Patience star on why major cast exit 'really works' – and how missing character is 'crucial' to season 2

Patience star Ella Maisy Purvis has opened up on the show's major cast change, praising new co-star Jessica Hynes – and assuring that absent DI Bea Metcalf (Laura Fraser) remains "crucial" to her character's journey.

The Channel 4 crime drama follows criminologist Patience Evans (Purvis), who went from a backroom job in criminal records to frontline detective work in the previous season, after gaining DI Metcalf as an unexpected mentor.

Alas, in season 2, we learn that the detective has moved away for another job without warning, and replacement DI Frankie Monroe (Jessica Hynes) is less interested in collaborating with Patience – nor is she delicate about expressing it.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com ahead of the show's return tonight, Purvis said she "loved" working with Fraser and had some initial concerns about her departure. Ultimately though, she's "relieved" that swapping in a new co-lead "really works for the story".

"I think when anyone leaves a TV show, it's sad, because they're your friend, and then you realise that you're not going to see them every day at work," she explained.

"I was worried [about] how they were going to kind of spin it, but the dynamic that Jessica brings into season 2 is fantastic. And it's just so different and new and zesty."

Hynes describes Frankie as a "grumpy, stern, hard-bitten policewoman," who initially views Patience as nothing more than "a nuisance and a liability" – making their dynamic far more fraught than the earlier status quo.

But while viewers shouldn't expect Fraser's character to pop up and save the day, she still has a role to play even in absentia, with Purvis promising that the bond they established is "crucial" to finding a path forward.

"It's not [just] the first episode, then it's done," continued Purvis. "A big part of Patience's journey in the season is getting over that – and also, realising and reminding herself of what that experience had taught her."

She added: "Her relationship with Bea is very much crucial in her finding strength and the chutzpah to carry on doing what she knows she does best [despite Frankie's opposition]."

Purvis and Hynes are joined in Patience season 2 by several returning cast members, including Nathan Welsh as Patience's friend DS Jake Hunter, Mark Benton as boss DCI Calvin Baxter and Elliot Scott as love interest Tom Lewis.

Patience season 2 premieres tonight, Wednesday 7th January 2026, at 9pm on Channel 4.

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