The ‘Talk’ chat show host spoke about his recent interview that caused controversy…
Today on Lorraine, Piers Morgan returned to his old Breakfast TV home as he responded to the backlash received after interviewing Fiona Harvey – the woman believed to be the real-life Martha from hit Netflix show ‘Baby Reindeer’.
Discussing the controversial interview, which has had over 11 million views so far, Piers explains how the Baby Reindeer interview is one of the biggest things he has ever been involved in: “I didn’t even realise anywhere near the scale of how big the show is, I honestly had to be persuaded by my team and thank-god they did because it’s been part of the phenomenon now. The Baby Reindeer thing globally has been one of the biggest things I have ever been involved in.
“When you watch the series, it’s gripping television. Richard Gadd, I saw him on your show here and he has done an amazing job of telling this story, but the key question after watching the series and watching my interview is – is it actually a true story? And the key part of that is did she actually go to prison? Is she a convicted stalker? As I sit here Lorraine, there is no actual evidence so far that she has ever even been in court.”
Revealing how he thinks Netflix failed in their duty of care to protect Fiona Harvey, he said: “The key question is whether they have defamed her? If you accuse somebody of being a convicted stalker and they’re not a convicted stalker, that’s a pretty serious mistake to make… If it turns out that she isn’t then the Netflix claim at the start of every episode,’This is a true story’ becomes extremely problematic because it’s not a true story… I think they’ve got problems here because she is clearly determined to have her day in court with Netflix”
Responding to Lorraine asking what Fiona was like and whether she will be receiving the million pound which she has requested from him, Piers answered:
“No she’s not going to get a million pound. What she wants is an agent… I think we have performed our duty of care. We’ve stayed in touch with her since and when she came to the studio, she was actually relatively normal. I didn’t get any sign of anyone who I thought was mentally unwell but I do think she sent all these messages and I do think that shows she has an obsessive streak, certainly in relation to Richard Gadd. I also think by his own admission, he himself is a pretty damaged individual and he admits to leading her on. So it’s a very messy, human interest story at the heart of this.
“I have interviewed serial killers, psychopaths – I have interviewed people who have done really terrible things and she is not one of those. I have had far scarier environments by where I have interviewed people. I felt it was important that she was allowed to have her say as she had already been revealed by the media as the real life Martha but she had no ability to tell her story… I think I was fair with her. I tried to be very fair and balanced. I tried to get to the truth. I think she lied to me a lot in the interview.”
Stating that he does not know where the truth lies, Piers revealed that he has contacted Richard Gadd to hear his side of the story.
Lorraine weekdays from 9am on ITV1, STV, STV Player and ITVX
