Half Man: Richard Gadd's show on toxic masculinity set for India streaming debut
Actors Richard Gadd and Jamie Bell lead Half Man, a six-episode drama is set for its India streaming debut on July 3. The series traces a decades-long bond to examine masculinity, trauma, violence and emotional silence.
Actor Richard Gadd returns after Baby Reindeer with Half Man, a six-episode drama that will make its India streaming debut on July 3. The series brings together Gadd and actor Jamie Bell in a story about two men bound by brotherhood, loss, loyalty and long-buried secrets, while exploring male friendship, trauma, violence and toxic masculinity.
Bell features opposite Gadd as Niall Kennedy, a man whose wedding becomes the breaking point in a relationship decades in the making. As one night opens into a story that stretches across 30 years, Half Man follows the unsaid love, buried rage and lasting scars that shape the lives of Niall and Ruben. The series is set to premiere on Lionsgate Play.
Speaking ahead of the series’ India debut, Gadd emphasised that he wanted to take forward ideas he had explored in earlier work. He said, "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," the actor added.
Bell highlighted that the show follows the changing relationship between the two men over three decades.
He said, "Half Man chronicles the relationship between two men – Niall and Ruben – over three decades. The series starts with the two of them as young men in their teenage years and it follows them both as life drifts them apart and pulls them back together. The series looks at how their time together has shaped them as adults and at the same time, how the culture around them growing up has done that too. More specifically, the series explores what their personal relationship with their own sense of masculinity is and what being a man means to them both, and how complex that is."
Actors Stuart Campbell and Mitchell Robertson play the younger versions of the two men, adding to a story centred on tenderness, volatility and emotional inheritance. Gadd’s physical transformation as Ruben adds another layer to the role, giving the character a presence that makes his silence as unsettling as his rage.
Actor Richard Gadd returns after Baby Reindeer with Half Man, a six-episode drama that will make its India streaming debut on July 3. The series brings together Gadd and actor Jamie Bell in a story about two men bound by brotherhood, loss, loyalty and long-buried secrets, while exploring male friendship, trauma, violence and toxic masculinity.
Bell features opposite Gadd as Niall Kennedy, a man whose wedding becomes the breaking point in a relationship decades in the making. As one night opens into a story that stretches across 30 years, Half Man follows the unsaid love, buried rage and lasting scars that shape the lives of Niall and Ruben. The series is set to premiere on Lionsgate Play.
Speaking ahead of the series’ India debut, Gadd emphasised that he wanted to take forward ideas he had explored in earlier work. He said, "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," the actor added.
Bell highlighted that the show follows the changing relationship between the two men over three decades.
He said, "Half Man chronicles the relationship between two men – Niall and Ruben – over three decades. The series starts with the two of them as young men in their teenage years and it follows them both as life drifts them apart and pulls them back together. The series looks at how their time together has shaped them as adults and at the same time, how the culture around them growing up has done that too. More specifically, the series explores what their personal relationship with their own sense of masculinity is and what being a man means to them both, and how complex that is."
Actors Stuart Campbell and Mitchell Robertson play the younger versions of the two men, adding to a story centred on tenderness, volatility and emotional inheritance. Gadd’s physical transformation as Ruben adds another layer to the role, giving the character a presence that makes his silence as unsettling as his rage.
