Richard Gadd argues pivotal scene of new series Half Man is the best thing he's ever written

It can’t be easy following up a smash hit like Baby Reindeer, one which was hugely popular around the world on Netflix and also won a vast number of awards.

However, that’s just what creator and star Richard Gadd has done with his new BBC/HBO series Half Man, which he has not only written, but also stars in alongside Jamie Bell.

In fact, speaking with us exclusively for our video interview series The Radio Times Writers’ Room, in which we get to know what makes screenwriters tick, Gadd has teased that the new series contains perhaps the best scene he has ever written, right at the end.

Asked for the best scene he’s ever written, Gadd said: “I think, just because I’m naturally self flagellating, my head sometimes goes to scenes that have had to be cut. And I sometimes go to them because I think I’ve convinced myself that they were sort of ‘the one.'”

He continued: “I think, potentially, the best one I’ve ever written, although it’s so hard to say that, because it’s all kind of speculative and contextual, is maybe the final scene between the two of them when they’re talking face to face.”

Gadd plays Ruben in Half Man, a fierce and violent yet loyal man, and brother by circumstance, rather than blood, to Niall, who is meek and mild-mannered, and played by Jamie Bell.

The series charts 30 years in their lives leading up to an explosion of violence on Niall’s wedding day, and given this, it also stars two other actors playing Ruben and Niall in their younger years, Stuart Campbell and Mitchell Robertson.

Speaking at a Q&A for the series, Gadd revealed that he actually wrote the first script for Half Man before Baby Reindeer.

He said: “I always come up with ideas for things, but if I can shake them within a day I’m like, ‘Well, they weren’t worth thinking about.’

“But this one, I couldn’t shake, it stayed with me. And it stayed with me all the way through Baby Reindeer and I would always be, ‘Oh, please, can it still be there the other side?’ Because I knew BBC were interested, and I really wanted to do it with the Beeb. And I just would always hope and pray it was still there. And, luckily, it was.”

In his chat for The Radio Times Writers’ Room, Gadd discussed his work on both Half Man and Baby Reindeer, as well as his stand-up career, the episode of Sex Education which he co-wrote, and his plans for the future.

Half Man will arrive on BBC iPlayer at 6am on Friday 24 April.

Richard Gadd’s full interview for The Radio Times Writers’ Room will be available to watch from Friday 24 April 2026.

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