🔗 Share this article

In a quiet area of the city, a man can be found in his driveway, wearing a sleeveless jumper and expressing his feelings. “I notice myself getting quieter. Less noticeable,” remarks the main character, gazing up at the night sky. “One thing’s led to another and at this point it seems without a change, my life will proceed in this simple, peaceful routine.” His friend Paul, his only and only friend, considers these words. “There's no harm in that,” he replies, his robe flapping in the breeze. “Better than attempting to leave an impact only to wind up defacing it.”

For viewers exhausted by the bluster and rat-tat-tat of today’s TV landscape, this series comes like a cozy wrap with a hot drink of Ribena.

In line with its gentle leads, the series – a six-episode comedy developed by the writing duo, based on the novelist’s quiet story – casts a critical eye at modern life; gazing critically through its prematurely middle-aged glasses toward anything that involves disturbances, quick actions or – heaven forfend – an abundance of ambition. This show on the contrary, an ode to introversion; a quiet celebration for those content to amble along out of the spotlight. And yet. The character (another distinctly original performance by the actor) is unsettled. He feels a creeping “desire to unlock the openings within my world … just a bit.” The recent death of his beloved mother has whisked the rug from under his slippers and Leonard, a ghost writer, now feels doubting the paths that have brought him to where he is (alone; with a protective mustache; working on a range of educational volumes for a man who ends emails using the words “see you later”).

Thus Leonard launches an exploration for emotional fulfilment, with the slightly bolder friend Paul (Laurie Kynaston) serving as his close companion, mentor and ally in a weekly board games evening that serves both as discussion (“Is the pool warm due to children urinating, or do children urinate because it’s warm?”) and safe space.

(What's the origin of "Hungry" Paul? No idea. The origin of this name appears lost to the mists of time. Maybe Paul once ate a sandwich very fast, or answered to an awkward situation by panic-peeling four scotch eggs using his teeth).

Into Leonard’s gentle world comes Shelley (the actress), a recent lively co-worker who cheerily offers to kill Leonard’s appalling boss (the character) in a workplace safety exercise. The rushing noise audible is Leonard’s gentle world being turned upside down.

In other scenes in the first episode of the comedy driven less by plot and more by what younger viewers could describe as “mood”, viewers encounter the older generation (the ever-wonderful the performer), a tired character who covertly observes, saves and reviews daytime quiz shows to dazzle his adoring wife using his trivia skills.

Shepherding the audience through all this minor-key niceness is a narrator who closely resembles – and, indeed, very much is – the famous actress. Yes, the star. If you are thinking, “certainly the inclusion of a major Hollywood star is at odds with the series’ unshowy MO and initially serves only as a distraction?” that's accurate. Still, the actress performs admirably, and phrases for example “Leonard's challenge is that he lacks a look of sudden insight” help ensure that early misgivings fade though not complete approval, then certainly understanding.

Enough complaining at this time. The series' spirit is in the right place: that place is “located on a seat in the company of gentle comedies, pointing out the duck it loves.” This is a show that ambles along in comfortable attire, at times staring at the stars, occasionally down toward the ground, serenely certain that there is nothing in life as uplifting as spending time alongside good friends.

Unlock the entryways within your world, just a bit, and welcome it inside.