Photo by BBC As a young-ish man – sorry to burst any illusions of maturity or expertise – I approach television that is “about” or “confronts” masculinity with some apprehension. There are obvious commercial reasons for programmes to say this about themselves ( Adolescence ), but it makes them sound somehow officially prescribed: medicinal, or at least diagnostic. They can’t help but make me long for the period when directors and writers “confronted” masculinity much better ( Portnoy’s Complaint , Taxi Driver ) without beforehand declaring that they were doing so. Richard Gadd, the man who brought you Baby Reindeer , has made a new television series called Half Man . And it is “bleak and unflinching in its view of masculinity,” the BBC tells me. The programme is about two step-brothers, who between them personify two masculine archetypes: one weak and repressed and impressionable; the other bullish and violent and unequivocal. It makes for a striking and, at times, frightening story about fraternal trauma.…