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93-517: The Steam Video Company was a 1984 comedy series produced by Thames Television for ITV written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick . The six episode series was a low budget spoof of the horror genre, intermingled with spoofs on contemporary television programmes, such as Nationwide . The programmes starred the same repertory cast of comic actors in a variety of roles. The cast included: William Franklyn , Barry Cryer , Anna Dawson , Bob Todd , Madeline Smith and Jimmy Mulville . The title

186-461: A gentlemen's agreement between the two sides not to poach each other's imported shows. Thames paid £55,000 a show compared to the £29,000 of the BBC. The deal brought condemnation from the BBC and from other ITV stations, who feared the BBC would poach their imports, pushing up prices. The BBC planned to delay transmission of the episodes of Dallas that it already had, with the hope to broadcast them at

279-529: A 13-part documentary series about the era of the America silent cinema. This series, produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill , was followed by the company sponsoring Thames Silents , a project undertaken by Brownlow and Gill of the restoration and screenings (in a limited number of cinemas and on television) of major films from the silent era. The two men followed Hollywood with series dedicated to leading comics of

372-491: A 35% pay rise. Two years later in May 1977, another strike occurred when production assistants at Thames refused to operate new video equipment. Thames proceeded to sack all the technicians for breach of contract. The following month, both sides backed down over the issues, with all technicians returning to work. The worst strike to hit the network originated at Thames. Failure to reach agreement on pay increases and shift allowances in

465-557: A British military ceremony in Gibraltar . The documentary was regarded almost as treason by many Conservative politicians, and The Sunday Times made claims about one of the witnesses interviewed which were later found to be libellous. The following year, in 1989, Thames ended the contract of Benny Hill , a stalwart at the station since 1969. It was believed that the comedian was dismissed because his shows were considered offensive and politically incorrect , but John Howard Davies said

558-486: A Thames subsidiary founded in 1976 which made animated series for children. During the hours after Rainbow and before the children's slot, Good Afternoon was transmitted, a magazine programme. It began after the IBA allowed non-schools broadcasting in this period of the day, when the government relaxed the regulations around daytime television and featured interview editions undertaken by such broadcasters as Mavis Nicholson , and

651-426: A contract with Morecambe & Wise . The comedians had worked for the BBC since 1968 with major national success, but the decisive factor leading the duo to leave the corporation was Thames's offer to feature them as main leads in a film made by the company's Euston Films subsidiary. The comedy duo's leading scriptwriter, Eddie Braben , did not initially move to ITV with them, and with Eric Morecambe's failing health,

744-459: A discussion with Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi as part of the Monitor Group 's involvement in the country. In June 2010, Frost presented Frost on Satire , an hour-long BBC Four documentary looking at the history of television satire. Frost/Nixon was originally a play written by Peter Morgan , developed from the interviews that Frost had conducted with Richard Nixon in 1977. Frost/Nixon

837-551: A heart attack, aged 74. Cunard said that the vessel had left Southampton for a ten-day cruise in the Mediterranean , ending in Rome . A post-mortem found that Frost had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy . Frost's son Miles died from the same condition at the age of 31 in 2015. A funeral service was held at Holy Trinity Church in Nuffield, Oxfordshire , on 12 September 2013, after which he

930-461: A joint company, it merged the television interests of British Electric Traction (trading as Associated-Rediffusion ) owning 49%, and Associated British Picture Corporation —soon taken over by EMI —owning 51%. Like all ITV franchisees at that time, it was a broadcaster, a producer and a commissioner of television programmes, making shows both for the local region it covered and, as one of the "Big Five" ITV companies, for networking nationally across

1023-529: A new holding company , Thames Television (Holdings) Ltd. ABC's parent, the Associated British Picture Corporation was taken over by EMI in 1969, and in 1979 became part of Thorn EMI . The ITA ordered ABC's managing director Howard Thomas and its director of programmes Brian Tesler to be appointed in similar capacities at the new station, the only individuals named or specified in all 15 franchise awards. ABC had majority control of

