Leonard and Hungry Paul Review: A Calming Comedy Featuring the Voice of the Famous Actress Offers the Perfect Cure to Modern Life

In a quiet area of the city, an individual is standing on the pavement, dressed in a vest and sharing his thoughts. “I feel my voice is fading. Harder to see,” states the main character, gazing into the darkness. “Circumstances have evolved and now it seems without a change, I will continue in this quiet, unremarkable life.” Hungry Paul, Leonard’s best confidant, considers these words. “There's no harm in that,” he responds, his bathrobe flapping in the breeze. “Preferable to trying to make a mark and causing harm instead.”

For those tired by the bluster and constant stimulation of today’s TV terrain, Leonard and Hungry Paul steps in like a warm cover and warming mug of blackcurrant juice.

Similar to its gentle leads, the series – a half-dozen installment program developed by the writing duo, adapted from the novelist’s quiet book – looks disapprovingly on contemporary society; peering skeptically above its prematurely middle-aged glasses at anything in the way of loud sounds, quick actions or – goodness forbid – an abundance of ambition. The series is, instead, an ode to introversion; a quiet celebration to people happy to amble along away from attention. And yet. He (another sublimely idiosyncratic portrayal by the actor) is uneasy. He notices a growing “urge to throw open the openings in my existence … slightly.” The loss of his parent has pulled the carpet away from his feet and Leonard, a ghost writer, now realizes doubting the paths that have brought him to where he is (single; sporting facial hair; creating several kids' reference books for an employer who concludes correspondence using the words “ciao for now”).

Therefore Leonard starts on a journey to find happiness, with the slightly bolder friend Paul (Laurie Kynaston) functioning as his trusted friend, mentor and ally in a weekly board games evening functioning as both discussion (“Does the pool feel warm due to children urinating, or is it that kids pee since it's warm?”) and refuge.

(What's the origin of "Hungry" Paul? No idea. The origin of this name appears lost in history. Maybe Paul once ate some food unusually quickly, or responded to an awkward situation by nervously peeling some food items by biting into them).

Into Leonard’s gentle world cartwheels Shelley (the actress), a fresh spring-loaded associate who happily suggests to eliminate his terrible supervisor (the character) during the office fire drill. That whooshing sound noticeable is Leonard’s gentle world experiencing a revolution.

In other scenes in the first episode of a series not heavily plotted and more on what younger viewers may refer to as “mood”, we meet Paul's father (the ever-wonderful the actor), a tired character who secretly watches, saves and reviews daytime quiz shows to impress his devoted partner with his general knowledge.

Guiding the audience throughout this minor-key niceness there is a voiceover who closely resembles – and, indeed, very much is – the Hollywood icon. Indeed, the celebrity. In case you're considering, “certainly the inclusion of a major Hollywood star is at odds with the show's modest approach and at first acts merely as an interruption?” that's accurate. However, Roberts acquits herself well, and phrases like “Leonard’s problem is his absence of a ‘eureka’ face” assist in making sure that first reservations give way if not quite to appreciation, then at minimum tolerance.

Enough complaining for now. Leonard and Hungry Paul’s heart is well-intentioned: which is “sitting on a park bench alongside similar shows, indicating its preferred bird.” The program that ambles along in comfortable attire, at times staring into space, occasionally down at its slippers, quietly confident that no experience is in the world as heartening as passing time alongside good friends.

Unlock the entryways of your life, slightly, and allow it entry.