Online sleuths keep trying to solve true crimes. The Baby Reindeer obsession is just the latest

Chances are you've heard of Baby Reindeer, even if you haven't watched it yet.

Netflix's dark and buzzyseries spent four weeks asthe most popular show on the streaming service globally, and it wasalso thetop show in Canada. The mini-seriesbyScottish comedian Richard Gaddcentres on the main character's harrowing experience of being relentlessly stalked by a woman, which Gadd says is based on his own life.

But the show is making headlines not just for its popularitybut for the wave of online detectivestrying to identify some of the more unsettling characters it portrays, including Martha,the stalker. Now the supposed real-life "Martha"says she plansto sue, and Gaddhas pleaded with fans to stop the sleuthing.

As people dig into the history andpersonal life of theScottish lawyerallegedly the inspiration for theMarthacharacter in the show, some experts point out that this is exactly the kind of response we should come to expect given society's obsession with true crime.

People have been armchair sleuths since the first season of the hit podcastSerial aired 10 years ago, and it'sone of the reasons the series became such a phenomenon, crime writer and true-crime critic Sarah Weinmantold CBC News from New York City.

On the one hand, the idea that you can participateallows people to contend with their frustration or sense of helplessness about the criminal justice system, said Weinman, author of Scoundrel and The Real Lolita.

And true crimeprovides a sense of community where people largely women can bondovertheir obsession with it, she said.

"The problem is thatparticipatory element kind of puts you in a position that violates a lot of boundaries," Weinmansaid.

What we're seeing with Baby Reindeer is the blowbackto this kind of immersive, interactive product, where people can watch or listen totrue-crime content, then engage further,saidMichael Arntfield, a criminologist and author atWestern University in London, Ont., who's also a former police officer.

"People take on a pseudo-investigative role themselves, looking into tracking these people, looking for alternate theories to thecases, opening up discussion forums or starting their own podcaststo carry on where these other products left off,"he said.

LISTEN | How Baby Reindeer launched an online sleuthing nightmare:

Day 6146:23:20How a Netflix hit about stalking unleashed an online sleuthing nightmare

\nScottish comedian Richard Gadds show Baby Reindeer is being praised for its nuanced exploration of stalking and abuse. However it has unleashed a wave of online detectives rushing to identify the real people who inspired the shows characters, leading to threats of police action and lawsuits. Ruchira Sharma, host of the podcast Anatomy of a Stalker, says the drive towards online sleuthing in this case shows fans are missing the point.

Fans tracked down 'Martha'

In the case of Baby Reindeer,Gadd tried to conceal the identity of the woman who he said had stalked him. It didn't work.

The seriesbegins as the character of Martha (played by Jessica Gunning)walks into a pub where Donny (played by Gadd) buys her a tea, sparking a "suffocating obsession that threatens to wreck both their lives," according to the Netflix series description.

Martha isdescribed asmentally illand vulnerable, and she leaves Donny "hundreds of hours of voice messages and north of 40,000 emails." Gadd told GQ he's never revealedthe name of his real-life stalker to the mediaand that he changed some keyfacts about her for the show.

Gadd said he "went to such great lengths" to disguise the real woman's true identity that he doubted she would recognize herself.Later, according to Forbes, Gaddpleadedin a now-expired Instagram story for people not to "speculate on who any of the real life people could be. That's not the point of our show."

Last week, Netflix policy chief Benjamin King told a U.K. parliamentary committeethat"every reasonable precaution" was taken to disguise "the real-life identities of the people involved in that story" but that"ultimately, it's obviously very difficult to control what viewers do, particularly in a world where everything is amplified by social media."

Viewers eventually tracked "Martha" down, reportedly by lookingat the woman'ssocial media history. Lastmonth, the Daily Mail claimedto have interviewedthe real-life "Martha" (whom the Britishnewspaperdecided not toname),and she claimed she's received death threats and abuse from Gadd's supporters.

