Baby Reindeer star and creator Richard Gadd won’t entertain the speculation about the real-life Martha Scott.
Fans of the hit Netflix show, inspired by Gadd’s own life, have been trying to identify the inspiration for Jessica Gunning’s stalker character since the show premiered in April — despite Gadd asking them not to.
Now the Scottish comedian says he won’t comment on the subject “ever again.”
“I don’t agree with the sleuth thing,” Gadd said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Monday, May 13. “I’ve put out a statement publicly saying I want the show to be received as a piece of art, and I want the show to people to enjoy as a piece of art. I’m called Donny Dunn. It exists in a sort of fictional realm, even though it’s based on truth, it exists in a fictional realm, let’s enjoy the world that I’ve created.”
“If I wanted the real-life people to be found, I would’ve made it a documentary,” the actor continued. “I’ve spoken publicly about how I don’t want people to do it and if I start playing a game of whack-a-mole, then I’m almost adding to it. I don’t think I’ll ever comment on it ever again.”
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Gadd first asked viewers not to speculate about the real-life people who inspired Martha and predatorial TV producer Darrien O’Connor (played by Tom Goodman-Hill) in an Instagram Story on April 22, per Today.com.
“People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation. Please don’t speculate on who any of the real life people could be. That’s not the point of our show,” he wrote.
Richard Gadd as Donny and Jessica Gunning as Martha in “Baby Reindeer” Ed Miller/Netflix
As the show continues to gain popularity, Piers Morgan interviewed the woman who is alleged to be the inspiration for Martha, Fiona Harvey, on his YouTube talk show Piers Morgan Uncensored on Thursday, May 9.
In the interview, Harvey deemed Baby Reindeer a “work of fiction, a work of hyperbole,” and said she was considering legal action against Netflix and Gadd.
Harvey said that she has been subjected to abuse and death threats since the show’s release.
“I find it quite obscene. I find it horrifying, misogynistic. Some of the death threats have been really terrible online. People phoning me up. You know, it’s been absolutely horrendous,” she said.
Appearing before a UK Parliament hearing on Wednesday, May 8, Benjamin King, Netflix’s head of policy in the UK, maintained that the streamer took “every reasonable precaution” to disguise “the real-life identities of the people involved in that story,” reported Deadline.
