Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer follow-up sees childhood friends reunite with devastating consequences. Half Man will stream for free on BBC iPlayer in the UK, on HBO Max in the US and Stan in Australia. Don’t worry if you’re away from home, because you can watch Half Man from anywhere with a VPN – and free in the UK.
Gadd created, wrote and stars in the new drama alongside Jamie Bell, playing childhood friends Ruben and Niall, once as close as brothers, now navigating adulthood apart. But, when Ruben turns up at Niall’s wedding 30 years on from their days as carefree youngsters, it’s clear he’s changed — on edge, shifty and far from his old self, it’s not long before things build to an explosion of violence which leaves the pair reassessing their decades old friendship.
Delving back in to Ruben and Niall’s relationship from the 80s to present day, Half Man explores male relationships and toxic masculinity through the lenses of violence, brotherhood and love and looks at just how fragile these seemingly unbreakable bonds can really be, with Mitchell Robertson (Niall) and Stuart Campbell (Ruben) portraying the younger iterations of the pair.
Much of Gadd’s previous work has explored masculinity, particularly Netflix sensation Baby Reindeer, but Half Man points the lens straight at what it means to be a man in the modern world. “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” says the writer, “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.”
If Baby Reindeer is anything to go by, this could get delightfully dark. Here’s how to watch Half Man from anywhere in the world. We’ve got all the information you’ll need below.
How to watch Half Man online in the UK for free
How to watch Half Man in the US
HBO Max will be the US home of Half Man with episodes streaming weekly from Thursday, April 23.
HBO Max subscriptions start at $10.99 per month or $109.99 per year for its basic tier, but you can pay more to get rid of ads or bundle it with Hulu and Disney Plus.
UK citizens abroad who want to access their usual free stream will need a VPN to watch Half Man. We’ve got all the details you need for that below.
How to watch Half Man in Australia
Aussies can stream Half Man on Stan. Weekly episodes start streaming on Saturday, April 25.
A subscription to Stan starts from AU$12 per month, going up to AU$22 for 4K streaming.
UK viewers Down Under who want to access their usual free stream will need a VPN to watch Half Man. We’ve got all the details right here.
How to watch Half Man from anywhere with a VPN
If you’re traveling outside the UK, you can watch Half Man on the BBC iPlayer streaming service by using a VPN – no matter where you are in the world!
Normally a streaming service will know where you are trying to tune in from and block you if you’re not in the right country but a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an app that hides your location. That means you can access your usual sports and entertainment services even while you’re traveling abroad.
Our favorite VPN is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.
How to use a VPN to watch any stream
- Download the app at NordVPN
- Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch – in this case, the UK
- Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!