In fact he proves superb, persuasively capturing this kindly man (but terrible teacher) who seems curiously detached from his own life and who becomes ever vaguer and blanker as the years pass. Atkinson makes the character’s passive singularity continually compelling, hinting at the loneliness of his life in a rented bedsit and movingly suggesting someone who in both his career and his personal relationships is incapable of biting life to the core.