Half Man is the new drama from Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd — and after his last show blurred the line between truth and fiction, it’s a fair question: is this one based on a true story too?
Baby Reindeer followed Donny Dunn, a struggling comedian being relentlessly stalked.
This story came form Gadd’s real life. Its impact was huge, but so was the fallout, including an ongoing £128 million legal case tied to the show.
That context matters. With Half Man landing on the BBC, expectations are very different this time.
Half Man follows two brothers, and one of them struggles with their sexuality (Credit: BBC/Mam Tor Productions/Anne Binckebanck)
Is Half Man based on a true story?
Unlike Baby Reindeer, Half Man isn’t based on a true story. It’s fully fictional, but still deeply personal.
Writing in the Radio Times, Gadd explained how his work always comes from a personal place, even when the story itself isn’t real.
“Everything I do now, people will assume is based on my life. But Half Man is a fictional series, which I have built from a blank page,” he wrote.
“All they need to do is a bit of Googling to discover that my childhood was very different from that of the central characters, Ruben and Niall, who are brought together when their mothers start living together.”
Half Man is fictional, but rooted in real emotion (Credit: BBC/Mam Tor Productions/Anne Binckebanck)
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