'Patience' Premieres with a Solid, if Familiar, Debut Episode

New drama series Patience is the latest in a line of English-language remakes of Walter Presents titles. Based on the popular French show Astrid, the new series centers on Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis), a twenty-something autistic woman working in the criminal records department, and her incredible investigative insight that leads her to assist the well-meaning but sometimes clueless DI Beatrice Metcalf (Laura Fraser) in solving active crimes.

Like several other remakes penned by PBS heavy-hitter Matt Baker, Patience suffers from Season 1 syndrome: the plots of the original series’ first seasons are retreads, draped in an English setting. Were the producers worried that straying too far from the original would alienate fans? That said, Astrid’s first season contains some damn fine mysteries to model from, including the one that unfolds in Patience’s first episode, “Paper Mountain Girl, Part 1.”

The show works best when allowed to stretch beyond the source material and add something new. For instance, the opening scene shows Patience in her home environment, which Astrid rarely, if ever, did with its analogous character in the first season. Wearing headphones that are omnipresent, Patience times herself solving and then reassembling a complicated metal puzzle, almost like a soldier field-stripping a rifle. An animal lover, we meet her cat, followed by her bearded dragon, and her mice.

We get a taste for Patience’s blunt social skills when a rando (Nathan Graham) asks her out at the bus stop. She’s unintentionally funny when rejecting him with simple truths like she doesn’t drink alcohol or coffee. When he asks for her phone number, she recites it immediately, at lightning speed, then clarifies she never answers unknown numbers.

Meanwhile, a desperate and somewhat dazed man, Dr. Aadesh Chopra (Deepak Verma), withdraws £8000 cash, throws the envelope into a trash bin at a car park, then self-immolates on the top level. It’s rather disturbing, but not unexpected if you’ve watched Astrid.

DI Metcalf is assigned the case by her boss, DCI Calvin Baxter (Mark Benton), but she’s sure it’s suicide. Unlike her analog in Astrid, Raphaelle, Metcalf appears respected at her job and is not constantly in trouble. However, the other aspects of her life remain the same: she’s a workaholic struggling to remember to pick up her son on the few days a week she has custody.

Chopra’s widow, Prisha (Rekha John-Cheriyan), mentions the cash withdrawal to Metcalf as the only odd thing about his behavior that day. The money wasn’t found on the scene, and Prisha insists that her husband had an obsessive habit of paying with credit cards. It sparks a memory in Metcalf of a similar suicide: Neal Jamieson.

The detective requests the Jamieson file from “paper mountain” – the records office where Patience works. Patience provides an additional file of a strikingly similar case. Intrigued, Metcalf sneaks into the records room to ask about the second file. Patience is uncomfortable with the rule-breaking, but can’t help correcting Metcalf’s wrong assumptions. Patience presents the similarities between Chopra, Jamieson, and the third suicide, Brendan Clark: all were psychiatrists who made large cash withdrawals and died on the 4th Friday of the month. Metcalf brings her new suspicions to Baxter, but he wants cold facts, not intuition. She admits the CCTV footage shows Chopra was alone; Baxter wants the case closed.

After trying and failing at a phone call, Patience waits for Metcalf in person to impart her new theory that scopolamine was present in all three deaths. The chemical is found in truth serums, some religious practices, and can be used to induce self-harm. She can’t prove it with Clark or Jamieson, whose toxicology reports were conducted too late to detect the substance. However, Patience’s hunch leads the skeptical pathologist, Dr. Parsons (Liza Sadovy), to run tests which find the chemical in Chopra’s lungs.

Trying to convince her colleagues of the significance of this finding, Metcalf asks Patience to summarize with her vast knowledge. But Patience is overstimulated from all the noises, the people, and everything outside her predictable routine.

This is another area where the show could improve: we need to see this overwhelm from Patience’s perspective. In Astrid, we got POV shots that put you in the experience – shaky cam, tilted angles, brightening lights, high-pitched noises. Patience doesn’t utilize any of those tactics.

Patience faces the wall while we have a flashback of her child psychiatrist misdiagnosing her as schizophrenic and recommending hospitalization. He claims she’ll never be able to live independently or be beneficial to society. Beyond simple storytelling, this serves as an essential reminder that autism is still widely misunderstood, even by doctors. Patience’s father (Jamie MacLachlan), a detective, is her biggest champion. He insists she speak when at home, though she’s developed a “morbid fascination” with his police cases. As an audience, we’re already aware that her father died and that she now lives with Mr. Gilmour (Adrian Rawlins), but we don’t know their connection.

After the flashback, Patience is unable to speak and runs from the room. Metcalf waits for Patience at the end of the day, genuinely concerned, and drives her to her next destination: a support group for adults with autism. Metcalf stays for the session, making Patience extremely uncomfortable. Although she’s there without permission, it allows Metcalf to realize why Patience seems so different. It also prompts her to think deeply about her son Alfie’s (Maxwell Whitelock) behavioral issues.

Metcalf and DS Hunter (Nathan Welsh) investigate the hotel where Neal Jamieson died. Comparing the now-clean room to the crime photo, Metcalf comments that the death scene looks like “that painting.” She notices a mostly smoked cigar on the tub ledge and asks Hunter to investigate the brand of the cigar.

Yemaya (Joana Borja), a cleaning lady, comes in but runs when they show a badge. When they catch up to her, the cleaning supervisor (Lucy Brownhill) explains she’s freaked since she was the one who found Jamieson. The detectives learn from the supervisor that Jamieson was a frequent flyer and used the rooms during the day. Metcalf assumes he was having an affair.

Metcalf interviews Jamieson’s wife, Naomi (Beverley Longhurst), who was recovering from the birth of their first child when he checked into the hotel and died. Naomi says Jamieson was ecstatic about the baby and denies ever staying at the hotel with her husband. She divulges that Jamieson was treated for sex addiction and used to engage prostitutes. With this knowledge, plus the cash, Metcalf suspects Jamieson paid someone for sex. She tries to tell Hunter of her suspicions, but he interrupts: Patience has been taken into custody.

In an interview room, Patience is mute and rocks back and forth. Baxter reveals they have video of her visiting the crime scene days after Chopra’s death, and that her heavy medication regimen and patterns of behavior fit a “certain type of perpetrator.” The clinker? Victim Brendan Clark was the doctor who wanted her committed as a child. Patience’s “unhealthy interest” in the case now suggests a motive for murder.

In a six-episode run, it’s an interesting choice to make the first episode a two-parter. But I think it works. The show successfully builds affection for Patience, and leaving her in a bind makes you immediately want to see part two. This empathy is evoked in no small part due to Purvis, who infuses Patience with charm, sweetness, and tenacity. She makes the show worth watching.

Patience Season 1 continues on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on PBS, the PBS App, PBS Passport, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. All six episodes are available for members to stream on PBS Passport starting from premiere day.