(Credits: Netflix)

Baby Reindeer has been one of the biggest TV stories of 2024. Adapted from comedian Richard Gadd’s one-man show of the same name, it stars him as a fictional comic, Donny, whose life takes a dark turn after Martha Scott – played by Jessica Gunning – develops an unhealthy obsession with him.

Things did not unfold like they usually would for the show. As the first episode opens with the message, “This is a true story”, and then Gadd’s character is sexually assaulted by Martha, who ends up in prison, internet sleuths sought out the real person behind the malevolent character. This was despite Gadd maintaining that he went to immense lengths to keep the identity of the real stalker under wraps.

However, internet sleuths are a dedicated bunch, and eventually, due to a tweet, they claimed the real woman, Fiona Harvey, was the stalker. This kicked off a whirlwind, which even saw Harvey interviewed by Piers Morgan where she vehemently denied the claims.

In June, Harvey sued Netflix for negligence and defamation, calling it “the biggest lie in television history” and claiming it was falsely advertised as a true story. At the end of September, a judge greenlit the defamation suit, ruling that Netflix incorrectly labelled the series a true story, meaning Harvey could further pursue the suit.

This came after Netflix filed a motion in July to dismiss Harvey’s complaint on the grounds that Gadd’s creation is a form of protected speech, and that “no reasonable viewer could understand ‘Baby Reindeer’ as making statements of fact about Harvey,” alongside other things. Netflix also vowed to defend Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.

The court granted the streamer’s request to scrap the claim of negligence and plea for punitive damages but upheld the defamation claim, which is said was “both legally sufficient and supported by evidence.”

Netflix appealed the ruling and asserts that Harvey’s suit should be fully thrown out.

What is interesting, though, is that in June, Netflix settled a lawsuit filed by the former New York prosecutor Linda Fairstein, who claimed she was unfairly depicted in Ava DuVernay’s miniseries, When They See Us. As part of the settlement, Netflix agreed to move a disclaimer similar to the one at the centre of the Baby Reindeer case from the end credits to the opening.

Given just how high-profile the debate around the show and Harvey’s lawsuit has been, this could well be the start of a large-scale change on the part of studios in how they depict things that are allegedly true to life, leaving no room for legal issues. It also brings into question the scope of the meaning of a “true story” on the screen.