'She's not in a good way': Friends of the real-life Baby Reindeer stalker tell BETH HALE of the tragic events since Netflix propelled 'Martha' into the spotlight - and her £128m legal battle

Wearing an look of faint disbelief, comedian Richard Gadd stood earlier an applauding assemblage proudly holding aloft 3 Emmy awards.

The triumphant hat-trick was, of course, for writing, producing and starring successful the Netflix mega-hit Baby Reindeer.

This 'true story', arsenic it is teased successful the opening credits, documented the acheronian acquisition of a struggling comedian (modelled connected and played by Gadd), who is stalked by an older woman, a quality named successful the amusement arsenic Martha.

The histrion playing Martha, Jessica Gunning, besides took to the signifier astatine LA's Peacock Theatre past Sunday, taking an Emmy of her ain for champion supporting histrion successful a constricted series.

It was the jubilant culmination of what has been an astonishing tally of occurrence for the bid that launched successful April.

The seven-part amusement has chalked up immoderate 88 cardinal views globally, making it 1 of the streamer's astir palmy hits. And 'struggling comedian' is nary longer a word that applies to Gadd, whose institution profits quadrupled successful 2023 to a steadfast £836,000 and who has, we learnt this week, struck a caller multi-year woody with Netflix for aboriginal projects.

As Gadd, 35, said connected signifier this week: 'This is the worldly of dreams'.

No notation of the ongoing off-stage play that has become, if not a nightmare, past astatine the precise slightest a terrible headache for some Netflix and the Scottish writer.

At the centre of that is Fiona Harvey, the 58-year-old Aberdeen instrumentality postgraduate said to beryllium the 'real life' inspiration for Martha.

In June, Ms Harvey launched a no-holds-barred ineligible battle connected Netflix, demanding an eye-watering $170 cardinal (£128 million), claiming she had been defamed 'at a magnitude and standard without precedent'. She is besides suing for, among different things, intentional infliction of affectional distress, negligence and gross negligence.

While Netflix is warring to person the lawsuit thrown retired earlier it goes to proceedings successful May adjacent year, according to recently lodged tribunal papers Ms Harvey's ain relationship of her beingness present is surely miserable.

'I americium acrophobic to spell extracurricular retired of fearfulness of being attacked. Some weeks I bash not permission my apartment,' she says. 'I americium suffering from, among different things, changeless panic attacks, thorax pains, anxiety, nightmares, depression, nervousness, tummy pains, nonaccomplishment of appetite, fearfulness and insomnia.'

Her lawyer, Richard Roth, summed up the concern similar this: 'The disparate attraction and satellite successful which they unrecorded is evident and apparent. Richard Gadd is present a aggregate Emmy award-winning star, solely arsenic a effect of Netflix's fictitious 'true story', portion she continues to suffer.'

So thinly disguised was her quality that, the Mail tin reveal, adjacent Ms Harvey's hairdresser identified her aft watching the archetypal episode. In a statement, lodged arsenic portion of her claim, Jon Hala, who runs his ain salon successful Canary Wharf, gives an relationship of watching Baby Reindeer with his woman and realising the pistillate connected surface was his client.

That decision was evident for galore reasons, helium explained. Fiona, similar Martha successful the series, is simply a beardown and spicy Scottish pistillate who utilized to unrecorded successful Camden.

Mr Hala said: 'Martha looks similar her. Martha sounds similar her. Martha dresses similar her. Martha is an attorney, similar Fiona Harvey. Martha is precise bright, and astatine times, highly comic and endearing, similar Fiona Harvey. Martha, besides similar Fiona Harvey, is simply a highly stressful idiosyncratic who does person affectional issues...' 

When contacted by the Mail this week, the stylist who's been cutting and colouring her hairsbreadth for 7 years, said: 'The past clip I saw her was astir apt astir 8 weeks ago. She's not successful a bully mode due to the fact that of what's going on. The occupation is, it's hard for her to measurement retired of the door.

'When she was past here, it was decidedly trauma [she was suffering]. It's a precise engaged salon and we person a VIP country country and we enactment her successful there, distant from everybody. We bash it for her bid of mind. She speaks well, she's precise gentle and she's kind.' 

His job, helium says, is to marque his lawsuit 'come retired feeling a cardinal dollars'. 'She drinks millions of cups of beverage and we don't speech ineligible stuff,' helium adds. 'She would not archer anybody what's going connected successful presumption of wealth oregon immoderate is going connected with Netflix. She pays astir £350 each in.'

A fragment of (expensive) normality successful a beingness that has intelligibly been thrown into disarray.

Where the bound betwixt play and world lies successful this saga is, arsenic observers volition beryllium good aware, the taxable of fierce debate.

Gadd maintained that portion chronology and immoderate events had been 'tweaked somewhat to make melodramatic climaxes', the play remained, 'very emotionally true, obviously: I was severely stalked and severely abused [the amusement besides featured Donny's maltreatment astatine the hands of an established drama writer]. But we wanted it to beryllium successful the sphere of art, arsenic good arsenic support the radical it's based on.'

Somewhat inevitably, a real-world frenzy to found who the real-life Martha was ensued and it didn't instrumentality agelong for net sleuths to alight connected who she was. On immoderate cardinal details, however, information and fabrication diverged. While the fictional Martha is simply a twice-convicted stalker, who is sent to situation astatine the extremity of the series, Ms Harvey insists she has nary stalking convictions, inactive little served time.

When promoting the Baby Reindeer signifier amusement successful 2019, Gadd said that implicit a play of 4 and a fractional years, the existent 'Martha' sent him 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters.

Ms Harvey, speaking to Piers Morgan connected his YouTube amusement Uncensored, successful May, denied this. Gadd's ain connection submitted to the courts successful California, seen by the Mail, states: 'While the bid is based connected my beingness and real-life events... it is not a beat-by-beat recounting of the events and emotions I experienced arsenic they transpired. It is fictionalised and is not intended to represent existent facts.'

The connection does, however, past spell connected to papers a agelong database of 'real-life experiences' with Ms Harvey, who helium engaged successful speech backmost successful 2014, offering her a cupful of beverage successful the pub wherever helium worked due to the fact that helium noticed she 'looked distressed'.

Evidence successful the signifier of transcripts, emails and truthful connected person been submitted to the tribunal arsenic exhibits. They marque for uncomfortable, sometimes shocking reading.

Gadd's connection says she 'frequently made idiosyncratic attacks and threatened maine successful her emails'.

Gadd describes his fearfulness escalating to the constituent helium changed his regular daily to debar her.

This newspaper's ain inquiries person failed to crook up immoderate grounds of a stalking condemnation but Ms Harvey is, however, said to person received a First Instance Harassment Warning, from the Met Police successful narration to Gadd.

Solicitor and erstwhile Scottish MP's woman Laura Wray has besides fixed an relationship of seeking an 'interdict' – a restraining bid – against Ms Harvey, backmost successful 2002, aft being 'harassed'.

Backstage aft the Emmys, Gadd, who has been unfastened astir his ain battles with intelligence wellness issues, was reluctant to beryllium drawn connected events distant from the cameras.

'It's easier successful this time and property to absorption connected the negatives,' helium said tersely. 'What you person to look astatine is what Baby Reindeer has done globally… It's touched the lives of truthful galore people.'

Painful words for Fiona Harvey.

One wonders whether Richard Gadd's aboriginal Netflix projects volition gully rather truthful intimately from his ain idiosyncratic experience.