FIRST LOOK Half Man

A first look at Jamie Bell and Richard Gadd as estranged ‘brothers’ Niall and Ruben.

BBC One has released first look images from their new six-part drama Half Man, written and created by Richard Gadd, in which he also stars alongside Jamie Bell.

Half Man follows estranged ‘brothers’ Niall played by Jamie Bell, and Ruben played by Richard Gadd. They're 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.

Half Man also stars Charlie De Melo, Bilal Hasna, Julie Cullen, Amy Manson, Anjli Mohindra, Tim Downie, Tom Andrews, Philippine Velge, Stuart McQuarrie, Sandy Batchelor, Piers Ewart, Scot Greenan, and newcomers Charlotte Blackwood, Calum Manchip and Kate Robson-Stuart.

Half Man explores the highs and lows of Ruben and Niall’s relationship, from meeting them as troubled teenagers to witnessing their falling out as adults, with all the good, bad, terrible, funny, angry, and challenging moments along the way.

It promises to capture the wild energy of a changing city, a changing world even, and try to get to the bottom of the difficult question... What does it mean to be a man?

Created by Mam Tor Productions (a Banijay UK company) in association with Thistledown Pictures and HBO, Half Man is directed by Alexandra Brodski and Eshref Reybrouck and is executive produced by Richard Gadd. Sophie Gardiner and Anna O’Malley, alongside Gaynor Holmes for the BBC, Gavin Smith for BBC Scotland and Tally Garner and Morven Reid for Mam Tor Productions.

Half Man will air in April on BBC One