To think that everything Fiona Harvey said in her Piers Morgan interview was a lie? [Edit by MNHQ]

[Eshmee]

Having watched her interview this evening, everything about her screamed 'liar'. Her language, her demeanor, her body language. I just wonder what other think?

I think she's not a mentally robust person and the PM interview is unkind and uncomfortable. I think the series itself was really well written, acted and fascinating, and not really unsympathetic to the Martha character. Writers often take inspiration from their own experiences so there is nothing wrong with that. I think it's likely he embellished several things to make the series, artistic licence. The issue is that Netflix say it is strongly based on true experiences. If they had only said "inspired by", she may have gone under the radar, which would have been so much better.

I think that even if they had said "based on real events" it would still have been incredibly irresponsible. You can not make a television programme that accuses someone in real life of crimes they did not commit.

He could have just said it was a work of fiction, but they knew that the hook was "the real life unhinged female". They did this deliberately. Knowing that the public would speculate and knowing it could cause devastation to anyone caught up in it.

I think it’s all wrong.

If it’s true, then she needs help.
If it’s true, then there’s a rapist out there who's hardly being mentioned.
If it’s true then, rather than profiting from her mental illness, he could be campaigning for other things (like taking her to court).

It feels very much like revenge and that makes me feel uncomfortable regardless of whether she should be convicted for what she’s allegedly done.

Yes.

I think Harvey is lying about a great many things, including stalking and harrassing Gadd. Gadd also clearly lied about making her "unidentifiable" and the queasy mix of what he says is true and what is made up (including a conviction and prison sentence) sits very ill.

In the middle of this, we have someone who (apparently factually) is a rapist wanderign around unchallenged.

You can be middle class while being poor

It does feel like revenge. With a sprinkling of hypocrisy and misogyny.

I’ve just checked (I’m at home on sick leave - I don’t have stalking tendencies 😅). At about 1.5 minutes in, typed on the screen is “This is a true story”.

Im not watching much more, but I can’t see anywhere where it says it’s based on real events or fiction. Maybe in the small print or at the end?

Edit:

The description says: adapted from his award winning play, based on his own harrowing experience.

She's a convicted criminal. She already had a conviction (and was jailed) for very serious stalking offences before she ever met Richard Gadd. She is very unwell and a complete fantasist.

Of course she is vulnerable. Of course she is being exploited. But she is still a massive liar, extremely disturbed and very unstable and has very little control over her anger. She's not an innocent woman who just happened to have a crush on a comedian. She's Annie Wilkes from Misery.

I couldn't find any evidence of this.

Yes this is exactly what I've thought and said since I watched it and it all started ro unravel.

I have no interest in watching someone with serious mental health issues unravel on TV. What a low point for society.

This woman clearly isn't "lying" in the normal sense of the word, and she is in no way prepared for or capable of dealing with being goaded on live TV like some sort of freak show.

What annoys me most is that it will likely be the same vultures who are participating in this who will be the ones posting #bekind or #mentalhealthawareness in a few months time if this person or someone else comes to harm as a result?

Shame on Piers Morgan for doing this and shame on everyone else who's jumping on the bandwagon.

I thought Baby Reindeer was a brilliant albeit disturbing work of art, and a tale that was entitled to be told, sensitively and honestly. I think the very fact that people are trying to uncover and hound this woman means they fundamentally missed the point Richard Gadd was trying to make in the show in the first place!

I think the original drama should have concealed the original identity far more successfully - but it was originally a stand up show and then a theatre show - that must make it more difficult to change once it's succeeded in those areas. What is significant to me is that the power of the drama appears to be built on her particular character and the way the illness affects her. It seems to be a unique and highly identifiable portrait.
Hugely questionable in ethical terms IMO.

It's Netflix so it will have been lawyered - but maybe not lawyered to the level of the implications following the global success it has become.
I think the production is very vulnerable to legal action and morgan as well - I don't believe interviews should be broadcast if interviewees are suspected of being very unwell.
The problem is that there are two 'victims' so it's problematic in that sense.
I would have thought she would a case for defamation.

Just watched.
I have to say it was uncomfortable. She kept deflecting certain things.
For example, she probably doesn't gave a law degree.
She doesn't have a boyfriend.
She did probably bombard him with emails.

But that still doesn't make it right. Stalking is grim and by the emails alone she was guilty of it to an extent. And if she was a stalker, surely it's dangerous to dig that deep into it? Maybe she's an actor as well and all part of the 'meta' reindeer world? Haha.

Gadd comes off awfully in his early standup, it is really misogynistic. I guess its that whole blurring of fiction and reality. Imagine if you got written about by someone as this character, it must be very weird.

God all mighty. The world is in chaos with war, climate change and a spiralling population but what are people obsessing over? A furore over a mentally unstable woman and a TV program which was all created by massive corporations to make money out of the gormless general public.

Fucking insane.

Spot on.

Everyone who even watched the Piers Morgan interview should be ashamed.

She reminds me so much of a guy I used to know. Major narcissist- the most extreme Iv ever met! Talking through a tangled web of lies- they almost convince themselves are true, grandiose, unpleasant, arrogant & belittling when confronted by evidence to their bad behaviour.

yep. i probably have a few - 2 gmail - one normal for friends and one more professional name one for CV's. then a few connected to my webprovider (one used for forums like this, one for utilities etc). And an old yahoo and hotmail.
Then a work one!

I spoke to a friend today about this, we studied defamation together. Should piers have interviewed her? is she CLEARLY vunerable - well we don't know what she has been doing for last 20 years - is she working in a role or is she not working. If she works full time, its hard to argue she is vunerable and mentally unwell. But we don't actually know what she does (and weird it wasn't mentioned)

Oh get a grip. It’s human nature to be curious about extraordinary situation. This individual has willingly come on tv for a paid interview to belittle a man she most likely abused for years. I agree the hunting her down when she was anonymous was too far but she gone public. People are going to be curious about this case it is not shameful to watch it to learn about what happened & gain and understanding.

Agree! Maybe we the audience are actually the vulnerable people here....believing that we are watching something real

She’s unwell. The kindest thing we could do is actually not watch it.

But people are watching it and then coming on here to say how dreadful it is and why aren't they doing the same to the male abuser. Watching this kind of thing is stalkerish itself. You couldn't pay me to watch PM.

Completely agree. It's nuts. Why would anyone want to watch Piers Morgan interview someone clearly mentally unwell. It's opportunistic and exploitative. And when so much is going on in the world. It's like the Kate thing, people get sucked up into the drama and forget these are real people.

Yes me too - i think she's a pathological liar, and i dont think he should have interviewed her. Her saying she's going to sue everyone... i mean. That interview was a car crash. People are not going to leave her alone now, she's really done herself a disservice.

At the very beginning of the first episode, typed on the screen is “This is a true story”. It’s clearly not. This makes me uncomfortable regardless of who she is as a person.