A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a
detective television series produced by
Yorkshire Television for
ITV in the
United Kingdom.
It stars
David Jason as Detective Inspector William Frost, known as Jack to everyone but his wife. He is experienced and dedicated to his work, but he is always clashing with his superiors, mainly represented in the series by
Superintendent Norman "Horn-rimmed Harry" Mullett, played by
Bruce Alexander. The two have highly incompatible personalities. Mullett is an ambitious buttoned-down by-the-book administrator, and Frost is a down-to-earth "street copper". Nonetheless, they appreciate each other's professional abilities.
Frost has a cavalier approach to the rules, thinking nothing for example of breaking into a suspect's property without a warrant, and can be rude and aggressive to almost anyone, including innocent subordinates. He has a tendency to become emotionally involved in his cases, which Mullet considers unprofessional. However, there is usually someone to guide him back into line before he goes too far, and he does produce the goods. He has a good reputation among his colleagues because, when he is not overwrought about a distressing case, he is approachable and sympathetic, and it is clear that many of the younger detectives seen in the series look up to him as a role model.
Many also regard him as a
hero because he was once shot while on duty, for which he was awarded the
George Cross, however Frost himself is modest about this, regarding himself as unworthy of the honour. The reality is that he was depressed and drunk at the time and approached the armed man out of recklessness, not caring whether he lived or died. Nonetheless, the incident made him the
Chief Constable's blue eyed boy, and this protects him from being fired or retired by Superintendent Mullet. Frost's wife dies in the first episode, leaving him to cope with life on his own, which he finds difficult, throwing himself into his work instead, and living mainly on police canteen sandwiches and Chinese takeaways.
The series is set in the town of
Denton, which from the geographical references in the series appears to be in or near
Oxfordshire. There are at least ten places in the UK named Denton, including one in Oxfordshire, though the town in the series is not directly identified with any of them. However, early episodes show maps of Swindon, and this together with references to nearby places such as Oxford and Reading, briefing meetings held in front of maps showing the recognizable shape of Swindon (and in one case the actual name Swindon is visible on the map) with the M4 and A417 and locations that are in the general area, collectively point to the location of
Denton being
Swindon in
Wiltshire. In later episodes the program makers may have changed tack or forgotten this; one recent episode clearly shows a map of
Reading in the briefing room. The general impression remains one of the
Thames Valley force. In one episode, a postcode with a DN prefix (which in real life would apply to the area around
Doncaster) was shown to exist within the Denton area, but this was subsequently acknowledged to be a production error.
Unlike most TV detectives, Frost does not have a single regular sidekick, and indeed some of his sidekicks are seen in only one or two episodes. There are, however, a number of regular supporting characters who are frequently seen and often promoted to a "sidekick" role:
*DS George Toolan (
John Lyons), Jack's long-time friend and colleague, with whom he shares an office. George is about the same age as Jack, but a rank lower. He is more cautious. He appears (in some capacity) in most episodes.
*WPC Hazel Wallace (
Caroline Harker) is a young, happy-go-lucky uniformed officer. At the end of the third series she moved to CID, and though she ceased to be a regular she continued to make guest appearances in later series, and was promoted to detective sergeant.
*DC Clive Barnard (
Matt Bardock), nephew of the Chief Constable. Most people believe he has only got into CID through his family connections, but Frost sees beyond that and takes Barnard under his wing. Later promoted to DS, but killed off in a
1997 episode.
*DS Terry Reid (
Robert Glenister). A tough London detective, he has often been in trouble in the past for his extreme methods, though he has mellowed by the time we see him.
Other regular characters include nosey newspaper journalist Sandy Longford (
Bill Stewart), who is always pestering Frost for information on his latest case, and sometimes has some useful information of his own, and police archivist Ernie Trigg (David Jason's real-life brother
Arthur White).
Only one new episode was produced during
2005. As announced in various television guides, but with little publicity as of yet, there are three new episodes currently being produced.
These episodes are due for transmission late 2006.
Repeats can currently be seen on
ITV1 and
ITV3.
The series is based on the novels of
R.D. Wingfield*
Frost at Christmas (1984)
*
A Touch of Frost (1987)
*
Night Frost (1992)
*
Hard Frost (1995)
*
Winter Frost (1999)
A Touch of Frost is shown in
Norway on
NRK1, but due to the word play being lost in translation, it is called Detektiv Jack Frost.In
Sweden it is shown on
SVT1 and is called Ett fall för Frost.It is also shown in Ontario, Canada on
TVO usually every Sunday night at 8:00pm with an additional episode (or a repeat) during the week. In
Finland it is shown on
YLE during the summer, and in
The Netherlands, on
Nederland 1.
*
A Touch of Frost episode guides
