Half Man's Richard Gadd talks masculinity and complex relationships
Half Man airs on HBO Max in the US and on BBC iPlayer in the UK from 24 April, 2026.
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.
Richard Gadd (Ruben)
Series Creator, Writer and Executive Producer
Where did the idea for Half Man come from?
With my past projects I’ve touched on masculinity in the context of my own struggles with being a man. All of my stories explore human feelings, but this time, I wanted to come up with an idea that explores what it means to be a man in this ever-changing world through these two characters. To me, it feels like the debate about men has reached quite a high pitch and, at the same time, become somewhat simplified.
“Toxic masculinity” is a phrase we hear a lot, and while it can risk feeling overused, it’s also being discussed so widely for a reason. What’s interesting is that, despite that visibility, there are still aspects of it that haven’t yet been fully explored in the mainstream. I think that much of how society has been structured can lead to men having an inability to express themselves and express love and vulnerability, so it felt interesting to posit that conversation through Niall and Ruben.
What does a normal day look like for you when you’re writing a new project?
When I’m writing I usually go for a run whilst listening to my playlist, and those songs always provide a backdrop to my inspiration for a project and often end up being included in the project itself. For Half Man, I was bulking up to play Ruben, so I missed my running, but I still had a playlist. I usually begin my writing day at 5am because I think it’s my most productive time, so I usually get up at 4:30am and get a coffee and I’ll then write from 5am to 9pm - aside from Christmas Day and Soccer Aid, when I give myself a day off! I work hard and I’m constantly reworking and questioning things until it feels right. It is a constant, evolving process.
How do we first meet Niall and Ruben in the series?
We meet Ruben and Niall as two teenagers thrown together in their youth, and we then follow them over three decades. When the series starts, they’re forced to coexist in a lot of ways within a working-class household. Ruben is violent and volatile, whilst Niall is very sensible and self-conscious. They’re polar opposites but in a strange way they form an alliance – for better or worse – which catapults them through the ages. They both have something that the other does not and they crave what each other has.
What made you want to set the story over multiple decades of Niall and Ruben’s lives?
It felt that in order to have a conversation around masculinity and how we got to where we are now, we needed to go back to their adolescence, which is when Mitchell Robertson and Stuart Campbell play young Niall and Ruben in the 1980s. I thought the 1980s was an interesting time to set it as it is often the decade which is cited as being one of the most problematic in our history due to certain ignorances or subtle prejudices. It felt like a good way to start the characters’ journeys and explore what they learn and inhabit from our less than accepting times. I also think seeing the characters in their youth establishes their relationship early on. The connections we make when we are young can be hugely formative and emboldening and I wanted to give meaning to their shared camaraderie and connection.
The friends we make growing up are sometimes the most powerful relationship we have, and I needed to show the good and the bad all at once and show how intertwined our early relationships can become. I never want to beat audiences over the head with moral trajectories either. There are two men struggling to live and coexist in a way. In seeing Niall and Ruben over an extended period, you never really know which of them is bad and which of them is good either.
I wouldn’t want my work to present the idea that men should be a certain way or are a certain way, because then I’m adding to a bigger problem and so I hope that within Half Man, there’s a very human explanation of what it is to be a man, which is knotty and complicated, and hopefully the conversation around the show will feel like that too.
How would you say those adolescent moments shape the men Niall and Ruben become when you and Jamie take over those roles?
Niall and Ruben both stay in the same place whilst the world develops around them, and I don’t think either of them ever truly manages to shake off the damage of their youth. I think that feels familiar in this day and age where we have experienced cultural shifts - some people are on board whilst others aren’t and feel left behind or alienated For some people, change can be really difficult and the more you repress certain parts of yourself the harder life becomes as the years go by.
In a way, the only conversation Niall and Ruben ever have that is fully honest comes at the end of the series. It takes them six episodes and decades of their lives to get to a point where they are emotionally mature enough for that and meanwhile the world around them has changed and progressed so much. I think that, in a way, is the quintessential male struggle.
