A Touch of Frost (TV Series) Deep Waters (1996) User Reviews

An intriguing episode

[jamiecostelo58 · 8/10 · 5 December 2006]

When a beautiful young college student is injured in a fall on campus, Frost finds it difficult to locate a suspect. In his quest to discover the truth, he is reunited with an old friend and colleague, while also having to deal with a shopkeeper's murder.... But gathering enough evidence to charge the alleged suspects is going to be much harder than he thinks....

A family tragedy dominates the satisfactory conclusion to the student's accident, but with her life in serious danger can Jack save her before it's too late? The fine suspense builds to a tense ending, making Deep Waters a suitably watchable edition. 8/10

An Engaging Episode

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 17 September 2015]

One of the good things about this series is that things don't always go according to plan, and justice isn't always done. The episode begins when a woman of Indian descent is knifed in the post office where she and her husband work. The men who commit the crime are caught, dead to rights, but through the ability to avoid questioning and lack of anything but circumstantial evidence, it is nearly impossible for them to put them in jail. Frost's old fashioned stretching of human rights makes it hard for him to accept. A public defender really gets to him (because his position is right but hard to take) and tells him that he is so close minded he may be be ignoring real evidence and playing judge, jury, and executioner. A second plot involves an attractive young college student who, one day, is pushed down some stairs and then faces a series of threats made against her. Someone is obsessing but it is much more complicated and involves a murder from many years before. Very good storytelling.

In deep water with Jack Frost

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 1 July 2017]

'A Touch of Frost' is a personal favourite of mine, and one of my favourite shows from the detective/mystery genre. Do have a preference perhaps for the earlier-mid-show episodes over the later ones, but none of the episodes are less than watchable and none do anything to embarrass the show.

So much appeals about 'A Touch of Frost'. Love the mix of comedy (mostly through Frost's snide comments and quips) and dark grit, the tension between rebellious Jack Frost and by-the-book Mullet which has led to some humorous moments, how he interacts with the rest of the staff, the deft mix of one or two cases and Frost's personal life, how Frost solves the cases, the production values, music and of course David Jason in one of his best roles.

There may have been people initially sceptical about whether the show would work, and with Jason (a mainly comedic actor) in a departure from usual in the lead role. Scepticism very quickly evaporated, with the first season containing three consistently great episodes, even with the darker and grittier approach with less humour, that established the tone and characterisation so brilliantly so early on with no signs of finding-their-feet. The next two seasons and "Paying the Price" were more than up to their levels, with "Appropriate Adults" and "Paying the Price" being two of the show's best episodes.

For me, "Deep Waters" is the second best episode of Season 4 after "Paying the Price", though all the episodes are good and there was not a bad episode of the show up to this point, the weakest being the still pretty good "Unknown Soldiers".

Visually, as always with 'A Touch of Frost', "Deep Waters" looks great. It matches the dark, gritty tone of the episode beautifully with atmospheric lighting and the stylish way it's shot. The music is haunting without being over-bearing while the theme tune is one of the most iconic in the detective genre (or at least to me it is).

The script is well written, with a few very amusing quips from Frost, and thought-provoking, while the direction is solid and has more clarity than in "Unknown Soldiers" for example. The story is absorbing with some very surprising twists and turns when things get more complicated (without getting overly so) and plenty of suspects. The final solution is shocking and full of suspense, one of the show's most memorable endings.

Frost is a remarkably well-established character for so early on, and one cannot help love his interaction with the rest of the officers and his chemistry with Bruce Alexander's stern and by-the-book Mullet, who constantly despairs of Frost's unconventional approach.

Jason is brilliant, then again he always was as Frost, while Bruce Alexander, John Lyons and a returning Matt Bardock are more than up to his level. As are early career Tamzin Malleson and Damian Lewis and more seasoned performers like Jonathan Hyde and Gillian Bevan.

In conclusion, great episode and the second best of Season 4. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Superb story with some poignant observations about the legal process.

[kindofblue-78221 · 10/10 · 4 March 2022]

This is a brilliant story. Here was have a suspect that without competent legal representation would have been bullied into a confession.

Jack frost likes to bend the rules but this episode shows him at his worst and best.

He seems to think that suspects have no rights are only exist to prove his case.

I absolutely believe in due process and the concept of innocent until proven guilty. Instead of getting evidence jolly Jack is more concerned with bullying suspects into confessing.

There's also another brilliant strand to this story.

It's one of my favourite frost episodes and one of the most poignant.

Excellent murder drama

[grantss · 9/10 · 14 June 2022]

Another great murder mystery in the Frost series. The culprit is not obvious and it will take good old-fashioned police work to solve the crime. As always, resourceful Detective Inspector Frost is on hand to work it all out.

Damian Lewis, pre-Band of Brothers and Homeland, has a supporting role.