Baby Rena: Martha actress says she ‘didn’t pretend to be a real person’

Interpreter of Martha in Baby Reindeer, Jessica Gunning revealed how he “didn’t pretend to be a real person” while playing the character, supposedly based on Fiona Harveywhich went public to criticize the series Netflix created and starring Richard Gadd.

Right at the beginning of the series, a message appears on the screen that the story of Baby Reindeerbased on the life of Gadd, it’s real. The narrative shows Donny while he has to deal with a big problem that arises in his life: a woman named Martha begins to persecute and disturb the protagonist and his family.

Since launch, Fiona Harvey denied many aspects of the series’ story. She said how she didn’t chase Gadd, attacked his girlfriend, destroyed the bar where he worked or contacted the artist’s parents. Furthermore, Harvey vehemently denied having been convicted of any charge, the fate of Martha in the last episode.

During an interview with Radio Times, Jessica Gunning commented on how she feels “fiercely protective” of Richard Gadd. “I think he was incredibly brave in exposing everything,” she said. “He really put everything into that show, mistakes made.”

Next, the actress was asked if she finds it problematic to portray a character that the series claims is real: “I wouldn’t use the word problematic, I would say, perhaps, sensitive. I absolutely saw Martha as a character, I didn’t pretend to be a real person. She was very clear to me in the script, but I didn’t really know anything about the real person.”

But Richard also plays a character. When I acted with him, I felt like he was a character. I didn’t feel like we were reenacting scenes for some documentary, it felt like we were interpreting these characters in this emotionally true world.

Right away, Gunning told how he believes Gadd is “a survivor of sexual assault,” and so “any search for real people almost undermines that a little.”

“He has said in the past that he didn’t want any internet detectives to go out and try to find the identities of these real people,” he continued. “He deliberately changed his identity for a reason. But of course, these days, it’s inevitable, especially with a show this big, that people are going to be intrigued by who the real people are.”