Astrid: Murder in Paris - TV detective series

I am regularly on the lookout for something to watch which reflects neurodivergence and this can be quite difficult if excluding the depiction of extreme stereotypes. Recently, a friend recommended a Walter Presents detective series called Astrid: Murder in Paris and I’m hooked. Don’t be put off by the subtitles!

A Franco-Belgian television series broadcast initially as Astrid et Raphaëlle on France 2 in 2019, there are 3 series now available on Channel 4 on demand in the UK. Astrid Nielsen is an autistic archivist with a remarkable capacity to remember every case that she has handled who partners with detective Raphaëlle to solve crimes. Her superb memory and love of puzzles mean that she is an invaluable asset to the team analyzing investigations.

Crime stories aside, this show depicts autism well in my opinion, contrary to many other series available at the moment. You can tell that the producers took care to incorporate Astrid’s characteristics and difficulties into the portrayal of her daily life. I relate and find some of her attributes amusing, such as her literal translations of sarcasm and the episode where she solves an escape room in 12 minutes, not seeing the point in using up the allotted hour. More seriously, she is presented as socially awkward, preferring her own company. She wears ear defenders, she stims and experiences panic attacks and shutdowns. I particularly like the support groups that she attends where we get to listen to other neurodivergent members talking about their difficulties. I wish there were such support groups locally.

There are even coping strategies woven into the plot. For example, Astrid uses beans as a visual representation of her emotions, stress and anxiety. It reminds me of the spoons theory. Each spoon symbolizes a unit of mental or physical stress and it is important not to exceed the number of limited spoons given at the start of each day. Some strategies may be a little extreme, such as planning charts for each telephone call, and her behaviour is quite robotic and lacks emotion, something that not all autistic people suffer with.

All in all, I think that we should look past a few clichés as the script is well written and could even be described as performing a public service.