Leonard and Hungry Paul Review: A Calming Series Narrated by Julia Roberts Offers the Perfect Cure to Contemporary Living

In a peaceful neighborhood of the Irish capital, a person is standing outside his home, wearing a vest and expressing his concerns. “I notice I'm becoming more silent. Harder to see,” states Leonard, staring toward the stars. “Circumstances have evolved and now I feel like if I don’t do something, I’ll just carry on in this quiet, unremarkable life.” Hungry Paul, his closest companion, ponders the idea. “There's no harm in that,” he answers, his bathrobe swaying with the wind. “Superior to attempting to leave an impact and ending up damaging things.”

For those weary by the noise and fast pace of today’s TV terrain, this series steps in like a warm cover and warming mug of blackcurrant juice.

Like its gentle leads, Leonard and Hungry Paul – a six-episode comedy created by its authors, adapted from the author’s subtle 2019 novel – takes a dim view on contemporary society; looking critically above its prematurely middle-aged glasses on everything that involves unnecessary noise, abrupt changes or – goodness forbid – too much drive. The series rather, a tribute to quiet people; a quiet celebration to people satisfied to pootle around below the parapet. And yet. The character (a further sublimely idiosyncratic performance from Alex Lawther) is unsettled. He notices a growing “urge to throw open the openings within my world … just a bit.” The passing of his beloved mother has yanked the floor from under his slippers and the 32-year-old, a writer for others, now finds himself reconsidering the choices which led him to his current situation (alone; defensively moustached; writing a range of children’s encyclopedias for a man who signs off messages using the words “see you later”).

And so Leonard starts on a journey for personal satisfaction, alongside his more outgoing friend Paul (the actor) serving as his confidante, guide and partner during their regular board games evening that serves both as symposium (“Is the water heated from kids relieving themselves, or is it that kids pee since it's warm?”) and sanctuary.

(How did Paul get his nickname? No idea. The origin of the moniker is shrouded in history. Maybe Paul once ate a sandwich in record time, or responded to an awkward situation by nervously peeling several snacks by biting into them).

Entering Leonard's quiet life comes a vibrant character (the actress), a recent lively co-worker who cheerily offers to get rid of his terrible supervisor (the actor) during the office fire drill. The swift movement you can hear represents Leonard's calm life experiencing a revolution.

In another part in the first episode of a series focused less on story and more by what younger viewers could describe as “atmosphere”, we are introduced to Paul's father (the ever-wonderful the performer), a battered sofa of a man who privately views, tapes and rewatches trivia competitions to dazzle his adoring wife using his trivia skills.

Leading viewers through all this gentle kindness we hear a narrator that sounds very much like – and actually is – the Hollywood icon. Indeed, the celebrity. If you are thinking, “certainly the use of a major Hollywood star is at odds with the program's low-key style and initially serves only as an interruption?” that's accurate. Nevertheless, Roberts does a good job, and lines like “Leonard’s problem is that he lacks a look of sudden insight” contribute to ensuring that first reservations give way if not full admiration, then at least acceptance.

No more criticism for now. The show's core is in the right place: the right place being “located on a seat alongside similar shows, pointing out the duck it loves.” The program that moves gently wearing its simple clothes, at times staring into space, at other times looking at its feet, calmly assured that there is nothing in life as uplifting as passing time in the company of dear pals.

Throw open the portals within your world, just a bit, and let it in.