A SNP MP has demanded streaming giant Netflix back-up its “misleading” Baby Reindeer claims.
John Nicolson for Ochil and South Perthshire said he will write to the media giant to back-up the claims it made at a parliamentary committee.
Netflix executive Benjamin King gave evidence at Westminster‘s Culture, Media and Sport Committee last week.
He told them its “obviously a true story of the horrific abuse that the writer and protagonist Richard Gadd suffered at the hands of a convicted stalker”.
However, the Nationalist politician claimed that the evidence given by Netflix may have been inaccurate.
He told the BBC: ” I will be writing to Netflix to ask them to substantiate the claim they made.
“It’s clear that the evidence given by Netflix to the select committee is disputed”.
He added that “the charge made – of a conviction – is very important. Journalists can find no evidence to back up the Netflix claim”.
It comes after Fiona Harvey, the real-life inspiration behind the character ‘Martha’ in the hit Netflix show, is now in discussions with barrister Chris Daw KC, after opening up about her experience in an interview with Piers Morgan.
Richard Gadd or Netflix has not confirmed if Martha is based on her.
The character ‘Martha’ is jailed in the TVshow, but Fiona says that she has no criminal convictions and has never been to prison.
Netflix revealed the hit show has been watched by 65 million people world-wide.
The gritty real-life drama was inspired by the ordeal suffered by Scots creator and leading man Richard Gadd, 34.
The then-struggling comic, while working in a London bar, hands Martha a free cup of tea before things turn sinister.
The series claims she subsequently bombarded the barman with more than 41,000 emails, hundreds of tweets and hours of voicemails over an alleged four-year campaign of terror.
Questions are also being asked about the decision to interview Fiona Harvey. She is reported to feel “used”.
She claimed on BBC Radio 4’s, The Media Show, Mr Morgan told her they “had to think long and hard about the public interest justification in giving her the platform”, if she was a convicted stalker who had gone to prison.
But he felt it was justified because “I felt there was enough of a question mark surrounding that part of the story”.
King told MPs that Netflix took “every reasonable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the people involved in that story”.
Ms Harvey disputed that claim when she spoke to Piers Morgan in an interview that has been watched more than 11 million times.
It comes after the Scottish Sun unmasked the curly-haired beak after she blasted Jessica Gunning’s portrayal of her saying she was “fat”.
We last month told how the Aberdeen University law graduate plans to sue the global streaming giant over how she is allegedly portrayed on screen by actress Jessica Gunning, 38.
Ms Harvey told how she will represent herself in any legal action against the US-based broadcaster, vowing: “I will kick their a***s.”
Gadd, from Wormit, Fife, based his show on the “true story” of him being hounded by a punter he met while working in a London pub.
But Ms Harvey, from Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, revealed she wants a court showdown after Baby Reindeer fans tracked her down and bombarded her with abuse online.
She told The Scottish Sun: “I have a claim against Netflix as this is being billed as part of a true story.
“There’s a fat actress that’s supposed to be me.
“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.
“People are probably saying I’m a mass murderer.
“This can’t continue. I will kick their a***s.”