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1116-472: A programming policy that was considered " highbrow " and suffered launch problems with low audience ratings and financial problems. A September 1968 meeting of the Network Programme Committee, which made decisions about the channel's scheduling, was particularly fraught, with Lew Grade expressing hatred of Frost in his presence. Frost, according to Kitty Muggeridge in 1967, had "risen without

1209-460: A reputation for drama with such series as Jenny, Lady Randolph Churchill (1974), with Lee Remick as the mother of Winston Churchill . It won an Emmy as the best series in its category, as Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978), about the abdication crisis , did later. Other successful series in the genre from this period include Shades of Greene (1975–76), Rock Follies (1976), and Armchair Thriller (1978–80). These programmes were made in

1302-548: A stage play and film . Frost interviewed all eight British prime ministers serving from 1964 to 2016, from Alec Douglas-Home to David Cameron , and all eight American presidents in office from 1969 to 2008. Frost was one of the people behind the launch of ITV station TV-am in 1983. He was the inaugural host of the US news magazine programme Inside Edition . He hosted the Sunday morning interview programme Breakfast with Frost for

1395-399: A strong mix of drama, current affairs and comedy. After Thames was acquired by FremantleMedia it was merged with another Fremantle company, Talkback , to form a new independent production company, Talkback Thames ; consequently, Thames ceased to exist as a separate entity, but it, along with Talkback's own logo continued to be used separately until 2006, when a new logo for Talkback Thames

1488-485: A television special in the same format, That Was the Year That Was , on NBC. Frost fronted various programmes following the success of TW3 , including its immediate successor, Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life , which he co-chaired with Willie Rushton and poet P. J. Kavanagh . Screened on three evenings each week, this series was dropped after a sketch was found to be offensive to Catholics and another to

1581-629: A trace." He was involved in the station's early years as a presenter. On 20 and 21 July 1969, during the British television Apollo 11 coverage , he presented David Frost's Moon Party for LWT, a ten-hour discussion and entertainment marathon from LWT's Wembley Studios , on the night Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon. Two of his guests on this programme were British historian A. J. P. Taylor and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. Around this time Frost interviewed Rupert Murdoch whose recently acquired Sunday newspaper,

1674-473: A tribute to the assassinated President John F. Kennedy , an event which had occurred the previous day, formed an entire edition of That Was the Week That Was . An American version of TW3 ran after the original British series had ended. Following a pilot episode on 10 November 1963, the 30-minute US series, also featuring Frost, ran on NBC from 10 January 1964 to May 1965. In 1985, Frost produced and hosted

1767-541: A way of introducing the cast members, such as " Gentlemen Prefer Ladies starring Anna Dawson and Madeline Smith", and closes with a spoof 'teaser' of next week's episode, such as the Loneliness of the Long Distance Garlic Eater . Bob Todd is the only actor referred to by name in the episodes, usually by an exasperated cast member expressing dismay at his shoddy disguises. Thames Television Formed as

1860-487: A weekly consumer programme, which eventually became a programme in its own right; Money-Go-Round . Thames also produced The World at War (1973–74), a 26-part history of the Second World War using unseen footage and interviews, often of high-level participants. The series, narrated by Laurence Olivier , was commissioned in 1969, took four years to produce, and cost a record £4m (approx £47m in 2018). Thames gained

1953-482: Is thought to be a reference to 'the golden age of steam railways', with the 'steam video' apparently a spoof on the multitude of low-budget horror and exploitation films available during the early days of the British home video boom. William Franklyn responds to at least one double entendre in each episode by looking at the camera and muttering "tempting, isn't it?" Each episode begins with glimpses of non-existent films as

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2046-599: The News of the World , had just serialised the memoirs of Christine Keeler , a central figure in the Profumo scandal of 1963. For the Australian publisher, this was a bruising encounter, although Frost said that he had not intended it to be. Murdoch confessed to his biographer Michael Wolff that the incident had convinced him that Frost was "an arrogant bastard, [and] a bloody bugger". In

