Leonard & Hungry Paul Review: A Calming Show Narrated by the Hollywood Star Brings a Great Antidote to Modern Life

In a calm area of Dublin, a man can be found outside his home, sporting a vest and expressing his feelings. “I feel my voice is fading. Harder to see,” says Leonard, gazing into the darkness. “One thing’s led to another and currently it seems unless I take action, my life will proceed in this minor, harmless existence.” His friend Paul, his closest and only friend, considers these words. “That's perfectly fine,” he answers, his bathrobe swaying gently. “Preferable to trying to make a mark only to wind up defacing it.”

For anyone exhausted by the chaos and rat-tat-tat of today’s TV landscape, this series comes like a cozy wrap with a hot drink of a sweet cordial.

Like its gentle leads, the series – a six-episode program written by Richie Conroy and Mark Hodkinson, adapted from the author’s subtle book – casts a critical eye on contemporary society; gazing critically through its spectacles on everything that involves disturbances, sudden movements or – goodness forbid – too much drive. The series on the contrary, a celebration of shyness; a quiet celebration to people happy to pootle around away from attention. And yet. He (a further distinctly original portrayal by the actor) is unsettled. He senses a creeping “urge to throw open the entryways within my world … slightly.” The loss of his beloved mother has yanked the floor away from his feet and the 32-year-old, a ghost writer, now finds himself questioning the decisions that have brought him to his current situation (single; sporting facial hair; creating a range of educational volumes for a man who concludes messages with the phrase “see you later”).

Thus Leonard launches an exploration for personal satisfaction, accompanied by the somewhat braver Hungry Paul (the actor) serving as his close companion, guide and partner during their regular board games evening functioning as both symposium (“Does the pool feel warm from kids relieving themselves, or do children urinate because it’s warm?”) and refuge.

(What's the origin of "Hungry" Paul? It's unclear. The origin of the nickname appears lost in history. Perhaps Paul once ate some food in record time, or reacted to an awkward situation by hastily opening some food items by biting into them).

Arriving in Leonard's calm existence comes a new colleague (the actress), a recent energetic colleague who happily suggests to eliminate the awful manager (Paul Reid) in a workplace safety exercise. That whooshing sound you can hear represents Leonard's calm life experiencing a revolution.

Elsewhere in the first episode of this program not heavily plotted and more by what a modern audience might call “vibes”, we meet Hungry Paul’s dad (the consistently great Lorcan Cranitch), a battered sofa of a man who secretly watches, records then replays television game programs to amaze his devoted partner using his trivia skills.

Guiding the audience amidst this gentle kindness is a narrator who closely resembles – and actually is – Julia Roberts. Indeed, the celebrity. Should you wonder, “certainly the inclusion of a major Hollywood star clashes with the series’ unshowy MO and at first acts merely as an interruption?” you would be correct. Nevertheless, Roberts does a good job, and dialogue like “Leonard's challenge is his absence of a ‘eureka’ face” contribute to ensuring that early misgivings yield if not quite to appreciation, then certainly understanding.

Enough complaining at this time. The series' spirit has good intentions: that place is “located on a seat next to the Detectorists, pointing out the duck it loves.” It’s a series that ambles along wearing its simple clothes, occasionally looking up at the stars, at other times looking at its feet, calmly assured that no experience is on Earth as uplifting as being with close companions.

Open the doors and windows of your life, a little, and welcome it inside.