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In a peaceful neighborhood of Dublin, an individual can be found in his driveway, dressed in a tank top and voicing his thoughts. “I feel my voice is fading. Harder to see,” remarks Leonard, gazing toward the stars. “Events have unfolded and currently I believe if I don’t do something, my life will proceed in this simple, peaceful routine.” Paul, Leonard’s best and only friend, reflects on the idea. “Nothing wrong with that,” he replies, his robe flapping in the breeze. “Preferable to trying to make a mark only to wind up defacing it.”

For anyone tired by the bluster and fast pace of modern television landscape, the show comes as a foil blanket with a hot drink of a sweet cordial.

Like its quiet characters, Leonard and Hungry Paul – a six-part show created by Richie Conroy and Mark Hodkinson, based on the novelist’s subtle 2019 novel – looks disapprovingly at modern life; peering skeptically above its eyewear at anything that involves unnecessary noise, quick actions or – goodness forbid – excessive aspiration. This show on the contrary, an ode to introversion; a quiet celebration of those content to wander out of the spotlight. However. The character (one more uniquely quirky performance by the actor) feels restless. He notices an increasing “urge to throw open the openings of my life … a little.” The passing of his parent has pulled the carpet from under his slippers and Leonard, a writer for others, now finds himself doubting the decisions that have brought him to his current situation (unattached; defensively moustached; writing multiple educational volumes for an employer who signs off correspondence with the phrase “see you later”).

Thus Leonard begins himself on a quest for personal satisfaction, with the slightly bolder friend Paul (the actor) functioning as his confidante, mentor and partner in a recurring gaming session which acts as symposium (“Does the pool feel warm due to children urinating, or do children urinate because it’s warm?”) and safe space.

(How did Paul get his nickname? It's unclear. The beginning of the nickname seems forgotten in mystery. Maybe Paul once ate some food unusually quickly, or reacted to a tense moment by panic-peeling several snacks by biting into them).

Into Leonard’s gentle world cartwheels a vibrant character (the actress), a new energetic associate who happily suggests to get rid of Leonard’s appalling boss (the actor) in a workplace safety exercise. The swift movement you can hear is Leonard’s gentle world being turned upside down.

In other scenes in the first episode of a series focused less on story and centered around what a modern audience may refer to as “atmosphere”, we meet Paul's father (the ever-wonderful the actor), a tired character who covertly observes, records then replays television game programs to dazzle his adoring wife using his trivia skills.

Guiding the audience throughout this subtle warmth we hear a narrator who closely resembles – and, indeed, very much is – the Hollywood icon. Indeed, the celebrity. If you are thinking, “surely the inclusion of a big-name celebrity is at odds with the series’ unshowy MO and starts off as just an interruption?” you're right. Still, Roberts acquits herself well, and lines like “Leonard's challenge is the missing an expression of discovery” help ensure that initial doubts fade if not quite to appreciation, then certainly understanding.

No more criticism currently. The show's core has good intentions: that place is “resting on a bench next to the Detectorists, showing its preferred bird.” This is a show that strolls leisurely in its sleeveless jumper, sometimes gazing upward into space, sometimes downward at its feet, serenely certain that no experience is in the world as cheering as spending time in the company of dear pals.

Throw open the portals within your world, slightly, and welcome it inside.