In 2024, Baby Reindeer exploded onto TV screens and dominated the global consciousness in a way few series have. For first-time showrunner Richard Gadd, there were bucketloads of awards, endless talk show appearances and even high-profile court cases to deal with. See, the main buzz about Baby Reindeer (beyond a gripping portrayal of sexual assault, depression and substance abuse) had to do with its semi-autobiographical origins. And when social media sleuths tracked down the real-life inspiration for monstrous villain-stalker Martha, she sued for $170m. Legally, Gadd’s still not allowed to talk about the details.
This is probably why Half Man, his new project, is completely fictional. Set largely in Scotland across several decades, the six-episode BBC miniseries follows two totally different step-brothers. Niall, the younger, exists at the mercy of his school bullies. Terrorised for being nerdy and gentle, he is also gay but firmly in the closet. He’s most terrified of revealing this secret to psychopathic (and homophobic) elder sibling Ruben, recently released from a juvenile detention centre for biting off someone’s nose.
After Ruben dispatches Niall’s classroom tormentors at the point of a switchblade, they become friends. Well, sort of. Ruben runs extremely hot, liable to explode into a violent rage at the merest irritation and treats Niall as you would a beloved family dog. Fondly but never equally. Occasionally, this dynamic tips over into outright abuse. When Ruben – under the impression he is rewarding Niall – brings home a girlfriend for him to forcibly lose his virginity with, it is one of the most harrowing sequences you will see all year. Despite this, Niall retains a tenderness towards Ruben that leads him to excuse his repeatedly horrendous behaviour as they grow up together.
On the whole, these early episodes are pretty average. Mitchell Robertson gives Niall a downtrodden quality, which makes him sympathetic but frustrating to root for. Whereas Stuart Campbell, who plays Ruben, mostly just shouts and swings his fists around.
Much better are the later episodes, when Jamie Bell and Gadd himself step in as thirty-something versions of the two lads. Then Gadd’s knack for creating complex, compelling characters really comes to the fore. Niall, it turns out, has a vindictive streak of his own – and Ruben’s assumed wickedness gets examined through the lens of mental illness, rather than simple good and bad. Their toxic relationship develops into a chess-like revenge game, where one’s successes and failures impact the other, slowly unravelling their motivations. It’s a bit like the classic Japanese film Rashomon, where the same story is told from different, contradictory points of view. Though in this case, the truth is self-evident – it’s more about untangling blame, guilt and at what point traumatised men should take responsibility for their actions.
Ultimately, Gadd’s served up another unpleasantly captivating drama about a flawed victim and the psychologically unstable figure that haunts them. Baby Reindeer fans will drink it down.
‘Half Man’ is streaming now on BBC iPlayer. Episodes drop weekly on Fridays