Half Man: Richard Gadd's harrowing new BBC drama airs tonight and it's even better than Baby Reindeer
Half Man is brutal, unmissable BBC television
Half Man is miserable, and unmistakably Richard Gadd-coded; impressive, given the nascency of his auteurship. It’s also a richer, more ambitious – and, yes, better – show than Baby Reindeer, and a true BBC must-watch.
The aftermath of Baby Reindeer (specifically, the jigsaw identification of Fiona Harvey and her pricey defamation lawsuit) may have overshadowed its success – but it shouldn’t.
It should still be recognised as one of Netflix’s defining achievements: an overwhelming, yet irresistibly watchable account of one man’s grief and trauma that asked uncomfortable, essential questions about complicity and guilt.
Gadd’s soul-bearing arrival was risky, but the world is about to reap the rewards of his payoff once more. Half Man, created by and starring Gadd, is another rough, emotionally taxing TV experience. It cuts deep, and as his character says, “no caveats… stick with the emotion”.
What is Half Man about?
Half Man follows two ‘brothers’, Niall and Ruben. They’re not related by blood, but they grow up together – and they couldn’t be any more different.
Niall is loud and irresponsible, and acts on (often violent, chaotic) impulse. Niall is meek, quiet, and caught between awe and horror at Niall’s entire existence. As he says in the show, he’s “the best thing and worst thing all at once”.
The series takes place over three decades, flicking between their turbulent, traumatic teenage years and Niall’s wedding day.
As the synopsis teases, “everything seems different. He is on edge. Shifty. Not acting like himself.”
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“And soon, an explosion of violence takes place which catapults us back through their lives, from the eighties to the present day.”
Who’s in the cast?
Gadd plays the hench, frightening Ruben, while Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers, Billy Elliot) plays Niall in the character’s adult years.
Stuart Campbell (SAS Rogue Heroes) and Mitchell Robertson (Mayflies) play the younger versions of Ruben and Niall, respectively. The series also stars Neve McIntosh, Marianne McIvor, and Coronation Street’s Charlie De Melo.
First off, a few words of praise for Ruben and Niall’s teenage counterparts. Campbell is a standout, with the sort of swaggering, mercurial charisma anyone would recognise from those they feared in school. Robertson mostly anchors the show when it’s in the past, something he consistently proves to be capable of.
Bell is tremendous. From a long line of fantastic work, this may be his best performance to date; equal parts brave, sympathetic, amusing, and infuriating.
However, Gadd – for more reasons than just his acting – runs away with it. This is towering, magnetic stuff that couldn’t be further away from his performance in Baby Reindeer. Any time he’s on screen is to be feared and revered.
Is Half Man better than Baby Reindeer?
Baby Reindeer may have the better sell, but Half Man is a more accomplished piece of television.
It tackles similar things (trauma, violence, and the ruinous, tragic ways in which men to try to fight themselves). But, even more so than Gadd’s predecessor, it defiantly refuses to acknowledge the binary right and wrong of anything.
Head-stomps and disloyal behaviour notwithstanding, there aren’t heroes or villains in Half Man’s story. Just people lost somewhere within their own head and succumbing to their worst selves.
It is also, objectively, a bigger achievement: a decades-spanning, ruthless drama that’s entirely consistent. If there’s any nit-pick, it’s that one relationship isn’t as fully explored as it could have been, and the ending will divide people (but you’ll just have to wait and see what happens).
Is Half Man worth watching?
Half Man isn’t like any other BBC drama you’ve ever seen. For some viewers, it may be too much. Bleak, nasty, and hard to stomach; these are strengths of the show, but they’re also reasons it could alienate people.
That’s exactly why it’s worth watching. For all of its queasy twists and turns, Half Man is genuinely funny, too, with Gadd’s wry, Scottish wit sprinkled through the script.
In one scene, young Ruben questions if writing in a diary counts as being a real writer. “Try telling that to Anne Frank,” Niall quips. Also, you will never be able to hear the word “profiterole” the same way again.
We could tell you it’s a fraught, fraternal drama that exorcises the worst of masculinity and brotherhood. That’s true, but it doesn’t immediately answer your question: should I watch this?
In one word: absolutely. It’ll just be a matter of whether or not Gadd’s work chimes true (or if you can bear it).
How to watch Half Man
The first episode of Half Man will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer from 6am UK time on Friday, April 24.
It will also air on BBC One at 10:40pm on Tuesday, April 28.
Unlike other BBC dramas (like Babies and Mint), it won’t be available as a full box set, so you’ll need to wait for new episodes each week.
Half Man release schedule is a baffling mistake
Here’s a question: why would a new drama from the creator of one of the decade’s most acclaimed shows be released like this?
New episodes of Half Man are airing every week on Tuesdays at 10:40pm in the UK. However, you can watch it early on the previous Friday, with episodes becoming available to stream at 6am.
It’s not like the BBC has shied away from difficult material in its primetime 9pm slot. Earlier this year, viewers were forced to watch the slow, gruelling death of a young boy in Lord of the Flies.
Is Half Man a tough watch? Yes. Does it feature hard-to-stomach violence? Yes, though not so extreme to justify such a late slot. Does it have graphic sexual content? Also yes.
Perhaps it was a conscious effort to schedule sensitive content at a later time. Maybe (due to The Cage taking the Sunday 9pm slot) there was no other choice. Industry, another HBO show co-produced by the BBC, had the same 10:40pm slot.
Unfortunately, it is undeniably awkward. It’s too late to be appointment TV, and if viewers remember to watch it on streaming every week, they’ll need to make an effort to fit it in.
It deserves better. This is – for this writer’s money – the best BBC drama of the year, and it should be getting a much bigger push.
Read more: The best movies on BBC iPlayer right now
