'Patience' Sets Series Premiere for Summer 2025

Astrid fans who have persevered in quietly waiting for the English-language remake, Patience, to arrive on PBS will finally be rewarded for their fortitude. As expected, the series will be part of the PBS "Summer of Mysteries" lineup; however, those who thought the show might be a 10 p.m. ET show will be pleased to learn the show has been deemed family-friendly enough to debut at 8 p.m. ET instead. That's good news for Grantchester's tenth season, which will have the series as a lead-in, and for Patience, which deserves to get a broad audience.

Based on one of Walter Presents' biggest hits on PBS Passport, Patience is an "odd couple investigators solve crimes" series, where the twist is that one of the team has been diagnosed with autism. While most modernized Sherlock Holmes riffs tend to lean into "detective on the spectrum" style explanations, Astrid was unusual for both halves of the team being women, and being upfront about the diagnosis. However, the show was very typical in one respect: The actor playing the titular Astrid was neurotypical.

With the remake, Patience's producers have taken the opportunity to correct that decision, not only casting Ella Maisy Purvis, who is open about her spectrum diagnosis, as the titular Patience, but also assuring viewers and critics in the press releases that all characters who are neurodivergent are played by actors who are as well and that the writing team all have firsthand experience.

Here is the series synopsis:

Patience Evans works in the criminal records department of Yorkshire Police, cataloging and filing the evidence produced during major cases. A young autistic woman, she craves routine and order, relishing the solitude and structure her job provides, but she yearns for more. A brilliant, self-taught criminologist, Patience has an instinctive eye for crime scenes and a passion for problem-solving. Detective Bea Metcalf is the first person to spot and utilize her talent, which opens a door into a whole new world for Patience.  Patience attends a regular support group for autistic adults where they discuss the barriers in operating in a neuro-typical world and how best to navigate it. 

Just to compare, here's the synopsis for the current season of Astrid, which, like the previous three seasons before it, centers the neurotypical half of the team:

Raphaëlle Coste, Commander of the criminal brigade and her autistic sidekick Astrid Nielsen, archivist in criminal documentation, will be confronted with inextricable criminal enigmas. Haunted house, victim dead of fear, crime scene locked from the inside, young man over eighty years old are all mysteries that they will have to elucidate, armed with their differences!

Fraiser and Purvis are joined by a cast that includes Ali Ariaie (The Great), Nathan Welsh (Domina), Tom Lewis (Gentleman Jack), Liza Sadovy (Ridley Road), Sabina Arthur (Queen Charlotte), Jamie Maclachlan (Slow Horses), Joseph Arkley (The Capture), and Rupert Holliday-Evans (Showtrial). Neurodiverse actors will play all neurodivergent characters in the series.

Matt Baker (Hotel Portofino) is the lead writer, with a team that includes Stephen Brady, Sarah Freethy, and Daniella DeVinter, all of whom have personal experience related to autism. Director Maarten Moerkerke helmed all six episodes. As always, McGrath and Iuzzolino executive produce.

Patience Season 1 will premiere on most local PBS stations, the PBS app, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel on Sunday, June 15, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET, to be followed by new Grantchester at 9 p.m. All six episodes of the show's inaugural season will be available on PBS Passport for members to stream on premiere day. Astrid Seasons 1 through 4 are also available to stream for members, with Season 5 expected in early 2026.

(*This will be a small disappointment for Professor T fans, who were hoping the good professor would be the Grantchester lead-in again this summer. However, they won't wait long, as it's just shifted down the calendar to early fall with The Marlow Murder Club and Unforgotten.)