The Baby Reindeer creator’s next chapter is here – and it looks devastating.
Hot on the heels of his global breakout success with Baby Reindeer, multi-award-winner Richard Gadd is back with another deeply personal and unsettling drama. Stan has dropped the first trailer for Half Man, a six-episode series created, written, and executive produced by Gadd himself, set to premiere exclusively on Stan on April 24.
Gadd stars alongside BAFTA-winning actor Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers) as Ruben and Niall, two men bound not by blood but by something arguably stronger: a shared life built from loss and circumstance. Fierce and loyal versus meek and mild-mannered, the two were inseparable in their youth. But when Ruben shows up to Niall’s wedding three decades later – edgy, shifty, and barely recognisable as himself – a violent explosion sends us hurtling back through thirty years of their lives, from the eighties to the present day.
At its core, Half Man is a story about brotherhood, masculinity, and the quiet devastation that can live inside the closest of relationships. As the show’s own framing puts it: when things fall apart, it’s sometimes the people nearest to us who break us the hardest.
Mitchell Robertson (Curfew) and Stuart Campbell (SAS Rogue Heroes) play the younger versions of Niall and Ruben respectively, carrying the weight of those formative years. Neve McIntosh (Tin Star) steps in as Niall’s mother Lori, with Marianne McIvor (Screw) as Ruben’s mother Maura.
The supporting ensemble is equally stacked, featuring Charlie De Melo (Rivals), Bilal Hasna (The Agency), Julie Cullen (Traces), Amy Manson (The Nevers), Anjli Mohindra (The Lazarus Project), Tim Downie (Outlander), Tom Andrews (Feel Good), Philippine Velge (The Serpent Queen), Stuart McQuarrie (The Rig), Sandy Batchelor (SAS Rogue Heroes), Piers Ewart (The Primrose Railway Children), Scot Greenan (T2 Trainspotting), and newcomers Charlotte Blackwood, Calum Manchip, and Kate Robson-Stuart.
The trailer is mysterious and had us on the edge of our seats. If Baby Reindeer is anything to go by, we are in for a wild ride!
Half Man premieres April 24, exclusively on Stan.
