# A Touch of Frost (1992)

> A gruff, unorthodox northern English detective and his rotating assistants crack cases with sharp instinct and a soft heart for the underdog.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/2348

## Facts

- Seasons: 15
- Episodes: 42
- Episode runtime: 102 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, mystery
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: David Jason, Bruce Alexander, John Lyons, David McKail, David Gooderson, Caroline Harker, Lindy Whiteford, Paul Moriarty
- TMDB rating: 7.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108967/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: gritty, wry, melancholic, warm, earthy

## What critics say

Viewers broadly rate A Touch of Frost as a well-liked, dependable British detective drama, with its later seasons regarded as its strongest.

## Synopsis

A Touch of Frost (1992-2010) is a British ITV1 police procedural series created for television and adapted from novels, following a gritty, unconventional detective inspector who attracts trouble like a magnet. David Jason plays Jack Frost, a dogged officer with sympathy for the underdog and a clever mind, whose frequent sparring with his superintendent Norman Mullett (Bruce Alexander) sits at the heart of the workplace friction. George Toolan (John Lyons) and a rotating roster of assistants help him untangle crimes across northern English towns. Each feature-length episode runs about an hour and forty minutes and builds around a single case, with personal lives and moral dilemmas woven between interviews, interrogations and scene-of-crime work. The run spans fifteen seasons and forty-two episodes, a long-running episodic format rather than one continuing story. Its tone is warm, wry and earthy, with a melancholic undercurrent and an emphasis on decency and human fallibility. Fans of Inspector Morse, Vera and Midsomer Murders will find the same blend of British village-and-city crime, character-led investigation and quiet moral weight.

## Shows like A Touch of Frost

- [McDonald & Dodds (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/84004)
- [Cracker (1993)](https://ember.film/tv/28)
- [Dalziel & Pascoe (1996)](https://ember.film/tv/3689)
- [The Sweeney (1975)](https://ember.film/tv/719)
- [The Last Detective (2003)](https://ember.film/tv/18358)
- [Jake and the Fatman (1987)](https://ember.film/tv/4301)
- [Waking the Dead (2001)](https://ember.film/tv/4617)
- [New Tricks (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/12440)
- [Ridley (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/109311)
- [The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (2002)](https://ember.film/tv/1098)

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