Patience | Series | Telescope Film
Patience

Patience

Patience Evans works in the Criminal Records Office in the city of York. She views the world in a unique way because she has a special gift – she is autistic. Patience has a special interest in solving puzzles and a secret fascination and talent for criminology—her unique perspective allows her to connect the dots through clues in a way others simply cannot. Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf recognizes her talents and takes her under her wing. Patience helps the police tackle a series of challenging cases by bringing her unique insight to crimefighting.

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What are critics saying?

80

TV Insider by Matt Roush

The tension between her undeniable talent and her understandable insecurities makes Patience a winner in its first six-episode season, with a second season underway.

80

Los Angeles Times by Robert Lloyd

As always, the plots are there almost as a pretext to spend time with the characters, and the whole cast is good company. But Purvis especially, in spite of Patience’s self-containment, radiates quiet charisma — new-star power. A second season, happily, is already on the cards.

80

Wall Street Journal by John Anderson

The more convoluted the cases, the more the young woman’s talents can be put on display. But, as in many memorable detective stories, it is the characters and relationships that separate the petty larceny of one’s time from the grand theft of one’s full attention.

80

TV Insider by Matt Roush

The tension between her undeniable talent and her understandable insecurities makes Patience a winner in its first six-episode season, with a second season underway.

80

Los Angeles Times by Robert Lloyd

As always, the plots are there almost as a pretext to spend time with the characters, and the whole cast is good company. But Purvis especially, in spite of Patience’s self-containment, radiates quiet charisma — new-star power. A second season, happily, is already on the cards.

80

Wall Street Journal by John Anderson

The more convoluted the cases, the more the young woman’s talents can be put on display. But, as in many memorable detective stories, it is the characters and relationships that separate the petty larceny of one’s time from the grand theft of one’s full attention.

75

Chicago Tribune by Nina Metz

Bea and Patience carry the show, while the rest of the ensemble is just sort of there. .... The cases themselves are interesting enough and sometimes pivot around an amusing premise.

75

Chicago Tribune by Nina Metz

Bea and Patience carry the show, while the rest of the ensemble is just sort of there. .... The cases themselves are interesting enough and sometimes pivot around an amusing premise.

70

Decider by Joel Keller

Patience shows that its title character’s autism is an asset rather than a problem, and while there are time when Bea is a little flummoxed by Patience’s habits and routines, the show more often than not shows what a neurodivergent person can bring to a complex job like policing.

70

Collider by Isabella Soares

Although the focus on them might come at the expense of other characters getting the development that they deserve, Patience and Bea's relationship is what leads the Season 1 finale to wrap up on a high note, adding to the anticipation of a continuation of Patience's arc.

70

Boston Globe by Lisa Weidenfeld

The term used to describe this kind of show is often “cozy,” but it doesn’t quite fit here. No one is getting bundled up in a warm blanket and having a cup of tea to discuss the case. But there is something cozy about its vision of a world of people who strive so much to appreciate and understand someone who’s different from them.

70

Decider by Joel Keller

Patience shows that its title character’s autism is an asset rather than a problem, and while there are time when Bea is a little flummoxed by Patience’s habits and routines, the show more often than not shows what a neurodivergent person can bring to a complex job like policing.

70

Collider by Isabella Soares

Although the focus on them might come at the expense of other characters getting the development that they deserve, Patience and Bea's relationship is what leads the Season 1 finale to wrap up on a high note, adding to the anticipation of a continuation of Patience's arc.

70

Boston Globe by Lisa Weidenfeld

The term used to describe this kind of show is often “cozy,” but it doesn’t quite fit here. No one is getting bundled up in a warm blanket and having a cup of tea to discuss the case. But there is something cozy about its vision of a world of people who strive so much to appreciate and understand someone who’s different from them.

60

The Times by Carol Midgley

Of course the “unlikely duo” is nothing new for TV cop drama either, but in the very overcrowded crime genre field this at least offers something different.

60

The Telegraph by Chris Bennion

The murders are appropriately baroque for this sort of Euro-procedural, while Fraser and Purvis are always watchable, even if the premise begins to wear thin as the series evolves.

60

i by Isobel Lewis

While the series opener did lean into a number of cop caper clichés (the hard-nosed female detective, the dismissive male boss who refuses to listen to her), it’s Patience herself – and Purvis’s electric performance – that makes this Patience worth sticking with.

60

The Times by Carol Midgley

Of course the “unlikely duo” is nothing new for TV cop drama either, but in the very overcrowded crime genre field this at least offers something different.

60

The Telegraph by Chris Bennion

The murders are appropriately baroque for this sort of Euro-procedural, while Fraser and Purvis are always watchable, even if the premise begins to wear thin as the series evolves.

60

i by Isobel Lewis

While the series opener did lean into a number of cop caper clichés (the hard-nosed female detective, the dismissive male boss who refuses to listen to her), it’s Patience herself – and Purvis’s electric performance – that makes this Patience worth sticking with.