We do see dark moments for Niall and Ruben at various points throughout the series. Why did those moments feel important to you given the story you were trying to tell?
I think in order to explore the topic of male repression and violence you need to show violence, or at least the extremities of it - so that we can understand the context and depths of where repression can lead. I think a show exploring male existence in all its forms needs to show the worst – and indeed best – sides of masculinity because you are never fully exploring anything if you stray from the edges or fail to paint a full picture. Ultimately, whether we like to admit it or not, we live in a violent culture and world, but I don’t see that on television very often. At least not in a way which is realistic or “brutal.” I think exploring and showing these things not only leads to powerful drama but echoes a very real part of society where these things do happen and are seen on a daily basis.
What it’s been like working with Jamie Bell?
Jamie is such a lovely guy. I remember when we were casting for Baby Reindeer, lots of famous faces really wanted to play Martha, but I wanted everyone to audition and naturally a lot of global stars did not. However, there was something about this show as I was writing it – I couldn’t get Jamie out of my head. He’d probably roll his eyes if he heard me talking about Billy Elliot, but I can’t believe that he managed to do that at the age of 13 and I just think he’s instinctively an incredible actor.
I never thought Jamie would actually be in Half Man, but when I heard he was interested, I flew out to LA, and we had a long chat. Jamie said he’d love to do it if I played Ruben. Before that moment, I had never thought about it and didn’t see myself being in the series. We shot our final scene together at 3am in the morning, and it was a really emotional one. In that moment I knew how much I would miss acting alongside him and I feel really grateful to have had that opportunity.
How did you go about finding your young Niall and Ruben?
I love Mitchell Robertson and Stuart Campbell, and I want it on record that they were my favourites for Niall and Ruben from when I first saw their self-tapes. It was the same with Jess Gunning where I just knew from her first audition that I was experiencing exceptional talent. I cannot describe it, but it is like I see the character in my head, and I just need an actor to come in and echo it back at me – and these boys did that – and then some! They are true professionals through and through and I never doubted them for a second. It is also a joy to give young, Scottish talent their moment to shine. They would be a gift to any production they work on.
And what has it been like for you to transform into Ruben for Half Man?
Ruben is so far from any role I’ve taken on before and also from me as a person. I’ve done a lot of work to take on the role in terms of changing my diet and putting on a lot of muscle mass to inhabit that role and it has been a huge commitment alongside writing and producing. But I always think fear is never a reason to not do something and it makes it worth giving something a shot. We have two different looks for Ruben to reflect where he is in his life. One I would describe as meaty and beefy – he looks intimidating and overbearing - and that involved a lot of weight-lifting. Those are the present-day scenes.
Then in flashback, we have a slightly leaner look which meant stripping a lot of weight off in a matter of weeks. My order every day with the catering team was a salad and protein and that was sometimes the only thing I ate all day, which is a serious calorie deficit. It was brutal!
The show is filmed and set in and around the surrounding areas of Glasgow, what made you choose to base this story there?
Not only do I have fond memories of my time at university in Glasgow for four years, but I think it’s an amazing cultural city with a huge personality. It’s the biggest city in Scotland and Glasgow has also undertaken a huge shift of its own over the decades to become one of the UK’s most formidable cultural hubs. It almost marries the change that you want to see in the characters across the show - Glasgow evolves and changes around these guys as they struggle to change themselves.
I grew up in a town in Scotland outside of Dundee, about a mile over the water. The town had one shop – a corner shop – and it was an incredibly small one. I wouldn’t change it for the world now, but I felt like I needed to get out and escape when I was younger. That feeling is reflected in some of the earlier episodes where we see Niall and Ruben growing up in a smaller town outside the city. I think that adds a teenage hotbed of emotion and intensity to what the characters go through. I’ve loved working with an amazing cast and crew here and it has been such a brilliant backdrop for the show.
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