Fiona Harvey, the inspiration for Martha, can proceed with defamation lawsuit after judge agrees the show suggested she was convicted for stalking creator Richard Gadd

A US judge has ruled that the woman accused of stalking Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd can pursue her defamation lawsuit against Netflix, noting that the show was wrongly billed as a “true story” when Netflix “made no effort” to fact check Gadd’s story or disguise Harvey as the inspiration for Martha.

Fiona Harvey, the woman whom the show’s character Martha is based on, has alleged the show falsely implied that she sexually assaulted Gadd and gouged his eyes, and that she had been sent to prison for stalking him. After viewers managed to identify her as the inspiration for Martha – against Gadd’s wishes – Harvey filed a US$170m lawsuit, arguing that the show had defamed her by depicting Martha as a convicted stalker as she had not been convicted of a crime.