Baby Reindeer star and creator Richard Gadd stars in first look at his new BBC drama tackling "broken men"
Jamie Bell also stars in the series, which is a co-production between the BBC and HBO.
A selection of new images have been released for Richard Gadd's highly anticipated follow-up to Baby Reindeer, Half Man, which has also had its release window confirmed.
The six-part drama will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in April, while it will be launching the same month on HBO Max in the US, Latin America and Europe.
The synopsis for the series states: "Niall and Ruben are brothers. Not related in blood but the closest you can get. One, fierce and loyal. The other, meek and mild-mannered. Inseparable youth. Brought into each other’s lives through death and circumstance, all they have is each other…
"But when Ruben turns up at Niall’s wedding three decades later, everything seems different. He is on edge. Shifty. Not acting like himself. And soon, an explosion of violence takes place which catapults us back through their lives, from the eighties to the present day.
"Capturing 30 years in the lives of these broken men, Half Man explores brotherhood, violence, and the intense fragility of male relationships. After all, when things fall apart… it is sometimes the closest relationships which break the hardest."
The new images for the series, which was filmed in and around Glasgow last year, show Gadd and his co-star Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers) as lead characters Ruben and Niall, as well as Stuart Campbell (SAS Rogue Heroes) and Mitchell Robertson (Curfew), who play the characters in their younger years.
Also appearing in the images are Neve McIntosh (Doctor Who) as Niall’s mother Lori and Marianne McIvor (The Bombing of Pan Am 103) as Ruben’s mother Maura.
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In addition to the pictured cast, the likes of 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) and Philippine Velge (The Serpent Queen), will also feature in the series.
Stuart McQuarrie (The Rig), Sandy Batchelor (SAS Rogue Heroes) Piers Ewart (The Primrose Railway Children), Scot Greenan (T2 Trainspotting), while newcomers Charlotte Blackwood, Calum Manchip and Kate Robson-Stuart round out the cast.
Gadd recently spoke with GQ about the series, saying: "People will say, you know, the show is about masculinity. But I sometimes think it's about two men who struggle to love each other, and don't really know how to do that."
Half Man will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in April 2026.
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Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
