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In a quiet neighborhood of the city, a man stands outside his home, sporting a sleeveless jumper and expressing his thoughts. “It seems like I'm becoming more silent. More invisible,” remarks Leonard, staring up at the night sky. “Circumstances have evolved and now I feel like unless I take action, I will continue in this simple, peaceful routine.” His friend Paul, Leonard’s best and only friend, considers these words. “That's perfectly fine,” he replies, his dressing gown swaying gently. “Superior to striving for recognition only to wind up defacing it.”

For those tired by the chaos and fast pace of current streaming landscape, this series steps in as a foil blanket with a hot drink of blackcurrant juice.

In line with its harmless protagonists, the series – a half-dozen installment comedy written by its authors, adapted from the novelist’s subtle 2019 novel – takes a dim view toward today's world; peering disapprovingly over its prematurely middle-aged glasses at anything that involves disturbances, quick actions or – goodness forbid – too much drive. The series rather, a celebration of shyness; a gentle tribute for those satisfied to amble along away from attention. And yet. Leonard (another sublimely idiosyncratic performance from the star) is unsettled. He notices a creeping “need to open the entryways within my world … slightly.” The passing of his mother has yanked the floor out from under him and this young man, an anonymous author, now realizes reconsidering the choices that directed him to where he is (single; with a protective mustache; working on a range of educational volumes for an employer who signs off messages with the phrase “see you later”).

Therefore Leonard launches on a journey for personal satisfaction, alongside his more outgoing Hungry Paul (the actor) acting as his confidante, guide and co-conspirator during their regular board games evening that serves both as discussion (“Is the pool warm because kids pee in it, or is it that kids pee as it's heated?”) and safe space.

(How did Paul get his nickname? No idea. The source of this name appears lost in history. Perhaps he on one occasion consumed a snack unusually quickly, or answered to a socially fraught incident by nervously peeling some food items using his teeth).

Into Leonard’s gentle world comes Shelley (the actress), a fresh energetic associate who cheerily offers to kill the awful manager (the character) in a workplace safety exercise. That whooshing sound audible signals Leonard's peaceful routine undergoing a shake-up.

Elsewhere in the initial show of a series focused less on story and more on what a modern audience might call “atmosphere”, we meet the older generation (the brilliant the actor), a battered sofa of a man who secretly watches, saves and reviews television game programs to impress his devoted partner with his general knowledge.

Guiding us throughout this minor-key niceness is a narrator who closely resembles – and, indeed, very much is – the Hollywood icon. Indeed, the celebrity. In case you're considering, “certainly the presence of a major Hollywood star contradicts the show's modest approach and starts off as just an interruption?” you're right. Still, the actress performs admirably, and lines like “Leonard’s problem is the missing a ‘eureka’ face” assist in making sure that first reservations give way if not quite to appreciation, then certainly understanding.

Enough complaining at this time. The show's core is well-intentioned: that place is “sitting on a park bench alongside similar shows, showing its favourite duck.” It’s a series that moves gently in its sleeveless jumper, sometimes gazing upward into space, occasionally down at its feet, serenely certain that there is nothing in life as cheering as passing time alongside dear pals.

Unlock the entryways of your life, a little, and welcome it inside.