Half Man Cast: Where You’ve Seen The Stars Of Richard Gadd’s New Drama Before

The more emotionally robust among us might have already plunged straight into Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd’s new series Half Man. To those people we say congratulations – and can we maybe have the number for your therapist?

Already hoovering up praise and criticism alike for its “emotionally shattering” depiction of two brothers and the fragility of male relationships, the BBC is perhaps wisely drip-feeding one new episode of Half Man every Friday, rather than releasing the whole series at once.

Meanwhile, if you’re a regular TV viewer, you’ll likely have seen more than a few members of the cast – led by Richard and co-star Jamie Bell – before.

Here’s why the stars of Half Man might look familiar…

Comedian, actor and writer Richard made his major breakthrough with the six-time Emmy-winning Netflix series Baby Reindeer, an adaptation of his one-man comedy show about his own experiences of sexual violence and being stalked.

If you don’t recognise him from that, or his irreverent stand-up comedy career, you might have seen him in the 2022 Disney+ action comedy series Wedding Season, where he had a recurring role as Conrad.

Richard has also appeared opposite Stephen Graham and Daniel Mays in cop comedy Code 404 as well as appearing in the likes of Clique, Urban Myths, Humans and Outlander.

Jamie Bell burst onto the scene as a child actor, playing unlikely ballet dancer Billy Elliot in the 2000 film of the same name, which made him the youngest person to win a Bafta for Best Actor, aged just 14.

Since then, he’s appeared as The Thing in Marvel’s Fantastic Four, as well as films as varied as The Adventures of Tintin, All Of Us Strangers (as Andrew Scott’s dad, no less), Rocketman, Nymphomaniac, Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool and Jane Eyre.

On the small screen, Jamie most recently starred as serial killer Harper Curtis in Apple TV+ sci-fi series Shining Girls, alongside Elisabeth Moss.

He also portrayed real-life spy Abraham Woodhull in the historical drama series Turn: Washington’s Spies, and was recently announced to be taking over from Cillian Murphy as the lead in the new Peaky Blinders spin-off.

Neve McIntosh most recently appeared as Miss Harbottle in the Channel 5 series All Creatures Great & Small, but she had a string of TV and film appearances under her belt long before that.

You might have also seen Neve in Doctor Who, where she’s appeared as three different characters – silurian sisters Alaya and Restac as well as Madame Vastra.

Her other TV credits include Gormenghast, Doc Martin, The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Bodies, Single Father, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man, Shetland and Tin Star.

Theatre-goers, meanwhile, might have seen her in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations in 2006.

Soap devotees will know Charlie De Melo for his role as Coronation Street’s Imran Habeeb, which he played between 2017 and 2022.

As well as doing the soap rounds (he’s also appeared in Eastenders, Doctors and Casualty) Charlie has also appeared in The Interceptor, Still Up, Doctor Who and Ellis.

He also played Malhar Verma in three episodes of Disney+’s wildly-popular Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals.

Bilal Hasna made his Bafta-nominated breakthrough in the superhero comedy series Extraordinary, where he played time manipulator Kash.

He also had a lead role in Prime Video comedy thriller Dead Hot, while Black Mirror aficionados might also have clocked Bilal in season seven finale USS Callister: Into Infinity.

Over on the big screen, Bilal played the titular British-Palestinian drag queen in Layla, and more recently appeared in the Bollywood-meets-Dickens festive film Christmas Karma.

As well as playing Alice Guppy in Torchwood, Amy Manson has had TV roles in everything from Casualty to Desperate Romantics, Being Human, Outcasts, The Nevers and Once Upon A Time.

Most recently, she’s appeared as Giselle in Netflix’s The Diplomat as well as Paramount+ series The Chemistry Of Death, Bodies (along with Half Man co-star Neve) and the BBC’s Scottish crime drama Rebus.

Our favourite role of hers, though, has to be when she appeared as the hallucinated Anne Boleyn in the Princess Diana drama Spencer, appearing opposite Kristen Stewart.

Stuart McQuarrie has had some punchy film roles to date, appearing in 28 Days Later, Trainspotting, Blood, Mr Turner and The Nest to name a few.

On TV, you might have seen him in Taggart, Silent Witness, Foundation, The Tower, Shetland, Life Begins or The Crown, where he played British politician George Thomson.

More recently, he’s appeared in The Rig as Colin Murchison opposite Iain Glen, Emily Hampshire, Martin Compston and Mark Bonnar.

Comedy fans will likely recognise Tim Downie from his appearances in classic series like Peep Show (where he played Mark Corrigan’s dodgy literary agent), as well as Toast Of London, Miranda, Heading Out, Upstart Crow, Chewing Gum and Hapless.

Tim’s also cropped up in drama series like Nicola Coughlan’s Big Mood, Jekyll & Hyde and Skins.

Film buffs might recognise him from his roles in The King’s Speech, Les Misérables, Paddington, War Machine and The Mercy.

Episode one of Half Man is streaming on BBC iPlayer now, with new instalments every Friday.