Starring Richard and Jamie Bell as two half-brothers with an explosive, poisonous relationship and follows them from childhood, by means of their awkward teenagers and into maturity, Half Man is a darkish exploration of poisonous masculinity, repression and male rage.
Forward of its launch on Thursday, opinions have been break up over whether or not the undertaking was a significant piece of tv that’s among the many 12 months’s finest or barely an excessive amount of to abdomen.
Right here’s a number of what the critics are saying about Half Man up to now…
“It leaves you with that uncommon and treasured feeling that everybody concerned – Gadd, after all, who has as soon as once more pulled out his viscera, unfold them over the web page and brought a scalpel to each bloody organ, however each actor too (Bell is on career-best kind after which some right here) – has given us the easiest of themselves.”
“The very best present of 2026 […] Half Man will probably be a number of issues to lots of people, and that’s the place its brilliance lies. Many will immediately draw parallels with ongoing conversations about poisonous masculinity, and that’s essential. However this drama truly speaks to a lot greater than that, and what you’ll get out of it as a viewer will probably be depending on what theme resonates or speaks to you most.”
BBC/Mam Tor Productions/Anne Binckebanck
“Half Man is a wonderful however tough watch. A viciousness runs by means of the narrative, and numerous acts of violence depicted. For many who stick it out, the ultimate episode options one of the emotionally shattering scenes on tv.”
“Half Man is so potent as a result of it’s not sanitised. It’s a deeply uncomfortable watch about deeply messed-up characters whose lives are in fixed turmoil, anchored by some unreal performances – actually by the youthful forged, however undoubtedly from Bell particularly, who I’ve decided deserves an Emmy win for embodying how tortured Niall is in his 20s and 30s.”
“Half Man is gripping, emotional, advanced, and upsetting, telling a narrative of masculinity and brotherhood that feels rooted in actuality despite the fact that the story is fictional. It stumbles at instances however by no means falls, and the strengths massively outweigh any negatives.”
“The sequence isn’t flawless. There are dips in pacing right here and there, and some of the ladies characters may very well be higher written. Typically, the monologues really feel higher suited to a play than they do to tv. However the density and layered nature of the writing win the day.
“Half Man makes one factor abundantly clear: Everybody else churning out scripts for TV is a author. Richard Gadd is a bloody artist.”
“I wanted a whole night to decompress after binging Richard Gadd’s Half Man, and I don’t assume I can ever watch it once more. Foundational points apart, Gadd has proved why his disturbing model makes him the storyteller of a technology”
BBC/Mam Tor Productions/Anne Binckebanck
“Household, for good or for sick, is an simple bond. It’s one thing that may incessantly carry out the most effective and worst in an individual. It’s arduous to know the way to navigate these conditions, the place it may be straightforward to really feel such as you’re residing of their shadow or are continuously pulled, unwillingly, again into their orbit.
“The methods through which Half Man acutely understands that dynamic make it a must-see sequence even in spite of some misgivings alongside the best way, in the end presenting itself as a singular expertise that sticks with you. In spite of everything, household is tough to shake.”
“Life actually can appear to be a continuing check of a person’s virility, however Gadd’s dramatisation of that notion doesn’t have sufficient resonance – as drama it’s fussy and overwrought and as darkish comedy it’s light-weight and inconsequential.
“The occasional jolts of intercourse and violence solely emphasise the general superficiality. It’s in all probability not a great signal when the one individuals you care about in a present are those your hero mistreats.”
“I don’t doubt that its ugliest scenes are honest efforts to blast away narrative euphemisms, leaving solely scorched kernels of reality. However for me, it doesn’t develop upon the revelations of Reindeer sufficient to advantage the distress.
“Somebody extra invested in dissecting the nuances of masculinity would possibly disagree. If Gadd has taught us something, it’s that we’re all formed by an infinite accumulation of experiences, and thus all tragically distinctive.”
“Six episodes might not appear to be sufficient time to uncover 30 years within the lives of those males, however this restricted sequence packs some critical punch. Niall and Ruben’s journey collectively is value sticking round for.”
“A lot of what’s explored is hard-hitting and really a lot actual, however the story devolves right into a little bit of a bleak-fest that makes it arduous to essentially have interaction with it.”
“Not solely does Half Man finish with out attaining the identical degree of lived complexity as Gadd’s previous work, however its conclusion additionally ensures the one strategy to learn their story is as an allegory. They’re half-men who add as much as even much less.”
“Bell and Gadd’s dedication to their roles isn’t in query. At a sure level, although, the sequence’ schematism turns into so pronounced that it renders them mere pawns in a contraption designed to underscore, at each flip, the corrosiveness of homophobia and, additionally, the resultant act of hiding and hating your true self.”
“It’s a present with a lot to suggest it, but it surely’s an emotionally draining present that, in its final revelations, left me with little enthusiasm for suggestion.”
“Cartoonishly exaggerated characters knock chunks out of one another, talking in overwritten soundbites in service of a plot that rambles over the course of a number of many years. It has the sensation of a darkish, misanthropic novel – the kind of factor Martin Amis would’ve written, to nice acclaim, within the Eighties – however struggles as a six-hour leisure piece.”
“Gadd was garlanded with awards for Child Reindeer however the present was mired in accusations of blending reality with fiction. It was bracingly authentic and morally doubtful. Half Man is a weaker piece of labor however, as soon as once more, it leaves a nasty style.”
The primary episode of Half Man is now streaming on BBC iPlayer, with new instalments following each Friday. The present can also be obtainable to observe weekly on BBC One on Tuesday nights.
Leave a Reply