"He's using Baby Reindeer to stalk me now,"she claimed. "I'm the victim. He's written a bloody show about me."

A few days later, the same reporter who interviewed the woman wrote that he was now being stalked by her.

Then lastThursday, Piers Morgan interviewedScottish lawyer Fiona Harvey, allegedly the real-life "Martha,"and their exchange has been described as "excruciating," "unethical" and"a grotesque bonus feature for morbidly curiousBaby Reindeerwatchers."

Harvey told Morgan the show is a "work of fiction" and "defamatory"and that she plans to sue Netflix and Gadd.

'What public interest is there in retelling the story?'

Meanwhile, another Scottishlawyer,Laura Wray, alleges she was stalked by Harvey starting in1997, and she told the Mirror that the newfound attention thanks to Baby Reindeer has triggered her fears all over again.

"My partner and I are concerned about what she might do next. Is she going to come after me?" Wray told the Mirror.

CBCNews cannot independently confirm the allegations Wray made against Harvey.

There are so many potential issues with the attention on true-crime content such as BabyReindeer, Western University's Arntfieldsaid, including interfering with ongoing investigations, revictimizing victims, privacyand defamation.

For instance, another popular Netflix series, Dahmer Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,was heavily criticized by some of the family membersofserialkillerJeffrey Dahmer's victims for not being consulted. That's common for these types of productions,Arntfieldsaid.

"I think that's a discussion that more people need to have, is what public interest is there in retelling the story again?"

Netflix's slate of true-crime contenthasreally opened up thekind of sleuthing response we see with Baby Reindeer,and it's something we should expect to see more of going forward, Ruchira Sharma, host of the podcastAnatomy of a Stalker, recently told CBC'sDay 6.

"Ithink this really is amilestone showing us whatthe internet will do on anything that is closely based on reallife,"Sharma said. "This is not anisolated incident. This is more an example of 'more to come,'I think."

Canadian true crimes in the spotlight

Productions about Canadian crimes tend to be heavily scrutinized, since sensationalcrime is more rare here,Arntfieldsaid.

That's truefor two recent productions: a show about B.C. teen Reena Virkand aNetflix documentary about Jennifer Pan's murder-for-hire case.

Hulu's Under the Bridge tells the story of Virk, who was murdered more than 25 years ago.Former Vancouver Sun reporter Neal Hall previouslytoldCBC'sEarly Editionit's important to remember thatthe series meansVirk's familywill "have all the bad memories brought back."

A woman convicted of murder in the case recently told a parole board that the seriescould traumatize Virk's familyand was "disrespectful."

WATCH | The makers behind What Jennifer Did:

What Jennifer Did: A sit-down interview with the makers behind the Netflix documentary

6 months ago

Duration 7:53

A murder-for-hire case in Markham, Ont., is the subject of a new true crime documentary on Netflix. What Jennifer Did dives into the case of Jennifer Pan, who was convicted in a murder-for-hire plot against her parents. CBCs Dwight Drummond speaks to two of the documentarys makers to learn more about the case.

Netflix's documentaryWhat Jennifer Didspent three weeks in the global top 10 for English films. Last month,Karen Ho, acrime writerwho went to school with Pan in Toronto, told CBC Newsthat she'suncomfortable with the "true-crime industrial complex" and the "all-consuming and endless" appetite for content about murder.

"I am not watching it, and I'm choosing not to watch it, because I do not want to incentivize the further production of this stuffwithout at least really thoughtful consideration," Ho said.

While some true-crime content is of high qualityand offers important lessons, a lot of it is "predictable junk food viewing,"Arntfieldsaid. But he doesn't see the public's interest waning any time soon, calling true crime our society's modern myths.

"Every society in history is defined by stories, and some of the most long-standing myths and legends involve villains," he said.

True crime hasbeen a problematic genre for centuries, echoed crime writer Weinman, adding that the human impulse for curiosity is potent and powerful.

"That'snever going to go away."