Not with Kindness

It is only the second episode and there is an established pattern.

Frost is visiting his late wife's grave. At the graveside he notices a policeman talking to a caretaker about some vandalism taking place.

His sister in law over from America is staying with him and Frost is not happy about it.

At the police station Frost talks to a distraught mother whose 15 year old daughter Paula has not returned home.

Then there is a well to do young couple the Comptons. The wife has been harassed by an anonymous person for several weeks. Later Mr Compton dies in a fire in their property.

When Frost is called out to the graveyard after reports of more vandalism, he finds the wrapped up body of Paula. It seems she was killed somewhere during her early morning paper round.

You can notice how two plot strands merge. The vandalism and the missing daughter.

Frost seems very much in the Columbo mould here. He is a persistent irritant. Frost is also a wily old fox, not afraid to use guile and risk. In short he gets a confession after planting evidence.

When his partner mentions this cunning ploy, Frost responds he is going to do a similar trick again to deal with the Comptons problems.

A decent enough mystery but I thought the murderer of young Paula was easy to guess.

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.

As said with my review for the previous episode "Care and Protection" (a great start to a great show), 'A Touch of Frost' is one of my favourites, if more so the earlier-mid-show episodes than the later ones (none of the episodes are in any way unwatchable, far from it).

So much appeals about 'A Touch of Frost'. Love the mix of comedy 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.

"Care and Protection" was a great debut for the show, and "Not With Kindness" continues the high quality. It is only the second episode and it is amazing how well established and settled everything is in terms of tone and characterisation. Many shows took a while, sometimes as much as a season's worth, to find their feet, but 'A Touch of Frost' is one of those examples who found it very early on. Sure, later episodes took a lighter tone and had more of a mix of comedy and grit, but in no way is that a criticism of the darker and even grittier cases when 'A Touch of Frost' was still in its infancy.

Visually, "Not With Kindness" looks great, matching 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).

"Not With Kindness" is yet another very well written episode. Tension, emotional poignancy and a little humour (if not as much as later) are very well balanced. The story, with as said a darker and grittier to what was to come, is riveting, with Frost's subplot making one really feel for his situation and the two cases are interesting and harrowing, never falling into the trap of being disjointed. 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. A stereotype perhaps, but an entertaining and interesting stereotype. Frost's sister-in-law is nowhere near the irritating stereotype she could have been, one can see the frustration of Frost but eventually her point of view is also understood.

Jason gives an excellent performance and is even more settled than in "Care and Protection". The performances are all solid.

All in all, excellent second episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The Station has been hit with sickness, meaning Frost has to deal with two cases, the first a missing newspaper delivery girl, Paula Bartlett, the second, a woman who's being hounded by a perpetrator she cannot recognise. Jack buries his wife and has his sister in law Marion staying with him.

It's a quality second episode, it's yet another murky take involving the death of a child. I like the combination of stories, with Jack being pulled in two directions. Jack is grief stricken and up against it.

Jack is now firmly cemented as one of our favourite Detectives, he's smart, charismatic and a little rough around the edges.

As always there are some lighter touches here and there, horn-rimmed Harry's discovery that someone's been eating an Indian in his office was amusing. I'm not sure if Marion's presence was funny or sad, she's a nightmare.

I really enjoyed Tony Haygarth's presence here as Jack's temporary sidekick, a shame he didn't do a few more episodes, nice to see him playing a softer, more jovial character, so used to him playing harder edged roles.

8/10.

Jack Frost's sick wife has tragically passed away, her sister Marion pays him a visit and tells him that she can stay, as long as he likes to help him sort out her sisters affairs.

D. C. Barnard must have struck lucky or asked for a transfer as he's no longer at the Denton Nick, new coppers have arrived one of whom is a D. S. Gilmore.

He is an old fashioned copper who's style and demeanour, appears an almost mirror image of Frost, making them ideally sorted to work as a team.

D. I. Jack Frost though reasonably highly ranked is not the most senior officer at Denton Nick, this honour goes D. C. I. Allen but he has been stricken down with the lurgy, and consequently not available for duty.

Superintendent Mullett lumbers D. I. Frost with the burden of being in total charge at Denton Nick, which means having to single handedly deal with the principle detective on the cases at hand.

The cases he has to cope with include a missing school girl, who doesn't manage to complete her paper round, and a snooty couple Alex and George Compton who claim they are being persecuted in their house.