The changing face of Glasgow in Half Man

The changing face of Glasgow in Half Man | Stan: Half Man | The Guardian
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Stan: Half Man
The changing face of Glasgow in Half Man
Long associated with violence and an industrial heritage, Glasgow has the chance to show its modern face in Richard Gadd’s latest show, Half Man
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Thu 30 Apr 2026 03.01 CEST Last modified on Tue 5 May 2026 07.43 CEST
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Glasgow before the 1980s was a city with soot under its nails. Grimy, powered by industry, steeped in violence. It had got itself a reputation: a hard place with even harder people. Half Man, the new television series from the creator of Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd, takes us there – and shows us how it has been transformed.
Post-war deindustrialisation changed Scotland’s biggest city. Between 1961 and 1981, Glasgow lost a quarter of all its jobs. Shipyards closed. Cranes rusted against the grey sky. The River Clyde, once a highway of business, fell almost silent.
This is where we land in the opening scenes of Half Man. Shot on location in Glasgow, the show is as much a study of the city as its characters.
Niall, a high school student played by Mitchell Robertson, is horrified to discover that Ruben (Stuart Campbell) has been released from a young offenders institution and is now sharing his bedroom. Their mothers are rumoured to be lovers, leaving the boys open to cruel homophobic barbs and physical aggression. Faced with a life they can’t fully understand, their relationship begins to take shape. Like Glasgow itself, it’s a bond forged in violence.
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But as Gadd has said in interviews , Glasgow’s reputation as a “scary” city isn’t entirely fair. As the boys’ lives evolve in the show – first together, then apart – we begin to see the real city. The story on screen reflects the journeys of real-life Glaswegians, who adapted to change. Heavy manufacturing gave way to lighter industry and a burgeoning financial district, but society also shifted.
There was an explosion of music, literature and art. Derelict warehouses became galleries and studios. In 1990, Glasgow was named the European City of Culture, and in 2008 became the UK’s first UNESCO City of Music. Later still, the 2014 Commonwealth Games delivered new construction, an economic boom and a new role for Glasgow as an events destination.
This complexity typifies Glasgow, a city that Gadd says is now “really progressive”. It’s known as much for its diverse architecture and bustling restaurant scene as for its working-class reputation. And as the story of Half Man plays out, Glasgow becomes a backdrop of contrasts, changing alongside the characters who inhabit it.
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Adult Niall, played by Jamie Bell, fights to become part of the arts landscape, in some ways unable to get past his demons to enjoy what Glasgow has become. Adult Ruben, played by Gadd, represses emotions and lives in a city of the past, working the offshore oil rigs and solving problems with his fists.
This is never more obvious than when Ruben reappears on Niall’s wedding day. He is angry. Dejected. Rage-filled. But his violence is out of place here, just as it is in today’s Glasgow. The two men still struggle to let go of what once was. While they have held tight to their pain, the city that shaped their adolescence has become a vibrant champion of acceptance and queerness in all its forms.
Half Man is a decades-long story about masculinity, about brotherhood and identity, rage and sex. But it’s also the story of Glasgow. Of its battle from identity crisis to modern metropolis, and its future as a complex, colourful and thriving city.
Watch the new series Half Man, only on Stan.
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