‘We’ve got her!’ exclaimed one of my ace Piers Morgan Uncensored bookers, Kieron. He’d somehow found a phone number for the most wanted woman in Britain and talked her into doing an interview with me. Not that she apparently needed much persuading. ‘Anything for Piers,’ she said. ‘I trust him to tell my story.’
And what a story it was. The woman was Fiona Harvey, who has confirmed she is the real-life Martha from the year’s biggest TV smash, Baby Reindeer. In the show, which Netflix called a ‘true story’ at the start of each episode, she is depicted as a vile stalker who was twice sent to prison for harassing people, including comedian Richard Gadd, who wrote and starred in the series he says is based on his own experiences.
It has taken just minutes for internet sleuths to identify Harvey from all the poorly disguised clues, not least the word-for-word recreation of her online posts, and her life had become instant hell with morons bombarding her with abusive and threatening calls.
After weeks of increasingly febrile speculation, she wanted to have her say. I felt it was only fair she was given the opportunity to tell her own story and respond to the claims being made about her so publicly.
The interview was electric. Harvey was remarkably confident for someone doing her first TV interview, and very combative too. She gave me as good as she got – and was adamant that she was not a convicted stalker.
In fact, she insisted she’d never even been charged with any offence, nor appeared in court, let alone tearfully pled guilty to crimes of stalking people and slung in prison, as Baby Reindeer stated as fact.
I found some stuff she told me implausible, like her categoric denial of sending Gadd thousands of emails and texts. However, if he has the evidence, that can easily be proved either way. But from our own pre-interview investigations, we found zero evidence that she’s a convicted stalker and none has since emerged. And that means Netflix broadcast a seriously defamatory lie about her and compounded this by not protecting her real identity from being immediately uncovered. That’s why she is now suing them for $170 million for defamation and ‘emotional distress’ in a California court.
Once the interview aired, all hell broke loose. I’ve done a lot of big interviews in my career, from Donald Trump and Beyoncé to Kanye and Cristiano Ronaldo, but none exploded quite like this one. The interview was watched by 15 million people on our YouTube channel, the clips went viral and one of them on our TikTok, of me asking Harvey if she was in love with Gadd, has been watched nearly 40 million times.
Everywhere I went for weeks afterwards people begged me to tell them what Harvey was really like. The answer is that she’s very similar to Martha – an intelligent but coarse, aggressive and slightly odd woman who may have behaved like an unpleasant troll, but who does not seem to be a convicted criminal. And that fact may end up costing Netflix millions. As to all those who joke, ‘I hope you didn’t give her your phone number!’ – I jest in return that no, I didn’t. I gave her Jeremy Clarkson’s.
Watch ‘Piers Morgan Uncensored’ on YouTube
The Other TV Moments That Got Us Talking
Emma and Dexter in Edinburgh. Her yellow top and Levi’s. His dishevelled tux. The spiky banter. Finally, the One Day adaptation we deserved.
Michelle Keegan’s coats in Fool Me Once. Who says you can’t investigate your husband’s mysterious death clad in excellent outerwear?
Diane’s ‘funeral’ in The Traitors. Iconic.
The two Emily Maitlises: Gillian Anderson (Scoop) and Ruth Wilson (A Very Royal Scandal) in rival dramas about Prince Andrew’s Newsnight car crash interview.
The Perfect Couple’s flash mob dance routine ensured we never hit ‘skip intro’. Nicole Kidman was not a fan, apparently.
The Nobody Wants This kiss. Seth Cohen all grown up and being The Perfect Man: be still our beating Millennial hearts.
Nicola Coughlan’s leading lady moment in Bridgerton. Penelope Featherington finally got her happy ending. ‘Polin’ stans unite.
The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders’ jump splits. A feat best not attempted in your living room after watching America’s Sweethearts.
The Mormon Wives’ dirty sodas – an unholy mix of Diet Coke, heavy cream, coconut-flavoured syrup and lime drunk in enormous quantities in lieu of alchohol.
Rivals’ naked tennis match. A scene the truly epitomises the camp, saucy joy of the Jilly Cooper adaptation.