Bruce Alexander Movies

Season six of A Touch of Frost (which begins two years after the conclusion of season five) finds titular protagonist DI "Jack" Frost (David Jason) feigning indifference over the promotion of his colleague Hazel Wallace (Caroline Harker) from policewoman to detective -- once Frost returns from compassionate leave in order to help Wallace and Supt. Mullet (Bruce Alexander) solve a suspicious-looking suicide and the theft of a painting. So goes the plot of the season's first two-hour episode, "Appendix Man." The remaining three episodes include "One Man's Meet," in which Frost investigates two seemingly unrelated murders: that of a homeless teen and of an environmental health official; "Private Lives," exposing the seamy underside of a "respectable" rural community; and "Keys to the Car," wherein Frost seeks out a link between a stolen car, a murdered drug dealer, and a con artist. During the three-year period following the end of its sixth season, the Frost series format briefly morphs into a trio of one-shot specials, each one presented in a two-part format: 1999's "Line of Fire," with Frost going after the killer of a fellow detective; 2001's "Benefit of the Doubt," in which a con artist posing as Frost wreaks havoc during an intense investigation of a murder and a possible kidnapping; and 2002's "Mistaken Identity," wherein while probing the death of an unidentified drowning victim, a reluctant Frost is teamed with a psychological profiler (Susan Penhaligon) and a new female partner (Michelle Foster), the latter accusing Frost of thinly veiled racism. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

David Jason stars as fiercely independent but deeply compassionate Detective Inspector "Jack" Frost in the five 120-minute mysteries comprising season four of A Touch of Frost. Frost's professional travails literally hit home when his house is torched in "Paying the Price," giving him way too much on his mind while he tries to track down a motorcycle-riding kidnapper and his latest victim. "Unknown Soldiers" is all about the improper use of firearms, with Frost, a soldier, and a security cop all finding themselves on the business end of various illicitly purchased guns. The public suicide of a naked woman and the death of a local Lothario leads Frost to a cricket pavilion frequented by his dyspeptic boss, Supt. Mullett (Bruce Alexander), in "Fun Times for Swingers." Next, "The Things We Do For Love" finds Frost conducting a murder investigation in a strange religious compound. And last but not least, "Deep Waters" obliges Frost to seek out a link between the murder of a postal worker and the vicious assault on a beautiful psychology student -- and beyond that, a long-unsolved death outside Frost's current jurisdiction. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The second season of A Touch of Frost serves up a quartet of 120-minute dramas, in which irreverent-but-compassionate Detective Inspector "Jack" Frost (David Jason) is intimately involved. The season opens with "A Minority of One," in which Frost, teamed with West Indian DC Clive Tanner (Lennie James) sets his sights on an East End family of professional criminals. "Widows and Orphans" finds Frost investigating a series of vicious attacks on senior citizens, aided and abetted by a female detective sergeant who has trouble minding her own business. "Nothing to Hide" involves an accident that was no accident, and an old personal demon which Frost must overcome. And finally, "A Stranger in the House" has Frost agonizing over an assignment in which his colleague Hazel Wallace (Caroline Harker) serves as bait for a serial rapist. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A single mother struggles against the British social service system and her own troubled past in director Ken Loach's brutally realistic drama. Coming from a background of abuse and poverty, the hardened Maggie (Crissy Rock) has already suffered through a series of painful romances when she falls for the caring Jorge (Vladimir Vega), and they begin a loving but turbulent relationship. Their situation takes a turn for the worse when Maggie becomes pregnant, for her troubled past has left her branded an unfit mother by the government, with four previous children already in foster care. Determined to keep their child, Maggie and Jorge begin a difficult fight against the government bureaucracy, made all the more difficult by Maggie's volatile temperament. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Unorthodox British Detective Inspector "Jack" Frost (David Jason) wends his way through three 120-minute mysteries during season one of A Touch of Frost. In the first episode, "Care and Protection" (based on R.D. Wingfield's novel Frost at Christmas), a beleaguered Jack struggles to solve a missing-child case while watching his wife slowly waste away from a terminal illness. The second, "Not With Kindness," focuses on the murder of a teenage girl and an obscene phone caller, with Jack chasing down clues even as his colleagues are plagued by a multitude of pressing problems back at the station house. The season ends with, appropriately enough, "Conclusions," in which Frost probes into two crimes occurring on the same night -- a hit-and-run case involving the son of a high-ranking politician, and a holdup at a private gambling establishment. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Created by Phil Redmond, the British cop drama Waterfront Beat was set along the docks of Liverpool. John Ashton starred as DCI Don Henderson, head man of the Inner City and Waterfront Division. Henderson's subordinates were well suited to their responsibilities, though the unrelenting grimness of their surroundings and the nastiness of the crooks with whom they came in contact exacted a daunting toll on the protagonists. The 16 50-minute episodes of Waterfront Beat originally aired from January 6, 1990 to February 20, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Comparatively unknown, the British And Nothing But the Truth is a blistering indictment of government-sanctioned corruption, as well as the "facts of life" of the television industry. Filmmaker Glenda Jackson and reporter Jon Finch head to South Wales, where a farm family has taken on the local village government. Accusations have been raised that a powerful corporation has (within legal limits) bribed the village to permit encroachment upon local farm land. In pursuit of the truth, Jackson and Finch are subjected to character assassination and overt threats. Only gradually do they discover that their own bosses are also on the take. And Nothing But the Truth was originally titled Giro City. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi