‘It’s drama’: Netflix defends controversial Baby Reindeer

Netflix’s most senior UK chief has said that she “stands by” Baby Reindeer after Richard Gadd’s hit show became mired in controversy.
The streaming giant is being sued in the US by Fiona Harvey, who claims that she has inaccurately been depicted as a stalker in the dark comedy thriller.
She alleges that she was the inspiration for Jessica Gunning’s character, Martha, a Scottish lawyer who is sent to prison for sending Gadd thousands of emails and text messages. The show opens with the statement: “This is a true story.”
Baby Reindeer has been watched by more than 22 million people, according to Netflix, and Anne Mensah, its vice-president of UK content, said that she considered it “amazing that it really touched” people.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, she cited an increase in the number of men facing similar situations who have been calling hotlines to seek help.
“It was important for those reasons, and if you feel [the controversy] detracted from that, I would be absolutely disappointed,” she said. “I absolutely stand by all the show. It’s drama, not a documentary.”
She added that Netflix takes safeguarding “incredibly seriously” and dismissed the suggestion that it has benefited from the huge amount of publicity generated by the show.
“I don’t make shows for publicity’s sake,” said Mensah. “It was about giving [Gadd] the space to tell that story. Chasing publicity is the antithesis of what I believe in.”
She added: “It’s not about trying to manipulate anybody [with] an algorithm. The truth is way simpler: the audience is incredibly clever and they spot [what is] good and not boring. A really controversial show that isn’t great goes nowhere.”
Mensah’s comments are the most extensive from Netflix about Baby Reindeer since its policy chief defended it in front of MPs in May.
Benjamin King said that “every reasonable precaution” had been taken to disguise the real life identities of the people involved. “We didn’t want to make it generic to the point where it was no longer [Gadd’s] story because that would undermine the intent behind the show,” he said.
Elsewhere at the festival, Baby Reindeer was held up as an example of the type of first-person perspective comedy drama that is stifling investment from broadcasters in more traditional sitcoms.
Jack Rooke, creator of Channel 4 sitcom Big Boys, said that the issue stemmed from the success of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabagat the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2013.
“Post Fleabag, the Fringe became very obsessed with first person characters and emotional stories and that trend felt mirrored in shows like Baby Reindeer that won the comedy award,” he said. “It had a knock-on effect in terms of what people were developing for TV and now it’s time to take a step in another direction.”
Netflix announced seven shows at the TV festival including a documentary series about Victoria Beckham, following its show about her husband, David.
The series will offer a “behind-the-scenes” look at her reinvention from Spice Girl to a creative director of her own fashion brand.
Separately, 7/7: Hunting the London Bombers promises revelations about the weeks after four bombs exploded in London in 2005, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700. It will feature previously unseen archive and exclusive interviews with survivors, family members, investigators and the intelligence services.