Richard Gadd's new show hits just as hard as Baby Reindeer

Richard Gadd isn't interested in making TV that lets you off easy. His new limited series Half Man, now streaming on BBC iPlayer and HBO Max, plunges straight into the messy, often painful dynamics between men who've never learned how to say what they feel. Following the massive success of Baby Reindeer, Gadd returns not with a softer touch, but with something even more confrontational-a story about two stepbrothers whose bond is forged in silence, anger, and years of unresolved hurt.

Gadd stars alongside Jamie Bell as men linked by a complicated family history and a shared past of emotional neglect. Over the course of the series, their relationship cycles through loyalty, betrayal, violence, and something close to love, all while neither man seems capable of honest conversation. The show spans decades, showing how early wounds calcify into lifelong patterns. It's not a comfortable watch, but it's rarely meant to be.

Reviews have been strong, if divided on tone. The Guardian calls it a "queasy masterpiece" and says every man should see it, praising Gadd's willingness to expose emotional rawness without apology. Variety highlights how the series fits into larger cultural conversations about male loneliness and the limits of traditional masculinity, calling it an "outstanding return" to television. But The Hollywood Reporter pushes back slightly, describing the experience as more exhausting than rewarding-"tormented" in a way that may leave some viewers drained rather than moved.

What's clear is that Gadd is working in a lane all his own. Like Baby Reindeer, Half Man blurs the line between autobiography and fiction. He co-wrote the series and is deeply involved as a producer, shaping a story that feels intensely personal. There's a sense that he's not just telling a character's journey-he's working through something in real time, using the screen as both mirror and confessional.

Jamie Bell's performance has also drawn attention, bringing a quiet, simmering intensity that balances Gadd's more explosive energy. Their chemistry-fraught, unpredictable, yet undeniably deep-anchors the show, making the emotional stakes feel real even when the plot veers into darker territory.

The series arrives at a moment when conversations about men's mental health are gaining traction, but solutions still feel out of reach. Half Man doesn't offer easy answers. Instead, it holds up a mirror to the ways men harm themselves and each other when they're taught to swallow their pain. It's not a hopeful show, exactly, but it's a truthful one.

Whether it will reach the same cultural fever pitch as Baby Reindeer remains to be seen. But for viewers willing to sit with its discomfort, Half Man offers something rare: a story about male connection that doesn't romanticize, excuse, or simplify. It just shows it-ugly, raw, and impossible to look away from.