Sheen has previously brought a winning, twinkle-eyed mischief to roles in Good Omens and Staged. He’s a convincing David Frost in Frost/Nixon and an uncanny Tony Blair in The Queen. Here he’s magnetic and multi-layered, evoking the anguish of a man committed to his child’s welfare, yet at odds with his wife about how best to proceed.

Kamel El Basha, who stars as Sheikh Mohammad al-Hamedi in House of Gods (ABC, Sunday, 8.30pm and iview), doesn’t have the profile that Capaldi and Sheen have established here. However, the Palestinian actor, director, playwright and producer won the Best Actor award at the 2017 Venice International Film Festival for his role in the acutely observed Lebanese social and legal drama, The Insult, and he delivers a finely calibrated performance in this ambitious local production.

Created by Osamah Sami and Shahin Shafaei, the six-part series focuses on the al-Hamedi family and the Messenger mosque as it introduces viewers to a fictional Muslim community in Sydney. Episodes are built around events – the election of a head cleric, the selection of the mosque’s committee, contentious plans for a new Islamic school – with the opener hinging on the progressive sheikh’s bid to become the mosque’s leader.

A widowed former academic, he’s established early as a thoughtful, intelligent and compassionate authority figure. He’s also, as his adopted son, Isa (Sami), notes, “a tactician” who can “talk a fish out of swimming” and he’s seen to be ambitious and not free of flaws. That’s appropriate as one of the drama’s concerns is the impact of power on a range of characters, including the impulsive and imprudent Isa and his shrewd, more strategic sister, Batul (Maia Abbas).

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House of Gods is keen to present a mosaic portrait of a vibrant enclave that is sometimes fractious and divided.

There are reformists and conservatives; fraught romances, power plays, alliances, betrayals and corruption. There are also ingrained customs and rituals, strong bonds and a deep devotion to faith.

In its efforts to unveil the workings of a community that might be foreign to many viewers and to portray it with sensitivity and complexity, the drama suffers at times from clunky expository dialogue: it has a tendency to over-explain, rendering some conversations forced and inauthentic.

However, any scene featuring El Basha seems to glide over such glitches. He becomes the soul of series, anchoring it with grace and gravitas. I look forward to seeing him again.