A Touch Of Frost

[crookedspire]

I'm not normally into Police dramas but I enjoyed watching David Jason in a Touch of Frost never got into Morse or the Bill. Also quite liked the moody theme tune to Touch of Frost.

[Highnote]

Many years ago I was in the company of some police officers and the subject of police dramas on TV came up and what was the worst and the answers were unanimous "A Touch of Frost" and they all agreed David Jason was too small for the part of a policeman

[Guest]

I enjoyed it, especially the early episodes. There was a great deal of scepticism before the first series in 1992 about David Jason's suitability for such a role, especially as RD Wingfield's character in the books was rather more, shall we say, gritty than what people had previously associated David Jason with. As it turned out, the series softened up both Frost and the stories significantly, and David Jason made the role his own.

 

Unlike Colin Dexter, who fully embraced the softening of his Morse character for TV, RD Wingfield didn't enjoy the cuddlier TV version, saying it wasn't his Frost at all. If you read the books, you'll see why.

 

RD Wingfield did a lot of writing for radio drama. If you can find Outbreak of Fear, check it out, as it has a prototype Frost character in there and mentions Denton.

 

The Frost prequels, published after RD Wingfield's death, are worth a read too, though their publication seems to have slowed since the writing partnership responsible went their separate ways.

 

ETA: I've just spotted Three Days of Frost in my audio library, a radio play which was apparently Frost's first appearance. That starred Leslie Sands as Frost, who played the Frost-like character in Outbreak of Fear.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Guest

[taxman]

Never watched the TV programmes...they just passed me by and I never got the impetus to watch repeats on Dave5 or whatever (Whycliffe is being repeated ad nauseum at the moment, which is great because I like them). However I have picked up Hard Frost from the book trolley at work so I can see what the books are like.

 

 

In passing I'll just shake my head at DCI Banks and Damien Day.....never the twain should have met.

[metalman]

If you thought the casting of David Jason as Frost was a bit odd, wait until this weekend when we have the spectacle of Simenon's Maigret being played by Rowan Atkinson. Yes, really.

[taxman]

If you thought the casting of David Jason as Frost was a bit odd, wait until this weekend when we have the spectacle of Simenon's Maigret being played by Rowan Atkinson. Yes, really.

 

Thanks for that, it would probably have passed me by otherwise

[Guest]

...In passing I'll just shake my head at DCI Banks and Damien Day.....never the twain should have met.

That's just plain wrong. It's unfortunate, but that actor will never shake Drop the Dead Donkey. He was in a Poirot radio play a few years back, playing an Irish dentist, but all I heard was Damien Day doing a dodgy accent.

 

It's the same with Martin Clunes and Men Behaving Badly, and the other bloke from Drop the Dead Donkey. The BBC or ITV take a popular, often ex-soap, actor or actress, put them in a contract, then shoehorn them into various star vehicles until everyone forgets why they originally liked them, or they start to get a bit old and knackered. Nick Berry got the same treatment post-Eastenders.

 

Now I come to think of it, Drop the Dead Donkey is a funny one. Every time I see Haydn Gwynne I still see Alex, and the fantastic Joy never did (to bring this back on topic) seem right playing a detective in A Touch of Frost.