A Touch of Frost

A Touch of Frost
Series title card
Genre	Police procedural
Created by	based on the characters created by R. D. Wingfield
Starring	David Jason Bruce Alexander John Lyons
No. of series	15
No. of episodes	42 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Yorkshire Television/ITV Productions
Running time	34x 100 minutes 6x 75 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	4:3 (1992 - 2000) 16:9 (2001 - 2009)
Original run	6 December 1992 – 22 November 2009

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 Edward Frost, GC, known as Jack to everyone but his late wife (after the 1st episode). He is experienced and dedicated to his work,as well as being extremely perceptive and unmatched in the field of detecting. 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.

On 15 September 2008, it was announced that A Touch of Frost will be concluded in 2009 after 17 years, following David Jason's decision to retire the role.

Characterisation

Frost has a tough approach to the rules. He has a tendency to become emotionally involved in his cases. 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. Unlike the general CID reputation, Frost seems to genuinely care about his cases and the victims involved.

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 (he had planned to leave his wife but stayed because of her terminal illness) and drunk (6 beers) 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.

Setting

The series is set in the fictional town of Denton, which from geographical references in the series sometimes appears to be in or near Oxfordshire, more precisely in the upper Thames Valley, or (infrequently) at a non-descript northern location. 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.

Early episodes include references to nearby places such as Oxford and Reading, briefing-room meetings held in front of maps showing the recognizable shape of Swindon displaying the M4 and A417 and (in one case) the actual name "Swindon" clearly visible. This, together with locations that are in the general area, collectively point to the original (unstated) location of "Denton" being Swindon in Wiltshire. However, in the Season 6 episode 'Keys to the Car', Crawley is mentioned as being 60 miles away. Swindon is 106 miles away from Crawley. In the Season 8 episode 'Benefit of the Doubt' a local railwayman states "The 2200 from London came through at 25 past 11 running half an hour late". This places Denton at a point that can be reached in 55 minutes by a fast train from London. In the Season 14 episode 'In the Public Interest', the map on the briefing-room covered the area of York.

In later episodes the program makers may have changed tack to keep the location vague; one recent episode clearly shows a map of Reading in the briefing room - another, Maidenhead while in the episode Endangered Species there's a passing ref to 'driving to Seaford for Lunch' - The only Seaford in the UK is on the South East coast, a short drive from Brighton. In the Season Two episode 'Widows and Orphans', a constable makes reference to the Plymouth (Devon) force sending DOWN the criminal record of a suspect, suggesting Denton is in fact in Cornwall, although that seems unlikely and is unsupported elsewhere in the series. There is however supporting evidence of this in Frost creator RD Wingfield's radio writing. In his 1982 (non-Frost) radio serial Outbreak of Fear, set in the village of Polford somewhere on the Devon/Cornwall coast, one of the characters is on a temporary transfer from nearby Denton. However, the narrator does state that names have been changed and geography altered to conceal the reality of certain points in his account of 'real' events.

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. Various individual location scenes have been identified by sharp-eyed viewers as shot in North London, Oxford, Reading, Swindon, Devizes, Bracknell, Bristol and Birmingham.

Since the programme is produced by ITV in Leeds, most of the outdoor locations are shot in West Yorkshire. Several of the scenes are filmed in the small town of Castleford, West Yorkshire. They are currently filming there for the new series for 2008. All of the outdoor locations are in Yorkshire One episode filmed in and around Leeds. The Meadow Lane gas works in Hunslet, Leeds was used as the setting for one, with plant and buildings being rebranded from 'Northern Gas Networks' to the fictitious 'Southern Gas'.

