Your daily adult tube feed all in one place!
Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd basks in the limelight on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon as 'real-life Martha' Fiona Harvey launches £130m defamation lawsuit against Netflix
Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd appeared to enjoy the limelight last night as he appeared on primetime US chat show The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
This comes as 'real-life Martha' Fiona Harvey - who claims she is the inspiration for Netflix's stalking drama - says she is suing the streaming platform for more than £130million.
She has accused Netflix of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, gross negligence, and violations of her right of publicity in the lawsuit filed in a US court.
But despite the possibility of an impending legal battle, Gadd and co-star Jessica Gunning, who plays Martha, were in very good spirits when being quizzed by Fallon, who opened by commending him on being lauded by the Telegraph as one of the top 50 funniest comedians of the 21st Century.
'The revered 23rd spot,' Gadd quipped. 'Funnily enough one ahead of Chris Rock. I hear he's absolutely furious.'
Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd (pictured) appeared to enjoy the limelight last night as he appeared on primetime US chat show The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Fiona Harvey is seeking at least 170 million dollars (£133 million) in a lawsuit filed against Netflix
Fiona Harvey, who says lead character Martha's life (pictured) is based on her own, denies ever going to prison or to court, as the show portrays
He explained how the inspiration for the show came from the 'traumatic stuff' in his life, and him doing the Baby Reindeer show at Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 about how he was 'stalked and harassed'.
'It just took off, it was this crazy thing. Netflix came to me, they said "do you want to make it into a series" and I said "yeah, go on then".'
Gadd told Fallon that the show's success has changed life, saying: 'I remember when the show went out, it was this big deal for me because I was a comedian playing to five people in the back-end of pubs as of a couple of months ago.'
He added: 'It felt like overnight it just exploded. My phone was going off, my doorbell was ringing, everyone just seemed to be discussing it.
'I kept having these points where I thought "this is as big as it gets". I got to number eight in the UK, I thought "that's about it", then it got to number one.
'Then it was number one over here [the US].
'Then it was number one in Qatar and Lebanon and Saudi Arabia and all these places I really want to be big in.
'It's crazy - it's almost had this cross-cultural success that I never expected as it's so singular and it's so idiosyncratic and it's very London and it's such an odd story - and a weird traumatic story, but I guess a lot of people are suffering right now.'
Richard Gadd (left) and Jessica Gunning (centre) on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (right) to talk about Baby Reindeer
Harvey says the show, which features Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning (pictured), makes false claims about her
Richard Gadd, who wrote and starred in the miniseries, pictured in north London
Harvey claimed to be the inspiration behind the character of Martha Scott, who stalks Richard Gadd's character Donny Dunn after he serves her a free cup of tea in the pub where he works.
The show is said to be based on the real-life experiences of comedian and writer Gadd. After the show was aired, he asked viewers not to speculate over the real people who inspired the series.
In the new lawsuit filed this week, Harvey has accused Netflix of spreading 'brutal lies', including that she is a 'twice convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison'.
Speaking to BBC News on Thursday, Ms Harvey said she was certain that Netflix would lose the case and added: 'I have no doubt about that. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing it. We think we are going to win.'
The lawsuit, filed at the Californian federal court, states: 'Defendants told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money.
'As a result of defendants' lies, malfeasance and utterly reckless misconduct, Harvey's life had been ruined.'
The court documents allege Netflix 'did literally nothing' to confirm that the story represented was true, stating that Harvey 'has never been convicted of any crime and has never been to prison.'
The lawsuit seeks actual damages and compensatory damages at 50 million dollars (£39 million) each; punitive damages at 20 million dollars (£16 million); as well as 'all profits' from Baby Reindeer at 50 million dollars (£39 million). This totals £133 million.
Harvey also claims that she is being bombarded with hate from around the world because of how Martha is portrayed in the Netflix hit.
She asserts that she never stalked Gadd, did not sexually assault him, nor was she ever convicted of stalking.
Jessica Gunning as Martha in Netflix drama Baby Reindeer
Richard and Jessica pictured at the photo call in Los Angeles last month
The Scot alleges that Netflix led viewers to believe that fictional elements of the show were factual.
It was previously revealed exclusively in the Mail that the show's writer, Gadd, who plays himself and based the premise on his own experiences, told makers Clerkenwell Films that his stalker was never convicted.
Sources indicate that Gadd told Clerkenwell that the stalker was the subject of an 'exclusion order' – a civil order and not the same as a criminal conviction of stalking.
This means that the show was always a fictionalized dramatization – though it went out under a banner which read 'this is a true story'.
Netflix executive, Benjamin King, recently told a Commons committee that Gadd had suffered at the hands of 'a convicted stalker'.
It's not clear how Clerkenwell Films described the situation to Netflix, or what compliance procedures were undertaken.
Gadd previously said Martha's identity was so well disguised that she would not recognize herself – but internet sleuths swiftly identified Harvey as Martha.
The actress who plays the character, Jessica Gunning, bears a strong resemblance to her.
In a previous interview, Gadd has said that the situation was 'resolved' but did not explain how. He added: 'It's very emotionally true. I was severely stalked and abused.'
In an interview with Piers Morgan, Harvey denied the stalking allegations though admitted she had met Gadd several times in Camden, north London.
Richard Roth, a New York-based lawyer representing Ms Harvey, said on Thursday that he has 'incontrovertible documentary evidence' proving that his client has never been convicted of a crime.
In response to the lawsuit, a statement from Netflix said: 'We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd's right to tell his story.'