Patience

I was so angry to see the reviews in the Mail, GB News, Sun, Star, even the Guardian. The headline was the same in almost all of them and it seemed to be an organised attack on the show by the media. It makes one wonder who wrote the original article and who paid for it! I can forgive ignorance about autism but this front page headline:

Patience viewers 'switch off after just ten minutes' as they blast show for 'ripping off' rival drama and slate 'awful' Channel 4 scenes

The same headline and more or less the same text appeared in all these papers on the same day. All front page.

Now if you watched only the first ten minutes, you wouldn't have seen anything to make a judgement! All the episodes begin by setting up the scene of the crime and those involved. Perhaps these people thought that the DI was the main character and autistic, they cetainly didn't sit down with the intention of watching it.

There are so many series that 'copy' foreign series, and so many series with a similar theme: autistic detective is brilliant at solving crimes. Think Sherlock Holmes, Dr House and many many more, it is a bit of a cliche; however, this series goes further than most others in showing the characteristic behaviour of one kind of autism very well.

So was the show attacjìked in such a way???? Perhaps Patience can solve this mystery in the first episode of Season 2!

My son is autistic and I loved this show as it got nearly everything right for a single case of autism. Autism is a spectrum with so many characteristics and problems.

My son doesn't communicate directly but speaks endlessly on occasion, so anyone can see he is different, but many autistic people can fake normal behaviour and take part in society. However, the intensity of their senses can make it increasingly impossible to function, and they can freeze, become angry, or run. Patience showed this aspect very well.

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Patience is an extremely poor remake of Astrid and Raphael, a long running French / Belgian production that has just ended its fifth series. Unlike its far superior portrayal of Astrid and her neurotypical difficulties, which are explored in much greater detail and far more sympathetically, Patience falls short of the mark in so many areas. As a person who has raised foster children who were on the autistic spectrum, Patience simply doesn't do justice to their trials and tribulations. Those wishing to watch a far more intelligent and extremely empathetic portrayal of the autistic spectrum, should search for Astrid and Raphael, as it is readily available for download or streaming, and is a sumptuous feast by comparison.

This English version lacked poignant moments that could have been developed with the lead character, Patience.

The French / Belgian version; Astrid et Raphaëlle (Astrid on C4 UK) the lead character Astrid was played with more depth, and where you could feel her struggles.

All in all this is watchable and it was good to see the relationship develop between Patience and Detective Bea. This also showed how the main characters learned how to be understanding of Patience and tolerant towards Patience's difficulties, but also becoming more respectful of the skills that Patience could bring to the team.

Some really good casting in this version and I hope to see a second series, to see how all these characters evolve.

It's was great to see a location that was filmed outside of London.

I am told by a friend that the French/Belgian series on which this is based is a superior watch. However, as I have yet to see that original I cannot compare, and can only judge Patience on it's own merits. So, I enjoyed it. It was a little different from the run of the mill detective series, and the better for it in my humble opinion. I thought the two leads were very good indeed, and were backed by a decent supporting cast. I thought that Patience's autism was handled with sensitivity although one or two elements of her condition seemed to be magically resolved by single incidents. That didn't, for me, take anything away from my overall enjoyment. I'll watch Astrid soon so I can make the comparison.

In a world where the superb Franco-Belgian series "Astrid et Raphaelle" (2019; IMDb ID tt11950864) wouldn't exist, Patience would be a decent effort, meriting perhaps 6/10 or 7/10. However, we live in a world where (thankfully) the original series "Astrid et Raphaelle" does exist. I would strongly recommend anyone who plans to watch Patience to watch "Astrid et Raphaelle" instead.

In "Astrid et Raphaelle", Astrid is the main character and her autism and journey to interacting more easily with "normies" is the red thread through the (40+ so far) episodes. This is a slow process for which we get a first-row seat. Also, the actress playing Astrid is absolutely outstanding and you really feel empathy towards her, you root for her and are occasionally left with a lump in your throat.

By contrast, in Patience everything feels hurried. In only six episodes Patience/Astrid starts to smile, hugs a kid and kisses a man, more or less "just like that". No slow, shared journey with insights into Astrid's inner being. Patience/Astrid is barely the main character, which is odd since the series is named after her. It feels that the rush causes Patience/Astrid to be used as a deus ex machina more than a character - the bringer of missing links just in time to catch the culprit. On top of that, the story lines are recycled from the original series as well. All in all, Patience feels like a rushed and lazy series.

PS: One of the episodes of Patience features a character called Peter Venkman. Surely, this must be a conscious reference to Bill Murray's character in Ghostbusters... :-)