Richard Gadd became an absolute phenomenon two years ago, when Baby Reindeer hit the Netflix schedule, instantly becoming one of the streamer’s most binge-worthy series. Fans wondered what other stories Gadd might have floating around in that noggin, and we’re about to find out. Half Man has hit the 2026 TV premiere schedule, with Gadd once again serving as creator, writer and star of the drama. Critics have screened the series, so what are their reviews saying about the Baby Reindeer follow-up?
Half Man, which can be streamed with an HBO Max subscription, centers around Ruben and Niall — played as adults by Richard Gadd and Jamie Bell — whose mothers are in a relationship and whose bond becomes as unbreakable as it is toxic. Nandini Balial of RogerEbert rates it a perfect 4 out of 4 stars, noting that the brutality of its writing “makes The Wire look like Bluey.” Yikes, what a ride we’re in for! Balial’s review says:
It is like nothing else on television right now. Unrelenting in its despair, forcing the viewer to confront what society’s demons spawn in children, who go on to become beasts as adults. The series’s central questions are fascinating—What happens when a terrified child’s entire identity is shaped by and dependent on a bully’s largesse? Can anyone whose humanity is governed by anger ever turn back?—and it does not claim to have answers. Its depiction of the ramifications of unchecked rage in a man and his victims, however, is a brilliant and discomfiting six-hour horror film.
Lucy Mangan of The Guardian also gives it a perfect rating, 5 out of 5 stars, declaring that Richard Gadd has done it again with this “brave, brutal, blazing” TV series. Half Man tackles the damage that men do to each other, and it should be required viewing for every man, Mangan says, writing:
Article continues belowGadd’s drama is brave and blazing. It leaves you with that rare and precious feeling that everyone involved – Gadd, of course, who has once again pulled out his viscera, spread them over the page and taken a scalpel to every bloody organ, but every actor too (Bell is on career-best form and then some here) – has given us the very best of themselves. You cannot, in any meaningful sense, find it wanting.
Karyn James of BBC gives it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it “brutal and unbearably intense,” and equally as shocking as the series that won Richard Gadd three Emmys. James writes:
Half Man is just as brash and singular as Baby Reindeer. It shares themes with that surprise hit and is also likely to be a conversation-starter. Once more Gadd offers a painstaking exploration of masculine identity, violence and reluctance to accept one's sexual identity. That violence is graphic enough to make the characters' emotional traumas feel visceral.
For such an intense and brutal watch, it’s inevitable that some aren’t going to like Half Man, and USA TODAY’s Kelly Lawler is among those critics. She gives the series 1.5 stars out of 4, saying Richard Gadd’s signature pain is prevalent in the HBO series, but it packs less punch. Viewers may even start questioning what the line is between examination and exploitation, Lawler says, writing:
Half Man does not have the same effect as Reindeer, and whatever is lacking here − or perhaps whatever is actually too much − is to the series' detriment. Half Man is a slog to get through, offering no moments of relief from the dark, no recovery for a viewer weighed down by the enormity of it all. It doesn't even take all six episodes for the story to become one-note, dull and tedious, even as it piles on innovative moments of torment for its characters.
Nick Hilton of The Independent similarly rates it just 2 stars out of 4, saying Half Man feels like Richard Gad was attempting to make something brave, startling, important and all of the other adjectives used to describe Baby Reindeer, but in the end what he made was a “brutal, pointless misfire.” Hilton says:
Cartoonishly exaggerated characters knock chunks out of each other, speaking in overwritten soundbites (‘You may be the painter, Niall, but I’m the rolling hills!’) in service of a plot that rambles over the course of multiple decades. It has the feeling of a dark, misanthropic novel … but struggles as a six-hour entertainment piece. Bell acts his socks off – while Gadd appears to have written himself a character with limitless sexual charisma, who is largely shirtless – but the show just feels pointless.
As divisive as Half Man’s reviews are, it’s inarguable that Richard Gadd knows how to get people talking, and if you were obsessed with Baby Reindeer, you’ll likely want to give this a chance as well. The drama premieres at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, April 23, on HBO and streaming on HBO Max.
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