Baby Reindeer star to film new drama on Glasgow streets
Half Man "will cover the highs and lows of the brothers' relationship, from them meeting as teenagers to their falling out as adults – with all the good, bad, terrible, funny, angry, and challenging moments along the way".
Neve McIntosh (Tin Star, Chemistry of Death) stars as Niall's mother Lori, whilst Marianne McIvor (Screw, The Nest) stars as Ruben's mother Maura.
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The cast of Half Man also includes Charlie De Melo (Rivals), Bilal Hasna (The Agency), Julie Cullen (Traces), Amy Manson (The Nevers), Philippine Velge (The Serpent Queen), Stuart McQuarrie (The Rig), Piers Ewart (The Primrose Railway Children), Scot Greenan (T2 Trainspotting) and newcomers Charlotte Blackwood and Calum Manchip.
Richard Gadd, creator, writer and executive producer, said of the cast: 'Having scoured far and wide and met some of the most amazing talent this country has to offer, I'm so pleased to have landed on the cast that we have. I cannot wait for all our actors, young and old, to bring these characters to life. I have every faith everyone will fall in love with these performers as much as I did.'
The Herald has learned that filming will take place on location in Glasgow this month.
Scenes are due to be shot in the Hillhead area of the city on Monday, May 12 and in the Govan area of the city on Tuesday, May 27 to Friday, May 30.
The series is made by Mam Tor Productions for the BBC, BBC Scotland and HBO.
Half Man will air in 2026 on BBC iPlayer, BBC One and BBC Scotland in the UK, and on HBO in the US.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Billy Joel sets record straight over DUI rumors after multiple concerning car accidents
is setting the record straight. In his candid new two-part HBO documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the music legend tackles the ups and downs of his life in the spotlight, including long-standing rumors that he's had multiple DUIs. The 76-year-old singer, who announced he is battling the brain disorder, normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), earlier this year, makes it clear: those stories are false. 'I didn't like the tabloid kind of press. For example, there's this rumor that I have all these DUIs,' Joel says in the film. 'That never happened.' 'But people keep repeating the myth. 'Oh, he's got so many DUIs.' I never had a DUI. So f**k you,' he adds. 'The press can be mean. So having that much attention paid to you is not easy.' The deeply personal documentary, now streaming on HBO, explores a turbulent chapter in Joel's life during the mid-2000s when he stepped out of the public eye. During that time, he was involved in several car accidents, leading many to speculate about substance use. In June 2002, Joel crashed his 1999 Mercedes-Benz. The following year, he drove a 2002 Mercedes into a tree in Sag Harbor and was treated for head injuries. Then in 2004, he lost control of his 1967 Citroen in Bayville, crashing into an empty house. The final accident left him with a cut finger and minor damage to the car, according to the documentary. Still, Joel insists those incidents weren't alcohol-related. In a 2013 interview with The New York Times Magazine, he clarified: 'I never had a DUI in my life. That's another fallacy. Look at the police records.' Instead, he attributed the accidents to emotional struggles. 'My mind wasn't right. I wasn't focused. I went into a deep, deep depression after 9/11. 9/11 just knocked the wind out of me, and I don't know even now if I've recovered from it. It really, really hurt that man could do that to man. And then there was a breakup with somebody, and it took me a while to get me back on my feet again.' And So It Goes, directed by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, not only clears up misconceptions but also takes a closer look at Joel's battles with depression, substance abuse, and the road to recovery. As Joel told People in a recent cover story, it wasn't easy to revisit some of those moments. 'Some of the stupid stuff I did, that's painful to talk about,' he admitted. Initially hesitant about the documentary, Joel said, 'My goal was to get it over with… When I do interviews, people just ask you about yourself and you get a little self-conscious about it eventually. It's almost embarrassing. When you're talking about your personal life detached from the material… I suppose there's a little bit of wariness involved.' The film also includes insights from those closest to him, including his sister Judy, daughter Alexa Ray, 39, and longtime friends and collaborators like lighting designer Steve Cohen and booking agent Dennis Arfa. Cohen reflected on Joel's resilience and drive: 'You make mistakes. He always said to me, "You show up. You do the best you can. You admit when you're wrong and you let other people tell you how good you are. You don't tell yourself how good you are."' And ultimately, Cohen hopes fans walk away with a deeper understanding of the man behind the music. 