Stuart Campbell Braces for ‘Half Man’s Impact

Stuart Campbell would love to do Half Man all over again.

Richard Gadd‘s hotly anticipated follow-up to Baby Reindeer is a searing, watch-through-your-hands examination of male rage and repression, tracking the fraught yet devoted relationship between two men over 30 years. Dropping weekly on HBO from Thursday, it’s predictably brutal (this is a Gadd project, after all), described by critics as “the most twisted show you’ll watch this year.”

Campbell, in his breakout role, plays the epicenter of that darkness: the younger version of Gadd’s character, Ruben. And yes — even with all that heaviness, the young Scottish star would like to relive the whole thing. “There’s so easily another world where somebody else gets to play this part and gets to do it justice and be amazing in it,” Campbell tells The Hollywood Reporter. “So I’m just really grateful that it got to be me.”

Gadd, THR‘s digital cover star this week, describes the show as an examination of toxic masculinity. He was keen on Campbell for Ruben from the get-go, even though the relatively unknown actor had come in with the intention of taping for the mild-mannered Niall, played by fellow Scot Mitchell Robertson and later, seasoned star Jamie Bell as his older incarnation.

Ruben was an entirely different ballgame. He’s tall, imposing and unpredictable. He thrashes around in fits of rage and is capable of graphic acts of violence we bear witness to in Half Man, including in a particularly grim scene that’ll later see him trying to avoid jail time. “Everyone has an essential pain,” says Campbell about finding that anger within him. “My first job was when I was 13. I’ve been exploring these conflicts since quite a young age — although I’ve usually been the victim rather than the perpetrator of the violence — so it did feel like different emotions to tap into. But that’s the challenge and that’s the reward.”

Below, one of British television’s newest, brightest talents dives into the making of the BBC and HBO’s Half Man and working alongside “an unbelievably hard-working” Gadd. He talks about the close bond he’s formed with co-star Robertson, what he hopes people take away from the show and sinking his teeth into such a complex character: “Ruben is a walking, talking contradiction.”

How have you been finding doing press so far for Half Man?

I’ve been enjoying it, getting to relive the experience and think about all the fond memories, particularly [those] that me and Mitchell had together. I’ve said in a few [interviews] how I would love to do it all again.

How did you get involved in this show?

The first self-tape would have been about two years ago now, probably the same as Mitchell. And I initially said that I wanted to audition for Niall. I was pushing and desperate to get [that] because I felt more… I don’t know — my own insecurity. I didn’t feel like I’d played a character like Ruben or anything close. So I wanted to go with what was familiar and [I thought] I could do Niall. But then, yeah, they wanted me to go for Ruben. So I threw everything that I could at it, and then [got] recalled for it and was told it had gone. Six months later, in November, I got a call on a Wednesday night saying, “You’re in on Friday.” Chemistry read the next week, got all the old notes back out and tried to get back into that. [Laughs.] And yeah, I threw everything at it because I really wanted it. Got it at the end of 2024. Started in 2025.

How daunting that must have been — to want Niall and find out you’re eyed for Ruben. Was it scary?

Well, I suppose it’s the gamble! It’s the risk and reward. I wanted to throw everything that I could at the very first tape. Even just for that first tape, I’d got a haircut, tried to physically put on a wee bit [of muscle] even in the short time prior to it. Because I knew that it was going to be pretty amazing and special. When you read even that first draft, it’s so, so colorful and vivid. Richard’s writing real characters. Maybe there was a little element of being daunted by it, but I felt pretty comfortable with Richard. I did a show with him back in 2018 — only a couple scenes — but I felt quite safe being in the room with him. It was just like seeing an old friend. So that took away some of the daunting and left a pretty safe space to try stuff and be playful.

What was the show you worked on?

Clique on BBC Three. You’ll see me with a strong Niall Kennedy bowl cut if you watch it. [Laughs.]

So what kind of conversations did you have with Richard about Ruben, his vision for the character, and then syncing up your mannerisms?

Richard was there throughout the whole process, every recall, and then [he] was there during the rehearsals and there on set, as an EP and a writer. So he was present. I was always able to lean on him. We had conversations [about] little nuances and microcosms as the recalls were going on, getting a little bit more in-depth about what Ruben was going to be. But he was really good at not having any fixed boundaries as to what we wanted to achieve. He was really encouraging of me as a young actor wanting to be spontaneous and be truthful and playful in the room with Mitchell, and [to] find the real human.

There were the physical things like tattoos and haircuts, [which we] didn’t really have a conversation about. My instinct from the first reading was that I needed to be bigger and my body [had] to take up the space in the room. Just even reading the couple of scenes that we had for the auditions, I was like, “He needs to fill up the space. I need to fill out the clothes.” So that’s just something I did, and it worked. But also it was my job to try and find some of Richard’s inflections in my voice — but again, not to take away from my own instincts or own voice. Not to inhibit that. So yeah, there was conversations but also freedom to let me play.

This is a show that really lives and dies on the chemistry between Ruben and Niall. What went into achieving that brilliant energy between you and Mitchell, behind the scenes?

Yeah, I don’t know what it would have been like if we had hated each other. [Laughs.] It would have just been harder work to achieve it. But yeah, I didn’t know him. We instantly clicked during the readings through shared interests, shared hobbies. Obviously, it helps. And [also] not denying that that is part of the work — maybe there’s a thought somewhere in my head, or [for] younger actors, that you’re just in your bedroom, rehearsing lines and doing all that stuff, but actually not denying that [part of the work is] just hanging out and getting lunch together and just talking and being honest and vulnerable with him. I guess just leaning on each other throughout the day as well. Every scene feels like a short film or a short movie, so we had each other at [all] costs. If I’m off camera, I do everything I can to make sure that I give him everything he needs for his short you know? Just having each other’s back, we naturally build up a relationship. And now he is one of my closest friends.

