User Reviews

Some reviewers trashed the episode. I thought it was still very good. The relationship between Jack and Mullet was less adversarial. It will be interesting if this continues in future episodes.

As has been said by me numerous times already, '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, the first six seasons were top notch with a few not-quite-outstanding-but-still-very-good episodes but most of them being near-perfect to masterpiece. Was not sure initially as to whether the Seasons 7-9 two parters would work, having seen two parters not quite work with 'Lewis' for example, but all three worked brilliantly.

"Hidden Truth" is a bit of a disappointment and at this point in the show the weakest episode to date. With that being said, it is still not bad and better than most shows' worst episodes, just that an episode that was only decent (to me, though am aware there are those who don't care for it) didn't seem enough for a show which before Season 10 had all episodes ranging from very good to masterpiece.

It ("Hidden Truth" that is) could have been better. It does suffer from a lack of suspense and some of the pacing did seem off, with most 'A Touch of Frost' episodes being tightly paced "Hidden Truth" did seem a little pedestrian at times. The ending is also very contrived and melodramatic, one of my least favourite 'A Touch of Frost' endings.

On the other hand, "Hidden Truth" has as ever incredibly well done production values. 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.

The script is well written, with a few very amusing quips from Frost, and is thought-provoking, while there is enough of the story that is absorbing and suitably twisty (just wish it was more consistent).

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

Can't fault Jason as Frost, he is simply brilliant in the role as always with not one foot put wrong. All the supporting cast are on point, from the regulars like Bruce Alexander and John Lyons, Robert Glenister making a very strong return and one of the most evil villains of the show.

All in all, not bad, in fact decent, but a disappointment considering how top notch the overall standard of the previous seasons was. 7/10 Bethany Cox

After three 2-part episodes it's back to the one-parters. The 2-parters spoiled us: due to nearly 2.5 hours being available there was much more time for plot development and character development. Now the writers have to go back to fitting it all into 100 or so minutes.

It works very well though. There's only one crime plot here, vs the three or so in the 2-parters, but it's very gripping. Plus we have the lighter side, provided by Frost's missing lottery ticket.

One overriding event in this is Jack's search for a lottery ticket worth 5.2 million pounds. As usual, the ticket has found its way into the cemetery of lost paperwork that Jack has accumulated. The main plot involves a woman and her son who are in witness protection, awaiting the trial of a ruthless man. The police screw up time after time. One shortcoming of this series is the lack of backup that is utilized. Also, there seems to be almost no securing of the space where the accused is being kept. He is able to make phone calls. Granted, he has an insider helping him, but why isn't this monster being supervised and kept in a maximum security situation. Of course, Jack's unconventional methods are called into question again. The conclusion is utterly devoid of reality and it ruins the entire episode which was awfully dull to start with.

While making sure a star witness will make it to the courts alive, Frost seems to have lost his lottery ticket, presumably worth a tidy sum of money, running in the millions.

The story is too convoluted for its own good. Motivations of key characters are lacking, as well as any logic to the policing of the proceedings. Although the episode has its usual Frost flair, it amounts to little else than a farce, at best.

At the end, the writers of this debacle try to fuse Frost's lack of filing skills to the fact that the winning lottery ticket wasn't even bought in the first place, which sums up the lack of thought that went into the screenplay.

There are other, even more convoluted episodes in which logic wasn't allowed to guide the writers of them, but this one would rank in its top 3.

3/10

I'm beginning to see a pattern here; the later seasons of Frost are just not of the same caliber as the earlier seasons. This episode was a 20 minute story dragged out to an hour and 40 minutes. It was just a lot of stuff and padding around a fairly simple and cliched story line that just wasn't all that interesting. It was boring and old after the first half hour.

Action for the sake of action only at the end of this Frost. Very disappointing. And all contrived in a very silly way. George recalls that the boy had some model airplanes in his room. Hey! Obviously the boy's mother, in order to entice the boy to run away from some very bad baddies, told the boy she would take him to an airplane museum about a 100 miles away. Any copper would be able to figure that one out, eh. So half the Thames Valley police force screams down to the airplane museum, after hours, and lo and behold, they ARE there. And the baddie, too. All too unbelievable for what is usually a very well done English DCI drama.