'I hope fans walk away realizing how f**king human he is, and I hope they come back listening to these songs again with a deeper affection. I hope that you walk away from this thing going, 'I now justify my fandom. I know why this guy is as good and why I respond to it, because that's the kind of guy I can relate to his life. I can relate to those emotions.' Despite his hesitations to do the documentary, Joel was an open book as he looked back on his failed marriages, battle with alcohol, financial troubles and much more. The singer also opens up about pre-fame suicide attempts and his mother's alcoholism. And So It Goes has already gained glowing reviews from Rolling Stone, Variety, and Newsday. In May, the Piano Man singer shared that he had been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). The condition has impacted Joel's 'hearing, vision, and balance,' according to the social media post. A spokesperson for the singer said that his condition had been 'exacerbated' by recent performances. Normal pressure hydrocephalus is caused by too much fluid collecting in the ventricles, or spaces in the brain and spinal cord, putting pressure on these areas and triggering its symptoms, including struggling to walk, an inability to control the bladder and memory problems. This happens because the excess fluid compresses and stretches the brain tissue, interfering with the control of muscles and communication between nerve cells. When diagnosed early, NPH can often be effectively treated with surgery that drains excess fluid from the brain, relieving pressure and symptoms - but it can often be mistaken at an early stage for other illnesses such as dementia. However, if left untreated, the condition may lead to permanent damage in its later stages. Joel's illustrious career as a musician began back in the mid-1960, which led to the release of debut studio album, Cold Spring Harbor (1971). But it failed to gain any real traction until after the success of his follow-up, Piano Man (1973), that peaked at number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the Adult Contemporary singles chart. Now an established name on the musical landscape, Joel became a million seller with the release of Streetlife Serenade (1974), but his commercial breakout making him a bonafide star came with the release of The Stranger (1977), which featured the hit singles Movin' Out (Anthony's Song), Just The Way You Are, She's Always a Woman, The Stranger, and Only The Good Die Young. He would go on to release a 13th album - Fantasies & Delusions (2001) - that features classical compositions from Joel, a first for him during his career. With over 160 million records sold worldwide, Joel is one of the world's best-selling musical artists, and the fourth-best-selling solo artist in the United States.
Scotsman
a day ago
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Alien star David Jonsson on bringing his debut play Paldem to the Fringe: 'Theatre is everything'
One of Britain's brightest young film stars tells David Pollock why he's bringing his debut play to the Edinburgh Fringe Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... 'I've been using this term, and I kind of wish I'd never said it, but I'm saying it now,' explains David Jonsson. 'This is an anti-romantic comedy. It's one hundred percent meant to be funny, and there's definitely a great element of romance in there, but the anti part comes from all the bits that are knotty and taboo. I guess people will be confused by that description, but you have to come and see it to get it.' David Jonsson in rehearsals for his debut play, Paldem, ahead of its premiere at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe. | Contributed As an actor, 31-year-old Londoner Jonsson is one of the hottest young talents in Britain at the moment – from his breakout role as hotshot financier Gus Sackey in the first two series of the BBC/HBO banking drama Industry, to recent film roles in Rye Lane and Alien: Romulus – and he has the BAFTA Rising Star Award to prove it. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has already played a part in his story, and this year he's returning with Paldem, his full-length playwriting debut. It's a grown-up comedy about sex, friendship and modern online life. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I did a National Youth Theatre show called Pidgeon English a very long time ago in Edinburgh, just before I went to drama school,' remembers Jonsson, referring to an adaptation of Stephen Kelman's novel - 'a very long time ago' means 2013, emphasising his youth. 'It was my first show, I was 18 at the time and I got my agent from there. It was absolutely the making of me, I've got a real special place for Edinburgh because of that. There's no place like it.' Jonsson verbally kicks himself here, noting this all happened in the same year and at the same venue that Fleabag premiered. Offered the chance to see it for free, he decided he wasn't a big fan of one-person plays and politely declined: 'And it ended up becoming f***ing Fleabag! That's why Edinburgh's an electric place, you never know if the next thing you see is the next big thing. I love it, I still come up frequently to visit and have a drink with mates.' Jonsson says he's 'always been writing. I've been waiting for the right time to express myself, but sometimes it's out of your reach, isn't it? It's like the chicken and the egg, you need one thing (acting success) for the other (interest in his writing) to happen. I've always felt an affinity to telling stories I know to be true or that say something about the world, but timing is everything and now feels like the right time for this one.