Richard Gadd, the Emmy-winning creator and star of Baby Reindeer, returns to television this week with his most provocative work yet: Half Man, a six-part limited series debuting on HBO and HBO Max on April 23, 2026, and on BBC iPlayer and BBC One the following day. The anticipation swirling around this new drama is palpable, and for good reason—Gadd has built a reputation for storytelling that refuses easy comfort, demanding instead that viewers confront the rawest edges of human experience.
Unlike the deeply autobiographical Baby Reindeer, which chronicled Gadd’s own harrowing encounter with a stalker, Half Man is a wholly fictional creation. Yet, as The Guardian notes, it doesn’t shy away from the same unflinching honesty and psychological intensity that made Gadd’s previous work a global phenomenon. This time, however, Gadd shifts roles entirely: he’s not the victim, but the monster. Muscled up, sporting a straggly beard and a brutal bowl-cut, Gadd transforms into Ruben—a character described as a “raging psychopath with nothing to lose.” Jamie Bell, celebrated for his roles in Billy Elliot and Rocketman, anchors the story as Niall, a man caught in an inescapable psychological web spun over three decades.
The series opens in 1980s Glasgow, a city that Gadd himself describes as having transformed dramatically over the years. “This city is progressing around [Niall], becoming more vibrant, more colourful, more accepting, and yet he still can't get past his own demons,” Gadd told the BBC. The story’s inciting incident is a devil’s bargain: after Niall’s widowed mother invites Ruben’s divorced mother to move in, the two teenage boys are forced to share a bedroom. Ruben, just out of juvenile detention with a reputation for violence—he once bit off a man’s nose—quickly becomes both protector and tormentor to the more reserved Niall.
“I just knew if people were going to buy the guy from Baby Reindeer as this hard-man epitome of sort of masculinity, I needed to really transform,” Gadd explained in interviews. The physical and emotional metamorphosis was so extreme, he admitted, “it terrified me.”
Their relationship, at first, is marked by dependence and admiration, but it soon warps into rivalry and repression. According to The Guardian, the pair become locked in an “uncomfortably eroticised headlock”—a bond Niall never consents to but cannot survive without. In one of the series’ most shocking scenes, Ruben not only crushes Niall’s bullies but also directly assists him in losing his virginity. In return, Niall offers Ruben the kindness he’s never known. This twisted, codependent brotherhood, forged in violence and secrecy, is the axis around which the narrative spins.
As the series jumps between the 1980s and the present, viewers witness how secrets and shame splinter their connection. Niall struggles to accept his sexuality, hiding parts of himself even as Glasgow becomes a more progressive and accepting city. Ruben, meanwhile, is haunted by past trauma, his violence both a shield and a prison. “I think sometimes the things people are most scared of is themselves,” Gadd reflected. “I certainly think in my life I've experienced challenges that have come from repression.”
The supporting cast features Neve McIntosh as Niall’s mother Lori and Marianne McIvor as Ruben’s mother Maura. The younger versions of the main characters are played by Mitchell Robertson (Niall) and Stuart Campbell (Ruben), bringing authenticity to the show’s flashbacks to their formative years.
The drama is produced by Mam Tor Productions in association with Thistledown Pictures, with Alexandra Brodski and Eshref Reybrouck directing. Gadd not only stars as Ruben but also serves as creator, writer, and executive producer—a testament to his deep investment in the project. “He’s a very celebrated actor, but in my mind, still underrated,” Gadd said of Jamie Bell, adding, “I just couldn't stop thinking about it” when casting the role of Niall.
Half Man is unrelenting in its exploration of broken masculinity, male trauma, and the violence that can erupt from emotional repression. Female characters, as critics have pointed out, are often relegated to the sidelines—“unheeded voices of reason” in a world dominated by male self-destruction. The dialogue is sprawling and intense, with long two-handers between Bell and Gadd dissecting their characters’ psyches in forensic detail. The show’s sex scenes are as shocking as its violence, pushing the boundaries of what’s typically depicted on television. As The Guardian put it, “Gadd and Jamie Bell are so frank they’re almost feral in a show so violent you’ll think you can taste blood in your mouth.”
Yet, for all its brutality, Half Man is not gratuitous. Gadd is keen to avoid easy answers or catharsis. Instead, he presents his characters’ contradictions in all their messy humanity. Ruben is violent and unpredictable, yet fiercely loyal in his own distorted way. Niall is more restrained, but his passivity and self-erasure are just as destructive. “Whatever they think the ending is, whatever they think the show's about, that's probably what it is,” Gadd told the BBC, inviting viewers to draw their own conclusions.
This refusal to soften or over-explain is, perhaps, what makes Gadd’s work so compelling. As Miscelana observed, “Discomfort does not emerge as a side effect, but as the very engine of the work.” In a television landscape often driven by speed and simplicity, Half Man privileges time, silence, and direct confrontation between characters. It’s a bold creative gamble, one that may provoke intense reactions—but that’s exactly what Gadd seems to want.
The stakes are high. Baby Reindeer became a cultural juggernaut, sweeping awards and captivating audiences worldwide. The pressure to avoid a sophomore slump was, as Gadd admitted, “innately destabilising.” But early reviews suggest he’s succeeded in crafting something raw, uncomfortable, and unforgettable. Whether Half Man will match the impact of its predecessor remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Richard Gadd is willing to go further than almost anyone else in contemporary television.
With its premiere, Half Man cements Gadd’s reputation as a fearless chronicler of the human condition, unafraid to stare into the abyss and report back with bruising honesty. The series is available to stream now, and audiences across the globe are about to find out just how deep this rabbit hole goes.