Julia Roberts To Narrate Quaint Irish Board Game Comedy

We miss Derry Girls. And while we (impatiently) await Lisa McGee’s next comedy – titled How to Get to Heaven From Belfast and starring Caoilfhionn Dunne, Roisin Gallagher and Sinéad Keenan for Netflix – we’re excited to see star Jamie-Lee O’Donnell in a new comedy following her recent cop roles in Screw and The Feud. And, led by Alex Lawther and Laurie Kynaston, there is a Hollywood quality to Leonard & Hungry Paul, which is set to be narrated by none other than Julia Roberts. Here’s everything we know so far.

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Leonard & Hungry Paul: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Hot off his main role in high profile FX series Alien: Earth, Alex Lawther – who is best known for his haunting 2016 Black Mirror episode ‘Shut Up and Dance’ as well as playing self-proclaimed psychopath James in The End of the F***ing World (2017–19) – is returning to his acting roots: playing an oddball.

In Leonard & Hungry Paul, Lawther stars as the titular Leonard, a ghost writer for children’s encyclopedias. Laurie Kynaston, meanwhile, is Hungry Paul, a part time postal worker who still lives with his parents. Both men are in their thirties, enjoy playing board games together, and meander through leafy suburban life finding solace in their day-to-day routines.

But then things start to change. Leonard’s mother dies unexpectedly, and Hungry Paul’s sister is about to get married. While a tentative new romance enters Leonard’s life, both men are thrown off kilter and forced to reckon with a world that is getting wider, chock-full of unfamiliar possibilities.

Directed by Andrew Chaplin (who has previously worked on the likes of Alma’s Not Normal and Smoggie Queens), it’s all based on Irish writer Rónán Hessian’s 2019 debut novel of the same name, which is described by the Guardian as ‘a low-key look at the ordinary lives of two unremarkable men [which] elevates the humdrum through wit and poignancy’.

‘At a time when most shows involve dragons, detectives, or existential dread, Leonard & Hungry Paul takes a slower route: through kindness, the quiet gravity of small things, and the occasional game of backgammon,’ Chaplin says. ‘Proof that not all heroes shout – some just know when to stay quiet.’

All of this is narrated by an all-seeing voice, in a sense taking the reins from author Hessian. In an intriguing twist, taking the role of narrator is Julia Roberts in her first television role since 2022’s Gaslit, which BBC Ireland’s head of content commissioning Eddie Doyle describes as ‘another rising endorsement for how special this project is’.

Roberts’ ‘extraordinary voice and storytelling talent […] will add to the magic of this story and we are excited to bring it to audiences very soon,’ Doyle says.

First announced at the BBC Comedy Festival in Belfast earlier this year, Leonard & Hungry Paul was filmed in Dublin earlier this spring, but is set to land on our screens before the year is up – a quick turnaround.

Adapted for the screen by writers Richie Conroy and Mark Hodkinson, the novel’s blurb details how ‘Leonard & Hungry Paul is the story of two friends trying to find their place in the world. It is about the uncelebrated people of this world. And it asks a surprisingly enthralling question: Can kind people change the world?’

‘I am delighted to see Leonard & Hungry Paul being adapted for the screen,’ Hessian says. ‘It’s a real privilege as a writer to see my work being brought to life in a different creative form.’

The Cast

Alex Lawther and Laurie Kynaston will star in the titular roles of Leonard and Hungry Paul respectively, joined by Derry Girls star Jamie-Lee O’Donnell as Shelley. Best known for his theatre work and Cradle to Grave (2015), most recently you will recognise Kynaston from Fool Me Once in his pivotal role as Corey ‘the whistle’ Rudzinski.

They are joined, at least audibly, by Julia Roberts who stars as the narrator. One of the most renowned stars of her generation, Roberts has scooped up an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globes across her acting career, which spans beloved rom-coms to more recent dramas, thrillers and indie films. She is perhaps best known for her roles in Pretty Woman (1990), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) and Ocean’s Eleven (2001), and here in the UK for Notting Hill (1999). Though only featuring her voice, Leonard & Hungry Paul marks Roberts’ debut on British telly.

Elsewhere in the Leonard & Hungry Paul cast, Helen Behan, Lorcan Cranitch, Niamh Branigan, Paul Reid, Charlotte McCurry and David O’Reilly are all set to star.

Release Date

Leonard & Hungry Paul will air on BBC One Northern Ireland, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer this autumn – though no specific air date just yet. The series will be made up of six episodes. Stay tuned for more.