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Which brings us onto Paldem, a play which Jonsson doesn't actually summarise. 'I can't put it into a blurb, I'm sorry,' he smiles, but he says the gist I've picked up from press releases is correct. It's about two old friends, Kevin and Megan, who find themselves in an unexpected one-night stand which is inadvertently caught on camera, leading them to consider the world of amateur online porn. According to the blurb, it 'crosses the murky lines of interracial dating, fetishisms and hook-ups in the digital age'. 'Essentially it's a play about relationships, and how do we love the people that we love?' says Jonsson. 'I've always been really interested in people, in when we get it right, when we get it wrong and how we navigate someone in their whole entire self, as opposed to what we think is them. It's a tricky thing, especially today, where I think we have the most empathy we've ever had, yet we can put our foot in it quite a bit. This play is funny and silly and a bit offbeat, and you probably shouldn't be laughing, but you do. Then underneath it all you have something that feels extremely raw, that's what I'm really interested in.' Jonsson is on a Zoom link from a rehearsal room near London Bridge, on a break from first day's rehearsal. He's flanked by the play's actors Tash Cowley and Michael Workeye and its director Zi Alikhan, who he worked with on Industry, and although he's the star name attached, there's a real sense of collaboration in the air as the quartet figure the play out. 'If somebody's looking at Kevin and Megan's value system from a generation above, they'll be like, 'I do not understand the way they make decisions',' says Workeye, who met Jonsson at an audition for an as-yet-unreleased short film directed by the latter. 'But what's interesting is, we're of that generation and even as the actor I'm going, 'I don't understand these decisions!' There's something about these two people that teeters on the edge of amorality, and this process for me is about understanding their communicative style and how much easier it is for them to lead with their bodies than their words.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'There are really interesting moments between them, where they move from emotional intimacy to physical intimacy and back again,' says Cowley, who met Jonsson in drama school. 'These people live in each other's pockets, but you question how much they really see and hear each other. They're best friends, but it always feels that there's something teetering on the edge. They both end up in a very different place to where they started, and that's fundamental with friendships, with any relationships – you either grow together through the movement of your life, or you grow apart.' 'I keep thinking about the difference between shock and taboo,' says Alikhan. 'When we see something with shock value, the experience feels so far away. You think, 'oh, I would never do that, that would never happen to me'. What's titillating about something taboo is it's about what we don't want people to see that we do, and what makes this play special is, it really penetrates everybody. It's about our sexuality, our identity, everything, and it manages to really make you feel a delightful discomfort, then to get on the other side of that and have new ideas about it.' The ingredients are all there for a Fringe hit, not least the sheer enthusiasm and engagement from all involved. Yet in the nicest possible way, I wonder, why is Jonsson doing this now and what does he want from it, just as his acting career is beginning to explode? 'I'll do my best to answer that, because I guess I'm still figuring it out,' he smiles. 'I think about Gary Oldman, who I love and idolise, having an amazing screen career and then making Nil By Mouth because he just had to. It was something he had to say about the world at the time, and maybe there's an echo of that here. Theatre is everything to me, the Fringe was literally one of my first experiences of finding community, and you have to be able to pull back into that, but only if you've got something worthwhile to say. I'd like to think maybe I do. We'll see.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Billy Joel says Christie Brinkley ‘was a muse' for his music
The HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes delves into the relationship between Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, from their 1983 meeting to their 1994 divorce. Joel described Brinkley as his muse, stating she inspired many of his songs and made him feel like a teenager experiencing romance again. Brinkley initially found their romance 'just so much fun' but noted a turning point in 1989 with Joel's 'I Go to Extremes' single, which reflected his internal conflict as a family man and 'tortured artist'. A significant $90 million fraud lawsuit filed by Joel against his former manager in 1989 further strained their marriage, as it necessitated extensive touring that kept him away from his family. Despite their separation, the former couple maintain a close relationship, with Brinkley considering Joel a 'soulmate' and naming her memoir after his hit song 'Uptown Girl,' partly inspired by her.
