that he didn’t want any internet sleuths to go out and try and find the identities of these real people,” she continued. “He deliberately changed identities for a reason. But of course, in this day and age, it’s inevitable, especially with a show this big, that people are intrigued by who the real people are.”

Harvey has now confirmed that she is planning a legal case “against all those who have lied about me”.

In a lengthy statement, Harvey wrote: “Earlier in 2024, Netflix released a programme called Baby Reindeer, which they billed and marketed as a ‘true story’. One of the two main characters, ‘Martha’, was clearly intended to be based on me.

“A senior Netflix executive gave evidence to parliament on oath that Baby Reindeer was ‘obviously a true story’ of Richard Gadd’s dealings with a ‘convicted stalker’. No doubt Richard Gadd, Clerkenwell Films (who produced the programme) and Netflix have made millions of pounds from this programme, in large part by making so many claims that Baby Reindeer is a true story.”

She continued: “I have no doubt that the character of ‘Martha’ in Baby Reindeer was intended to be a portrayal of me. The problem for Richard Gadd and now for Netflix is that Baby Reindeer is not a true story at all. I am not a ‘convicted stalker.’ I have never been charged with any crime, let alone been convicted, still less pleaded guilty and of course I have never been to prison for anything. This is how Gadd and Netflix chose to portray me in a TV show, for their own financial gain.”

Gadd had previously urged people to stop trying to work out the real-life identity of Martha in the show. He added: ”Please don’t speculate on who any of the real life people could be. That’s not the point of the show.”

Gadd previously told GQ: “We’ve gone to such great lengths to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognise herself.”

He also told the Independent: “I can’t emphasise enough how much of a victim she is in all this… Stalking and harassment is a form of mental illness. It would have been wrong to paint her as a monster, because she’s unwell, and the system’s failed her.”

The post ‘Baby Reindeer’ Martha actor: “I wasn’t doing an impersonation of a real person” appeared first on NME.