Netflix has been sued by a woman for defaming, negligence, and privacy violations for the character Martha in the sensation drama Baby Reindeer, as she believes it is inspired by her.
Fiona Harvey, a UK lawyer who believes she influenced Martha, states in a filing put up in a California court on Thursday that Netflix delivered “brutal lies” about her to over 50 million viewers around the globe.
The lawsuit demands over $170m (£132m) in damages for Ms. Harvey, who accuses that the Baby Reindeer series wrongly portrayed her as a criminal convicted for stalking, who spent time behind bars.
Ms. Harvey also dumped sexual assault claims from the show’s creator in the court documents, which also accuse Netflix of “told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money”.
The protagonist of the series is shown as being sexually assaulted by the Martha character one night when they are out on a canal.
“I have no doubt about that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be doing it. We think we are going to win,” she said speaking to BBC News on Thursday about the case.