In your own words, how would you describe what Half Man is about and Ruben as a character?

Oh, well, the show is all sorts of things, all sorts of everything. And I think that Ruben is a walking, talking contradiction and juxtaposition, which is what I, as an actor, want to go towards. There’s obviously the fact that it’s a two-hander. It means that both of us get to explore a real rawness and intimacy. We get to go deep. It doesn’t feel at all like we’re only on the surface of the characters. Richard writes real people, real contradictions, that no one is just good and no one is just bad. One minute, Ruben can be protecting Niall and have a sort of protective quality which is sort of beautiful, but then in the same sentence, can move into a toxic possessiveness. I think he’s writing about the essential, what it means to be a human, really. And it’s kind of beautiful that that gets to be told in the Scottish context about these two boys growing up.

Obviously, as I imagine other people would, I feel kind of protective of [Ruben] as a character, because as part of the work, I had to look at why — what perpetrates the violence and the rage and the pent-up pressure. There’s definitely a lightness and a darkness to him as a character. There’s a lone wolf fighting for his survival on his own. And then there’s also another side that desperately needs attention and comfort.

I want to ask about some of the mental prep that goes into some of Ruben’s scariest scenes, where we see his rage take over. Was it easy to switch on and off, or did it take some decompression afterwards?

If I said it was easy to access it, I don’t really know how that makes me look. [Laughs.] Or maybe that’s a good thing, as an actor, to be able to access it. I don’t really know is the answer, but I certainly had help with Mitchell and Alex and Richard with the decompression part. I’m speaking as some sort of preacher. [Laughs.] But we all have it, right? I’m sure you do and I do. Everyone has an essential pain and is trying to understand who we are navigating our way through situations. I have it and I know things that trigger it. So tapping into that as an actor, to find it in the scenes is kind of the job. And I don’t want to sound arrogant but my first job was when I was 13. I’ve been exploring these conflicts since quite a young age. Although I’ve usually been the victim rather than the perpetrator of the violence. So it did feel like different emotions to tap into. But that’s the challenge and that’s the reward.

Given the heavy subject matter, I wanted to ask about working on such a dark show and what precautions were taken to make everyone feel comfortable.

I think the prep was needed, and the prep was a bit like how Richard created the environment for not needing to be a fixed idea [of Ruben]. It was quite fluid. And the prep felt quite fluid as well. It was sort of a situation where you sit there with the director and the other cast, and I don’t know if you get this in any other type of job but you can just do what you need to do. [Laughs.] It’s just talking and sharing and writing things down, and maybe playing music, or standing on the chair or sitting on the floor or getting a drink. It’s the most fluid environment that’s created from the very get-go in the rehearsal room, which makes you feel safe and comfortable.

Like, I know my lines so well that I can forget my lines. I have to feel so safe that I can feel so incredibly unsafe, in terms of the acting. There’s a constant dance being done, and that’s set up from the beginning. But yeah, it goes without saying there were two intimacy coordinators there on certain days, and plenty of stunt coordination, stunt rehearsals, checks [all] prior to doing a lot of the filming.

A lot of people will watch this in the context of the likes of Adolescence, for example. This is more about masculinity, rather than the manosphere, but what do you hope audiences take away watching it?

Yeah, I think it offers up a lot of questions, and maybe doesn’t necessarily need to have all of the answers. Maybe it’s too obvious to say, but I hope that people can relate to the characters like I could relate when I first read it, and then hopefully challenge some of the false ideas that they have. I hope people enjoy it and see that people can find humor and lightness amidst the darkness. And I hope that people can see the relationship that exists between [Ruben and Niall]. Hopefully people can take away something to do with that, maybe minus all the toxic-ness. [Laughs.] But that we can see how much we need people and we need each other and we need connection. And we need to be honest with each other — how important that is. That’s an angle that’s not necessarily specifically to do with the manosphere or masculinity, but beyond that, deeper than that, the need to connect with each other.

What was it like to film such a Scottish show in and around Scotland, as a Scottish actor?

I love Scotland. Scotland’s the most beautiful country in Europe. Yeah, I took my car up to decompress after some of the filming days. We’d travel around, go further north, and that’s perfect de-stress. But also [I] loved being in Glasgow with Mitchell. The two of us would go out and get a pizza crunch and hang out on a Friday night and decompress and chat about the scene. So, yeah, I re-fell in love with Glasgow filming it.

What’s next for Stuart Campbell? Do you have a dream project you’d like to do?

I don’t know! I don’t know. So boring. I most certainly haven’t prepared an answer and I don’t have one off the top of my head. I think you kind of know it when you see it, and I knew it when I saw it with this one, that I would throw anything [at it] that I could to try and get it, even if it was too much sometimes. But [I’ll] be open to anything. I’ll try and keep the humility and gratitude at the forefront, because there’s so easily another world where somebody else gets to play this part and gets to do it justice and be amazing in it. So I’m just really grateful that it got to be me. Like I said at the start, I’d give anything to do something like this — or this! — again. Or James Bond! [Laughs.]

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Half Man drops weekly from April 23 on HBO in the U.S., and from April 24 on the BBC for U.K. viewers.