I just saw something on the evening news which I found genuinely, genuinely baffling: either there’s something about it which I haven’t understood, or it’s one of the most stupid things I’ve ever heard. According to this story, a woman is suing Netflix for making a drama series which she says is about her, but which alleges she did things she says she didn’t do. “A Scottish woman who allegedly inspired the stalker character Martha in hit Netflix drama Baby Reindeer is suing the streamer for defamation, negligence and privacy violations. Fiona Harvey – who has identified herself as the woman on whom Martha is based – argued in a lawsuit that Netflix told “brutal lies” about her to over 50 million viewers around the world.” Both Netflix and the show’s writer, Richard Gadd, deny that it is about her.

Am I missing something here? If the series is supposed to be fiction, and it’s creators claim it isn’t about any real person, then how the smeg can this woman sue it’s creators for making stuff up about her? It’s like me claiming the Hobbit is about me, then suing Peter Jackson because I never went on a quest with a bunch of dwarfs; or claiming to be the inspiration for James Bond, then suing EON productions because I never met Pussey Galore! The program is supposed to be fiction, and Harvey only seems to have met Gad a few times in a pub. Either there’s something I haven’t picked up upon about this, or it’s one of the most stupid, idiotic thing’s I have ever heard.