It’s been a hot minute since Baby Reindeer landed on our screens, but I swear the gossip just gets juicier and juicier. Jessica Gunning, who plays Martha Scott in the show, has now come out swinging at sleuths who prompted Fiona Harvey to claim she’s the real-life Martha. She also says she refuses to watch the interview Harvey has given out of loyalty to creator Richard Gadd.
The Netflix drama is based on Gadd’s personal experience dealing with a stalker, and he also plays the main character Donny Dunn, alongside Gunning. Since the show aired, fans have been desperately trying to track down the real-life people on whom the characters were based. This has led to Harvey’s tell-all interview with Piers Morgan, her now-cancelled appearance for a meet and greet at a nightclub, and a Scottish MP has even gotten involved.
Jessica Gunning’s performance as Martha Scott has been praised. (Image: Netflix)
Gunning says she’s “fiercely protective” of Gadd and doesn’t want him to be “upset” by the controversy that’s since surrounded the show.
She admitted taking on a role inspired by a real person can be “sensitive”, so she approached it with care.
“[Gadd] really did put everything in that show, warts and all, errors, mistakes that were made. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it,” she told Radio Times.
“I’m always fiercely protective of him and I want to make sure that none of this is upsetting for him, really, so I try and keep out of any of that stuff. He’s a survivor of sexual assault and he was stalked, and I think any search for real people almost undermines that slightly.”
She continued: “He said in the past he didn’t want any internet sleuths to try and find the identities of these real people. He changed [the] identities for a reason. But it’s inevitable that people are intrigued by who the real people are.”
Jessica Gunning and Richard Gadd are now close friends. (Image: Instagram @mrrichardgadd)
Gunning went on to say that she had an “emotional reaction” to the character of Martha, which only increased after she started filming.
“I’ve been working now for about 17 years and it’s probably the first time where it did take a while to shift the feeling of the role and the feeling of the experience afterwards,” she said.
“Especially on those high-intensity scenes, like at the bus stop, or when Donny takes Martha back to her house, those were emotionally heavy days. And your body doesn’t really know sometimes that you’re pretending. There was an adrenaline for all of us that felt like we had been in that experience.”
The show topped Netflix’s top 10 list in Australia for over a month, and has only recently been dethroned by Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal and Bridgerton season three. It’s fair to say that the drama doesn’t look like it’s coming to an end anytime soon, with Harvey claiming she intends to sue Gadd. We’ll keep you updated with all the tea!
Feature image: Getty & Piers Morgan Uncensored
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