Supporting cast

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. Originally DCI Allen's assistant, he is later partnered with Frost in most episodes. In the first novel his name was George Martin, and he did not appear in subsequent books, but was retained for the series and remains one of the three original police characters still with the show.
• WPC Hazel Wallace (Caroline Harker) is a young, happy-go-lucky uniformed officer. In the first novel, she was originally named Hazel Page and did not appear in any subsequent books, replaced in succession by other female officers, but was retained in the series for continuity. In the first episode she starts a relationship with DC Clive Barnard, but this quickly fizzles out when he is transferred away from Denton. Upon his temporary return in season 3, Barnard attempts to rekindle their romance but she is already in another relationship. At the end of the same 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 after the first episode 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.
• DCI Jim Allen (Neil Phillips), the first DCI in the series. Little is known about him in the show, but in the novels he and Frost are twin DIs (his upcoming promotion to Chief Inspector is mentioned in the first book, but never seems to come about), and he appears snobbish and uptight, sharing Mullet's dislike of Frost. In the series however he and Frost get on quite well, often working together, sharing jokes about Mullet and concern for each other's emotions on particularly harrowing cases. They share only one significant argument in the series. He appears in season 1 and 2 only, and is temporarily replaced by DCI Charles Hawkes in the first episode of season 3.
• DCI Jim Peters (Nigel Harrison), seemingly replaces Hawkes as the DCI of Denton CID. He is more laid-back and humorous than Allen and appears to have a better relationship with Frost. He is seen in season 4 and 5, but from 6 onwards he is gone.

Other regular characters include a newspaper journalist named 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). Frost's most frequent love interest is nurse Shirley Fisher, played by Lindy Whiteford, who appears in eight episodes.

Production

The saxophone solo heard during the show's theme music is performed by Barbara Thompson.^[1]

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 Killing Frost (2008)

At a press conference in London on the 15th of September 2008, David Jason announced that he will quit the role of DI Jack Frost.^[2] Jason's main reason for quitting the role was that he is now the oldest detective on television and he felt that it was 'natural' to retire as Frost. Sir David said: "You wouldn't want me to play Frost in a wheelchair, would you?"

"Frost is getting a little long in the tooth. I still enjoy doing it and it's a great part but I just think he's got to retire. It'll be a sad day."

Episodes

DVD releases

MPI Home Video has released Series 1-13 on DVD in Region 1. [1]

Endangered Species DVD was labeled as series 12 and not series 13 in the UK. Series 14 was released labeled as series 14 therefore series 13 is missing in the UK,

International broadcasters

Country / Region	Alternate title/Translation	TV network(s)	Series premiere	Weekly schedule
Australia		Seven Network, UKTV and 7Two		Wednesday, 8:30pm
Belgium		VRT		Saturday, 8:40 pm
Canada		Knowledge, SCN, TVOntario
Croatia	Frostov pristup ("Frost's approach")	HRT
Denmark	En sag for Frost ("A Case for Frost")	DR1, TV 2 Charlie		Wednesday, 10 pm
Finland	Komisario Frost ("Inspector Frost")	YLE
France	Inspecteur Frost ("Inspector Frost")	France 3 TMC
Italy	Jack Frost	La7	March 2006	Saturday, 2 pm
Japan	フロスト警部 ("Detective Inspector Frost")	Mystery Channel
Netherlands		KRO		Wednesday 21:20-23:05
New Zealand		UK.TV
Norway	Detektiv Jack Frost ("Detective Jack Frost")	NRK1
Poland	Sprawa dla Frosta ("A Case for Frost")	Universal Channel	6 December 2007	Thursday, 9 pm
Slovenia	Frost	Kanal A
Sweden	Ett fall för Frost ("A Case for Frost")	SVT1, Kanal 9		Varying nights, 9pm
United States		A&E Network

References

1. ^ Biography page of Barbara Thompson.
2. ^ Daily Telegraph David Jason quits as Frost.
3. ^ "IMDB 'Dead End' page". IMDB. May 2008. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1191821/. 
4. ^ "ITV picks up new 'Touch of Frost'". Digitalspy. 15 October 2007. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/programming/a77732/itv-picks-up-new-touch-of-frost.html. 

External links

• A Touch of Frost at itv.com
• A Touch of Frost at epguides.com
• A Touch of Frost at the Internet Movie Database