First Look at PBS 'Astrid' Remake 'Patience' Introduces The New Duo

Filming for Patience, the highly anticipated English-language remake of the fan-favorite French series Astrid (Astrid et Raphaëlle), has just completed in the U.K., and with the end of filming comes the announcement that a distributor on that side of the pond has signed on to air the series. The show already had a confirmed broadcaster in the U.S., with PBS boarding the show from the jump due to Astrid's word-of-mouth popularity on PBS Passport as part of the Walter Presents collection of foreign favorites. Channel 4, the U.K. home of Walter Presents, was the natural fit for the show, but the network held off until there was a finished product before agreeing.

The original France 2 series Astrid et Raphaëlle, which Walter Presents shortened to Astrid for U.K. and U.S. audiences, begins when DCI Raphaëlle Coste (Lola Dewaere) meets police archivist Astrid Nielsen (Sara Mortensen), an autistic savant who hides herself away in the basement of the precinct. An autistic savant who has become a walking encyclopedia of criminology, Raphaelle recognizes her value in the field and starts taking her out on cases over the protests of both their superiors. Despite initial misgivings and stumbles, the two soon become an unstoppable team and the best of friends.

However, France is not exactly known for their diversity, and with Mortensen, Astrid's producers cast a neurotypical actor to play a neurodivergent character. The English remake quietly corrects this bias, with neurodivergent actor Ella Maisy Purvis playing neurodivergent protagonist Patience in the new version.