Leonard & Hungry Paul Review: A Calming Comedy Featuring the Voice of the Famous Actress Provides an Ideal Antidote to Modern Life

In a quiet area of the Irish capital, a man stands in his driveway, wearing a vest and voicing his thoughts. “I notice myself getting quieter. Less noticeable,” states Leonard, staring toward the stars. “Circumstances have evolved and currently it seems if I don’t do something, I’ll just carry on in this simple, peaceful routine.” Paul, his closest confidant, considers the idea. “There's no harm in that,” he answers, his bathrobe swaying with the wind. “Preferable to trying to make a mark and ending up damaging things.”

For anyone tired by the chaos and rat-tat-tat of today’s TV offerings, this series arrives as a warm cover and warming mug of Ribena.

Like its quiet characters, the series – a six-episode comedy written by the writing duo, adapted from the author’s understated story – looks disapprovingly toward today's world; peering critically through its eyewear at anything that involves unnecessary noise, abrupt changes or – goodness forbid – too much drive. The series is, instead, a tribute to quiet people; a quiet celebration for those happy to amble along below the parapet. However. He (one more uniquely quirky turn from Alex Lawther) is unsettled. He notices a creeping “need to open the doors and windows in my existence … just a bit.” The recent death of his mother has whisked the rug out from under him and Leonard, an anonymous author, now feels questioning the paths that have brought him to this point (alone; with a protective mustache; writing a range of children’s encyclopedias for an employer who ends correspondence saying “goodbye for now”).

Thus Leonard begins an exploration for emotional fulfilment, with the slightly bolder Paul (the actor) serving as his confidante, guide and partner in a weekly gaming session which acts as discussion (“Is the water heated due to children urinating, or do kids pee in it since it's warm?”) and refuge.

(How did Paul get his nickname? The reason is unknown. The source of this name appears lost to the mists of time. Perhaps he previously devoured a snack unusually quickly, or answered to a tense moment by nervously peeling several snacks by biting into them).

Into Leonard’s gentle world bursts a vibrant character (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), a recent lively co-worker who lightheartedly proposes to kill his terrible supervisor (the character) during the office fire drill. That whooshing sound you can hear signals Leonard's peaceful routine being turned upside down.

In another part in the first episode of this program driven less by plot and more by what a modern audience could describe as “atmosphere”, we meet the older generation (the brilliant the actor), a battered sofa of a man who secretly watches, tapes and rewatches trivia competitions to impress his loving spouse through his fact recall.

Leading viewers amidst this subtle warmth there is a voiceover that sounds very much like – and truly is – the Hollywood icon. Indeed, the celebrity. Should you wonder, “undoubtedly the presence of such a famous actor clashes with the series’ unshowy MO and at first acts merely as a diversion?” that's accurate. Still, Roberts acquits herself well, and lines such as “Leonard's challenge is that he lacks a look of sudden insight” assist in making sure that early misgivings give way if not full admiration, then at least acceptance.

No more criticism currently. The show's core is in the right place: that place is “sitting on a park bench in the company of gentle comedies, pointing out its preferred bird.” The program that moves gently in its sleeveless jumper, sometimes gazing upward toward the sky, occasionally down at its feet, calmly assured that there is nothing on Earth as cheering as passing time in the company of close companions.

Throw open the portals in your existence, slightly, and allow it entry.