Half Man

Premise

Ruben (Stuart Campbell) and Niall (Mitchell Robertson) grew up as brothers despite not being related by blood—one strong and fiercely loyal, the other quiet and gentle. Thirty years later, they reunite at Niall's (Jamie Bell) wedding, but Ruben (Richard Gadd) seems uneasy and on edge; when a sudden act of violence erupts, it sends the story back through their shared past, revealing how their bond was shaped and how even the closest relationships can ultimately fall apart.

Cast and characters

Main

Jamie Bell as Niall Kennedy

Mitchell Robertson as young Niall

Richard Gadd as Ruben Pallister

Stuart Campbell as young Ruben

Recurring

Neve McIntosh as Lori Kennedy, Niall's mother

Marianne McIvor as Maura Pallister, Ruben's mother

Charlie De Melo as Alby Safadi

Bilal Hasna as young Alby

Anjli Mohindra as Ava

Tim Downie as Daniel

Tom Andrews as Butch

Amy Manson as Mona Shiels

Charlotte Blackwood as young Mona

Sandy Batchelor as Gus

Piers Ewart as young Gus

Kate Robson-Stuart as Joanna

Julie Cullen as young Joanna

Stuart McQuarrie as Mr. Jenkins

Production

Development

The series was announced by BBC One in February 2024. It has Richard Gadd as writer and executive producer. Alexandra Brodski and Eshref Reybrouck directed three episodes each. The series came from the London-based Mam Tor Productions and Thistledown Pictures with Tally Garner and Morven Reid executive producers for Mam Tor alongside Gaynor Holmes for the BBC and Gavin Smith for BBC Scotland. Wendy Griffin served as a producer. In June 2024, HBO joined the project. In November 2024, the project was revealed to have the title Half Man with filming scheduled to commence in Scotland in 2025. Gadd has described the series, previously titled Lions, as being about a pair of brothers. Gadd wrote the role of Niall with Jamie Bell in mind, but had not intended to play Ruben himself until Bell convinced him to.

Casting

Richard Gadd and Jamie Bell were confirmed in the lead roles in November 2024. In February 2025, Mitchell Robertson, Stuart Campbell, Neve McIntosh, Marianne McIvor, Charlie De Melo, Bilal Hasna, Julie Cullen, Amy Manson, Philippine Velge, Stuart McQuarrie, Piers Ewart, Scot Greenan, Charlotte Blackwood, and Calum Manchip joined the cast.

Filming

Principal photography began in February 2025. Filming locations include Glasgow, Scotland. In July 2025, it was revealed that filming had been wrapped.

Episodes

In the scenes from the wedding day intercut with episodes from the past, one can see people from Niall's life among the guests, including his mother, Joanna, Ava, and Gus.

Release

Half Man had its world premiere as the opening series of the 2026 Canneseries. The series premiered on 23 April 2026 on HBO in the US and on BBC iPlayer on 24 April 2026 in the UK, with the BBC One and BBC Scotland broadcast the following week.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 79%, based on 72 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Richard Gadd delivers a broodingly bleak sophomore effort that dares to plumb the depths of toxic masculinity and repression in a complex and unsettling tale that makes for unsettlingly good TV." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the series holds a score of 67 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Reviewing for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan gave the series five stars out of five, writing: "Half Man is a bleak and brilliant thing. It has its weak spots – the women are underwritten ... and I'm not sure I buy the final detonation, which sets up the scene in the barn – but these are quibbles. Gadd's drama is brave and blazing ... If Jack Thorne's Adolescence is to be shown in schools, Half Man needs to be shown in any place men gather."

The Independent critic Nick Hilton was more critical, awarding the series two out of five stars, writing: "It feels like a show in search of meaning, a plot looking for a story – and, frankly, it's a huge misfire ... it's hard to escape the nagging suspicion that Gadd's sophomore programme is a calculated attempt to make something brave and startling and important and all the other adjectives that were applied, more authentically, to Baby Reindeer."

In her review for the BBC, Caryn James gave the series four out of five stars, writing: "Even when the characters are unrelatable, though, Gadd's power as a writer comes through. He doesn't ask for pity for these damaged men. He successfully asks for understanding and sympathy, and does that in his distinct, jolting, culturally resonant voice."

Mike Hale of The New York Times argued that Half Man expands the scale of Baby Reindeer but not its substance. Despite strong acting and occasionally entertaining moments, Hale found the series emotionally shallow and repetitive. By the end, he opined the most sympathetic characters are the people harmed by the protagonist, making it difficult to stay invested in the story.

Carlos Aguilar of the Los Angeles Times described the series as a dark, psychologically rich drama that continues Gadd's interest in trauma and complicated human behavior. Aguilar wrote that while the show is violent and bleak, it aims to provide empathy and context for damaged characters by showing how Niall and Ruben's "cancerous brotherhood threatens to obliterate them both." Writing about the finale, Aaron Balick of GQ praised the show as "far more nuanced than another commentary on 'toxic masculinity'", adding that the reason "Gadd's work is so difficult to watch is that he forces us to bear, rather than split off, the bewildering and paradoxical consequences of trauma".