Answer: Train
Train sounds and visuals fill the screen as this 2001 "Benefit of the Doubt (Part One)" episode opens, and we see the remains of a woman dead on the train tracks. Apparently she was on the 2200 from London, and somehow fell or jumped off, confounding Detective Frost (Sir David Jason). No one reported her missing, and they can't find her handbag to identify her. Detective Jack Frost is shocked when a piece of the puzzle indicates murder.
The show is based on the novels of R.D. Wingfield. For 17 years Jason played the beloved sleuth, until he felt "too old" to be a believable gritty street copper. Born in 1940 David Jason was knighted in 2005 for service to drama and comedy.
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: Missing child
'Care and Protection' was first aired in 1992. We find Jack caring for Mary, his terminally ill wife. Whilst Jack was working Mary was looked after by a nurse, Shirley Fisher, who later took a more personal role in Jack's life. The investigation concerned the disappearance of a young girl, Tracy Uphill, but while searching the woods a severed arm was discovered chained to a strongbox. Investigations led Jack to an armed robbery that took place 30 years earlier. Jack found a survivor of the robbery, but that man was soon found dead, killed by the same weapon that was used in the initial crime. The missing girl eventually turned up, alive, at Denton hospital.
From Quiz: Jack Frost's Case File
Answer: Denton
Denton is a small town, near Bristol in Southern England. Although there are about 10 towns named Denton in the UK, the one in which "A Touch of Frost" is set is fictional. The nearest Denton is in Oxfordshire, approximately 100 miles away.
From Quiz: "A Touch Of Frost"
Answer: Criminal ID line up
It's a fun surprise to realize Detective Frost is number four in a criminal identification line, as a pretty blonde examines each face from behind one-way glass. She decides Frost is not the perpetrator. That guy, she says, was better looking and smarter dressed. It turns out a man dressed like Frost, pretending to be him, is detaining and then molesting local women. Frost calls this man a "dowdy clone of myself", but he doesn't take the crimes seriously.
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: Det Insp William Edward "Jack" Frost
Det Insp William Edward "Jack" Frost alternates his police duties in Denton, a town in southern England near Bristol, with nursing his terminally-ill wife, Mary, leaving her in the care of nurse Shirley Fisher during the day. In the first episode, we find out that Frost has been awarded the George Cross for trying to disarm a man, during which he was shot twice.
From Quiz: "A Touch Of Frost"
Answer: She treats everyone with equal contempt
Senior surgeon Doctor Helena Gibson (Arkie Whiteley) is known for an abrupt and arrogant attitude, but her contempt singles out no one in particular, one surgeon tells another. She is angry and concerned because there is an internal investigation of her team for a mysterious string of post-surgery deaths.
Soon, there is a fifth! That brings in Detective Frost just as Dr. Gibson goes missing.
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: "I'm sorry it's been another year"
Kathleen Frost died of cancer some years back, but Detective Frost only visits her grave once a year. They weren't close, he tells a fellow copper. Still he apologizes for paying so little attention to her memory. He did bring very pretty flowers which he carefully arranges. Meanwhile viewers see a young blonde woman in the distance who appears to be following him, since we saw her earlier near his home. He glances her way but apparently, being preoccupied, makes nothing of it.
Sir David Jason did lose his wife of 18 years to breast cancer in 1995, a few years before this episode.
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: Fox hunt
Nick Walder should have appeared in court the day he died. Instead he went to an anti hunt protest near to Denton Lacey. He was found, lying in the undergrowth, after being hit on the back of the head with a lump of wood. Shortly afterwards another body, that of a known anti hunt campaigner, was found in the woods after being shot with a shotgun. Jack's investigations took him into contact with the local squire and Master of Foxhounds. Superintendent Mullet was worried that Jack may upset the local gentry.
From Quiz: Jack Frost's Case File
Answer: Sandy Longford
Although he has a girly name, Sandy has proved very useful to Jack. As he is the local reporter, he tends to get a lot of the gossip before the police, and will often pass news to Jack before the police has even heard about the case.
From Quiz: "A Touch Of Frost"
Answer: Shoves him out of a train's path
Terry Reid (Robert Glenister) is the new guy, assigned to Frost with a warning his past performance is lacking. Frost is unimpressed when he sees Reid smoking in a non-smoking area, then he's late, followed by getting drunk and disorderly at his own apartment. As they are on a case walking the train tracks Frost fails to hear a warning cry that a train is headed directly for him. Reid leaps in and shoves Frost to safety.
Not easily impressed, Frost later says he hopes just because Reid "saved my bacon" that doesn't mean things will go easy if he doesn't shape up, show up on time and be more help solving crimes. Curious, Frost calls in favors, breaks some rules, and digs up important facts about Reid.
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: Appendix Man
The Appendix Man was so named because he had walked out of hospital shortly before he was due to undergo surgery and was later found drowned in a local river. He was initially thought to be a local head-teacher, one Colin Drysdale, but was later found not to be. At the time of the investigation his identity is never discovered. It will be at least another year, and a connection to another case, before his true identity is discovered.
From Quiz: Jack Frost's Case File
Answer: Forgetting things and poor filing
Jack's lack of organisation often leaves him in trouble with Supt Mullett. He loses case files, notes from colleagues and his own notes that he made to help him remember things.
