Piers Morgan addresses concerns over controversial 'real life Martha' interview

Piers Morgan has addressed concerns over his controversial 'real life Martha' interview which took place on Piers Morgan Uncensored last night.

Now, there's been a whole lot of buzz surrounding Richard Gadd's series, Baby Reindeer, and the subsequent fallout following the airing of the programme.

Ever since the Netflix show dropped on the platform a few weeks ago, viewers have been hooked to the 'true story' of Gadd, who found himself in a terrifying situation when he was relentlessly harassed by a stalker.

In case you're yet to watch it, the seven-episode drama focuses on the writer and performer's warped relationship with a middle-aged woman named Martha (played by Jessica Gunning), who becomes his stalker after they meet at the pub in which he works.

After Baby Reindeer aired, some viewers tried to track down the real-life characters from the show - including Martha - with many believing she was based on a woman named Fiona Harvey.

It's important to note that it's still unclear whether the character of Martha is based on Harvey.

Jessica Gunning as Martha Scott in Baby Reindeer. (Netflix)

Morgan made the announcement of the interview on Wednesday (8 May) in which he described it as 'compelling'.

He later posted a picture of himself and Harvey, saying she wanted to 'set the record straight' and 'have her say'.

But as the show aired on Thursday evening (9 May), viewers were left horrified by the interview, with many finding the chat 'uncomfortable'.

One person wrote: "This is making me really uncomfortable now, it's not funny anymore."

While another said: "Shame on you for interviewing Fiona, all you care about is clicks and views."

Fiona Harvey was interviewed by Piers Morgan. (X/@piersmorgan)

And a third added: "This Piers Morgan Fiona Harvey interview makes for insanely uncomfortable watching."

And a fourth commented: "I honestly can’t stop cringing - it’s making me so uncomfortable."

Following the backlash, Morgan has since spoken out today (10 May), writing for The Sun: "But if Richard Gadd feels entitled to make millions airing his side of the story, and make very serious allegations about Fiona Harvey in the process, then she is surely entitled to respond and defend herself?

"As for who is exploiting whom, I’ll leave that to the court of public opinion to decide."

LADbible Media Group has reached out to Richard Gadd for comment.

Morgan has addressed viewers' concerns following the interview. (TalkTV)

After filming the interview, which has racked up 3.9 million views in 15 hours, Harvey told the Daily Record, however, that Morgan refused to accept her denying the accusations.

She said: "There was a heavy emphasis from Piers Morgan on Gadd and the emails I am supposed to have sent.

"I have my own thoughts on it that I’d like to keep to myself but I wouldn’t say I was happy. It was very rapid to try to trip me up. He did it fast paced to catch me off guard.

"Piers kept saying to me ‘are you sure you haven’t sent this guy 41,000 emails and phone calls?’. A lot of the interview, for a good 10 minutes, he kept coming back to this.

"I said, ‘Look, Even if I had sent some emails, it doesn’t mean I’m guilty of the rest of the stuff. As I said, in order to bill something as a true story, it’s got to be pretty much 100% true.

"It seemed to me that I was set up. I feel a bit used."

Baby Reindeer fact vs fiction

While Richard Gadd claims Baby Reindeer is based on a true story, many viewers have been left questioning which parts were fabricated for the Netflix show.

We've separated the facts from the fiction.

How Donny and Martha met

In Baby Reindeer, Gadd's character Donny offers Martha a free drink after feeling sorry for her when she said she couldn't afford one.

Gadd claims this is true and his seemingly harmless act of kindness quickly snowballed into a shocking turn of events.

The amount of emails

Gadd says his stalker sent him 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemail, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages of letters over four-and-a-half years.

In real life, she also reportedly sent him a variety of strange gifts, including a reindeer toy, sleeping pills, a woolly hat and boxers.

Sent from my iPhone

Netflix said that every email Donny receives in the show is real, all of which end with 'sent from my iPhone' - despite the fact she didn't have an iPhone and wasn't emailing from one.

When the police intervened

In the series, Donny wasn't taken seriously when he initially reported Martha to the police.

According to Gadd, it was six years before they finally intervened.

Which details were fiction?

Gadd has spoken about how some details of the show have been changed to protect identities of those involved.

He explained that 'Martha' had been disguised to such an extent that he doesn't think she'd 'recognise herself'.

It's also unclear whether the real-life Martha went to prison. Fiona Harvey says she's never been to jail.

In Baby Reindeer, Martha was sentenced to nine months in prison and given a five-year restraining order.

Though Gadd told The Times the stalking issue has been 'resolved', adding that he 'mixed feelings about it' because he 'didn't want to throw someone who was that level of mentally unwell in prison'.