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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. Neither is he above planting evidence to arrest a criminal who would otherwise get away with the crime. Frost can also 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 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: 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. One of these new episodes is set to air on ITV1 in the autumn of 2006, called Endangered Species. It has been mentioned in a few TV listings magazines that the other two episodes will be shown over the festive period 2006/2007. Repeats can currently be seen on ITV1 and ITV3. The series is based on the novels of R. D. Wingfield:
Episodes Frost abroad 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. In Finland it is shown on YLE during the summer, and in The Netherlands, on Nederland 1. It is also shown in Ontario, Canada on TVO, in British Columbia on Knowledge Network, and in Saskatchewan on SCN. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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