Patience on Channel 4

Hi A, you said you couldn't think of many autistic characters apart from Rain Man. Some examples of novels, movies & TV series with male autistic characters are:

The curious incident of the dog in the night time

The Good Doctor

Sherlock

Atypical

The big bang theory

The A word

Pixiefox said:

autistic characters in movies, TV shows or books are mostly male

I can’t actually think of many except Rainman, which was based on a real person who wasn’t autistic.

Pixiefox said:

crime plots were difficult to follow

This is true and a consequence of trying to compress the originals from Astrid down into a small number of shorter episodes. Things were much clearer and better explained in Astrid.

Pixiefox said:

present of a thimble

This was handled differently in Astrid and made more sense the way they did it.

This all said, I liked Patience a lot. It’s probably the most realistic presentation of autism that I’ve seen in a drama.

I've now watched all 6 episodes. If you haven't watched it all yet - spoilers ahead!

This is what I thought was good, or what I identified with:

It's good that the main autistic character is female - as autistic characters in movies, TV shows or books are mostly male.

It showed Patience writing down a plan of what to say in a phone call. (I do this in my head - for emails, text messages & face to face conversations as well)

It showed her shutting down, quietly crying, having to escape from a situation, and doubting her own abilities in several scenes, which I identified with and it showed the more subtle signs of autism.

It portrayed how neurotypical people not giving clear unambiguous instructions to autistic people can cause real problems.

There were other autistic people in it, not just the main character, which showed that we are all different. Although Patience had been lucky in having her skills valued in the workplace by a senior colleague, others were undervalued or struggling in the workplace.

This is what I didn't like, or didn't identify with:

The crime plots were difficult to follow, and the first story showed people ending their own lives, which could be traumatic for sensitive viewers.

Patience sent down crime files to Bea that had not been requested, because she determined that they had information in them that related to a case. But that was not protocol and autistic people are usually rule followers. I would have emailed Bea with my findings and asked her if she wished to see the other files.

The maze like mouse cage that she kept the mice in at her workplace - I felt sorry for the poor things, they looked too cramped. She's supposed to be an animal lover, so I thought it was inappropriate.

I was confused by her giving Bea a birthday present of a thimble, which was ridiculed by Bea's colleague. I get that they were trying to show how some NT people don't understand the intentions of autistic people and Bea did say she understood that it was symbolic of being protected from harm, but I still don't understand it as the only harm it protects from is being pricked by a needle and there was no indication Bea liked sewing. I would have bought her an umbrella as she never seemed to have one when it was raining.

I've only watched the first couple of episodes, but I felt similarly. There's just so much that rings true about her experience. 

That's what I thought! I was trying to say this below, but you put it far better.

Not just me that ended up tearful then!

Binged watched this weekend and loved it. 

The scenes in the Autistic Adults group seem to be designed to inform an NT audience about issues of import to Autistic people, which is helpful.

Hehe - common - that's me too! :-)

Agreed on all counts.  I too find Patience attractive.  Hehe platonic love for me of course as I am married :-)  Great to see autistic actors being autistic.  I am really interested to find out and get an insight of how neurotypical people see and respond to the series.  I imagine that some people ill find it easier to put themselves "in the shoes" of different characters according to where they are and what they are able to.  I wish this and similar media presentations to work as a good "Trojan Horse" for autism.  

Hehe slightly old (fashioned) I'll hold my hand up to that :-)

yep - culture expects quick and simple these days.  Getting to appreciate things can take longer and more sustained experience and that depends upon the public appetite to engage for longer maybe...

Okay, I have binge watched the rest of Patience now. And I think I’ve fallen in love with her.

The series is quite different from Astrid et Raphaelle - which was more entertaining and quirky and probably better paced - but Patience is probably the best portrayal of autism I have seen and I am overwhelmed with empathy for her.

Yep - I've met them too.  Always been tricky for me to know what to do about it.  Having someone like Detective Bea "on our side" is important for balancing the score.

As for trying to explain everything at once - yes agreed - difficult....  The way that they started with basic ideas of autism and developed them gradually thro' the next episodes.  I think is reasonably well done.  In the last episode of "Astrid" the lead character summed things up about themselves as "I don't do stress and I don't do change easily..." (or something like that)  I have a little teaching training - tell them what you're going to teach. teach them it, tell them what you've taught them" is a pretty good strategy.  In some ways "Inform. Entertain, Educate" are pretty good when we explore public broadcasting :-)

Ah now I understand. With that explanation I completely agree. I'd have liked to see the characters doing their normal thing and get to know them separately before they came together to help each other. If they'd made it over more episodes I think it'd have flowed better and I'd have found it less clunky.

A gallon is 8 pints, a quart is a quarter of a gallon or 2 pints (just under a litre), a pint pot is a glass beer mug that holds a traditional British pint of beer in a pub. It's a slightly old fashioned, but common British saying, meaning that something is being squeezed into a container half the size it needs to be.

Yes, I will do my best to Expecto_Patronum :-) It comes from units of liquid measurement. A quart(-er) of a gallon is 2 pints.  So putting 2 pints in a one pint container leads to problems.  I mean to suggest that the Patience series is trying to put too much content into too few episodes. Sorry I did not explain this well to start with.

Could you explain what a quart in a pint pot means please?

Sadly the review is still on their website. Ironically it is proof we need dramas like Patience to educate people.

I think you might be right, Phased, a quart in a pint pot will always be an issue when trying to explain in a drama, the persective of once character.

I've met so many men like Detective Bea's sidekick and her boss too, typical NT's in thier superior attitudes towards anyone a bit different. They make perfect foils for Bea and Patience, I hope people concentrate on thier interactions with Patience as much as they Patience's with everyone else. By watching the two guys one can see how much non verbal stuff is going on and all the micro-aggressions, assumptions and suspicions ND's face.

The Guardian article seems to have been pulled. Perhaps they realised how silly her comments were.