Lawyer warns Baby Reindeer viewers against finding the real Martha Scott

Baby Reindeer writer-actor Richard Gadd and lawyers have urged people to stop trying to track down the real Martha Scott.

The Netflix show has become one of the most-watched on the platform. It follows Gadd's real-life experience of having a stalker after giving Martha a free cup of tea at his workplace at as he "felt sorry for her."

It all went downhill from there, with 41,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemail messages, 106 pages of letters and social media posts.

Now, people on the internet are trying to lift the lid on the real Martha Scott, with several TikTokers theorising the show is a social experiment in which viewers have turned into stalkers themselves.

The hunt prompted Gadd to issue a statement on Instagram to encourage people to stop the search.

He said: "Hi everyone. 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."

Lawyers have also warned people against their Martha Scott searches, with Mark Woloshak, Head of Litigation at Howells Solicitors, telling Ladbible: "Seeking out and potentially naming individuals involved in a case, especially if they turn out to be the wrong person, carries significant legal and ethical implications. In the case of Baby Reindeer, where real-life events are portrayed, it is important to recognise the delicate balance the programme makers are treading between storytelling and real-world consequences.

"The portrayal of characters in a fictionalised drama should not result in people seeking to ascertain who the individuals portrayed in that drama are based upon. The frenzy surrounding the attempt to uncover the real identities of individuals depicted in Baby Reindeer would not only cause unwarranted harm to anyone wrongly identified but could also undermine the privacy and safety of individuals who may have no connection to the events portrayed."

It comes after one woman claimed to be the real Martha. Fiona Harvey told the Scottish Sun she has a claim against Netflix "as this is being billed as part of a true story."

"I'm a highly competent lawyer. I'd have to do it myself. I'm very good. I have a photographic memory and can memorise huge files. I was top in my school at everything," she said.

Harvey was also offended by the depiction of 'her' in the show.

"I am very attractive. He's not Brad Pitt," Harvey said. "There's a fat actress that's supposed to be me. He's come up with this character called Martha and he has put me right in the frame. This is a programme for the 20-somethings. The people with no lives, no jobs, whatever. I don't want to be a celebrity."

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