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In a peaceful neighborhood of the city, a person can be found in his driveway, dressed in a tank top and sharing his concerns. “I notice my voice is fading. Less noticeable,” says Leonard, staring into the darkness. “One thing’s led to another and currently I feel like without a change, my life will proceed in this minor, harmless existence.” His friend Paul, his only companion, considers this statement. “That's perfectly fine,” he answers, his dressing gown flapping with the wind. “Preferable to striving for recognition only to wind up defacing it.”

For anyone exhausted by the bluster and rat-tat-tat of modern television landscape, the show steps in similar to a warm cover and warming mug of blackcurrant juice.

Like its harmless protagonists, this comedy – a six-episode comedy created by its authors, inspired by the novelist’s subtle 2019 novel – casts a critical eye at modern life; looking skeptically above its eyewear at anything that involves loud sounds, quick actions or – heaven forfend – excessive aspiration. The program is, instead, a tribute to quiet people; a quiet celebration of those content to amble along below the parapet. But. Leonard (one more distinctly original performance by the actor) is unsettled. He senses a growing “need to open the doors and windows within my world … just a bit.” The loss of his mother has whisked the rug from under his slippers and this young man, a ghost writer, now finds himself reconsidering the paths that directed him to this point (single; defensively moustached; writing several educational volumes for a man who ends emails saying “goodbye for now”).

Thus Leonard begins an exploration for personal satisfaction, accompanied by the somewhat braver Hungry Paul (Laurie Kynaston) acting as his close companion, mentor and partner in a weekly gaming session that serves both as discussion (“Does the pool feel warm from kids relieving themselves, or do kids pee in it since it's warm?”) and refuge.

(How did Paul get his nickname? The reason is unknown. The origin of the moniker appears lost to the mists of time. It could be that he once ate some food in record time, or answered to a tense moment by panic-peeling several snacks using his teeth).

Into Leonard’s gentle world comes a new colleague (the performer), a fresh energetic associate who happily suggests to eliminate his terrible supervisor (Paul Reid) during the office fire drill. The rushing noise audible represents Leonard's calm life undergoing a shake-up.

Elsewhere during the opening installment of the comedy not heavily plotted and centered around what a modern audience could describe as “atmosphere”, we meet Hungry Paul’s dad (the consistently great the actor), a tired character who covertly observes, records then replays daytime quiz shows to impress his devoted partner using his trivia skills.

Guiding viewers throughout this minor-key niceness is a narrator that sounds very much like – and, indeed, very much is – the famous actress. Truly, the celebrity. If you are thinking, “certainly the use of a big-name celebrity clashes with the series’ unshowy MO and at first acts merely as an interruption?” you would be correct. However, Roberts acquits herself well, and phrases like “The issue with Leonard is his absence of a look of sudden insight” help ensure that initial doubts give way though not complete approval, then at minimum tolerance.

Enough complaining currently. The show's core is in the right place: the right place being “located on a seat next to the Detectorists, indicating the duck it loves.” The program that strolls leisurely in comfortable attire, occasionally looking up toward the sky, sometimes downward at its feet, serenely certain that nothing is in life as cheering as spending time with close companions.

Open the doors and windows of your life, just a bit, and allow it entry.