From Quiz: "A Touch Of Frost"
Answer: Letter of resignation
Locked away in the office drawer of the missing surgeon Helena Gibson, Frost puzzles over a letter of resignation by her fellow surgeon Dr. Retnick. Frost seems to get a gut feeling Dr. Retnick (Frank Kovacs) is involved in Gibson's disappearance. He casually corners Dr. Retnick and asks some pointed questions, thereby realizing the doctor had no intention of resigning, that it was Dr. Gibson who wrote the letter. Is it possible Dr. Retnick was involved in the death of Dr. Gibson?
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: Cricket
A woman walked across a town square removing her clothes before she threw herself, naked, from the top of a multi story car park in full public view. Jack's investigation led him into the world of 'swinging'. He didn't make any inroads into the investigation until a local gigolo was murdered and he then found out about the world of male escorts and their lonely female clients. Mullet, as ever, had his own priorities, ie the cricket club.
From Quiz: Jack Frost's Case File
Answer: 5
There have been five cases involving children under the age of 12. They are "Appropriate Adults" involving an 8 year old; "Penny for a Guy"; "No Other Love, aka Love Me Tender" involving 2 children that go missing; "Close Encounters" involving a 7 year old boy and "Held in Trust" involving a 10 year old boy who has been abducted.
From Quiz: "A Touch Of Frost"
Answer: Her secret flat (apartment)
Now able to identify the victim from the items in her purse, Frost has a key but no lock, until they discover a secret flat (apartment) she had rented. On her desk inside are business papers, and a double bed recently shared. Frost realizes Mrs. Sylvia Carter had an affair going, and it was from this flat that she headed home, taking a short cut across the train tracks. Now he knows she wasn't a train passenger, this wasn't a suicide, she had secrets, and she was walking home along the tracks when she was killed. Perhaps with her lover? Ah, but she had more than one of those.
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: Hazel Wallace
Frost was on compassionate leave, following the death of DS Clive Barnard, when newly promoted DS Hazel Wallace returned to Denton. Wallace was assigned to an apparent suicide but had doubts. A set of fingerprints were found at the scene which belonged to a dead man, the 'Appendix Man', who had been found in the river a year before. Frost was called back from leave to investigate and soon linked the two deaths to a seven year old art theft.
From Quiz: Jack Frost's Case File
Answer: 1992
"A Touch of Frost" was first aired in December 1992 on the ITV/Carlton/LWT channel.
From Quiz: "A Touch Of Frost"
Answer: Incinerator
Frost was called to an abandoned disposal truck because of the stench, and found out the stinky trash had been dumped because the hospital incinerator had broken down. He was able to stop the most recent load of hospital trash from going into the repaired incinerator, revealing the surgeon Helena Gibson's body in the garbage. Frost arranged that the media announce the surgeon was "still missing" so the killer would believe he was in the clear.
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: At a quarry
The attack took place at Denton Quarry. The young man, Laurence Burrell, was convinced it was carried out by extra terrestrials. The attackers turned out to have used 4X4 vehicles with large lights mounted on the front, and black clothes and crash helmets. To the autistic boy they seemed like aliens. At the same time Jack was investigating a series of burglaries, along with Det Sgt. Hazel Wallace that seem to be linked to deliveries from a local take away.
From Quiz: Jack Frost's Case File
Answer: A locked strongbox
In this episode, Jack is investigating a 30 year old case involving a skeleton chained to a locked strongbox. Although this would suggest that the box contained something valuable that the unfortunate owner wished to keep close by, the box turns out to be empty.
From Quiz: "A Touch Of Frost"
Answer: His medal of honor
When Frost was tipped off that his new assistant Reid had been drunk and trashed his own place, Frost found among the piles Reid's Military Medal for gallantry and devotion to duty. Frost realized then that Reid struggles with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and that's why he had substance abuse problems and black marks on his performance record. Frost got Reid's history file "on the QT", and then had a heart-to-heart with him. Frost was adamant Reid ""not bring me down with you", but he was also compassionate, one of Frost's most endearing traits. Reid, a detective before he was busted down, turns out to be a skilled partner for Frost, besides saving his life at the train tracks. ("On the QT" means on the quiet, a British term from the mid 1880s.)
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: R.D. Wingfield
R.D. Wingfield wrote the books about "A Touch of Frost". They are "Winter Frost", "A Touch of Frost", "Night Frost", "Frost at Christmas" and "Hard Frost".
From Quiz: "A Touch Of Frost"
Answer: "I think you're my dad"
After a long day at work Frost returns to his construction zone house where he pours himself some tea doused with a lovely spot of liquor. He's just sitting down to enjoy it when there's a knock at the door. There stands the young blonde woman we saw shadowing him. She gets right to the point. "From what my mum told me, I think you're my dad". Episode ends!
In "Benefit of the Doubt (Part Two)" Frost spends time with this sweet person, Anne (played by Joanne Froggatt, later famous in "Downton Abbey"). She is the child of a long-ago girlfriend. Frost "warms up to the idea" he might be a late-in-life father. Indeed actor David Jason became a first-time father at age 61.
From Quiz: Frost: Benefit of the Doubt
Answer: Meat processing plant
The environmental health officer was accused by the plant's management of harassment because of the number of times he visited to make inspections. One night, after entering illegally, he went missing. His wife reported his disappearance to Denton police station but they showed little interest initially. This changed when a dismembered arm is discovered in Hull.
From Quiz: Jack Frost's Case File
Answer: Supt Mullet
Bruce Alexander stars as Superintendent Norman "Hornrimmed Harry" Mullett. He often tries to get Frost off of cases as he believes him incompetent, and has also been known to try and get him completely out of the police force.
From Quiz: "A Touch Of Frost"