2139-583: The 17th Duke of Norfolk . Three sons were born to the couple over the next five years. His second son, Wilfred Frost , followed in his father's footsteps and currently works as an anchor at Sky News and CNBC . They lived for many years in Chelsea, London , and kept a weekend home at Michelmersh Court in Hampshire. On 31 August 2013, Frost was aboard the Cunard cruise ship MS  Queen Elizabeth when he died of

2232-571: The Group W (U.S. Westinghouse Corporation) television stations in the U.S. His 1970 TV special, Frost on America , featured guests such as Jack Benny and Tennessee Williams . In a declassified transcript of a 1972 telephone call between Frost and Henry Kissinger , President Nixon's national security advisor and secretary of state , Frost urged Kissinger to call chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer and urge him to compete in that year's World Chess Championship . During this call, Frost revealed that he

2325-644: The SAVAK , the torture during his reign, Khomeini , his threat of extradition to Iran and draws a summary of the current situation in Iran. Frost was an organiser of the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in 1979. Ten years later, he was hired as the anchor of new American tabloid news program Inside Edition . He was dismissed after only three weeks because of poor ratings. It seems he

2418-558: The Sid James vehicle Bless This House (1971–76), and Love Thy Neighbour (1972-76), with a controversial take on race relations. Another sitcom, Man About the House (1973–76), was successful enough for two spin-offs, George and Mildred (1976–80) and Robin's Nest (1977-81). The company took over the This Is Your Life format in 1969, several years after the BBC had dropped

2511-573: The Tower of London —it was named Thames Television, after the River Thames . This name had been previously considered and rejected by London Weekend Television. On 30 July 1968, Thames began broadcasting to London. The opening week was disrupted by sporadic strike action; the following week, the action had spread to all of ITV and resulted in the creation of a management-run ITV Emergency National Service for some two weeks. Each week Thames broadcast from

2604-537: The Watergate scandal that had led to his resignation as president in 1974, expressed contrition saying, "I let the American people down and I have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life". Frost asked Nixon whether the president could do something illegal in certain situations such as against antiwar groups and others if he decides "it's in the best interests of the nation or something". Nixon replied: "Well, when

2697-585: The 1979 pay round resulted in technicians switching off power to the transmission facilities at the Euston Road centre on 6 August. After management restored power, the technicians walked out. Within four days, all but one ITV station had gone off-air after the ACTT asked members at other companies to walk out in claim for a 15% pay rise. The network was off the air for 10 weeks. Other Thames shows included This Week (known as TV Eye between 1979 and 1985), Rumpole of

2790-411: The BBC attempted to limit the team by scheduling repeats of The Third Man television series after the programme, thus preventing overruns. Frost took to reading synopses of the episodes at the end of the programme as a means of sabotage. After the BBC's Director General Hugh Greene instructed that the repeats should be abandoned, TW3 returned to being open-ended. More sombrely, on 23 November 1963,

2883-743: The BBC from 1993 to 2005, and spent two decades as host of Through the Keyhole . From 2006 to 2012, he hosted the weekly programme Frost Over the World on Al Jazeera English , and the weekly programme The Frost Interview from 2012. He received the BAFTA Fellowship from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2005 and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Emmy Awards in 2009. Frost died on 31 August 2013, aged 74, on board

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2976-458: The BBC, via the IBA, £300,000 in compensation to make up the shortfall in additional cost for new episodes of Dallas . The most controversial programme Thames broadcast was the documentary " Death on the Rock ", part of the current affairs This Week series. The programme questioned the authority of British troops who had shot dead suspected IRA members allegedly planning a terrorist attack on

3069-610: The Bailey , the game shows Strike It Lucky , Give Us a Clue and Name That Tune , and the drama Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest . Thames sitcoms during the 1980s and early 1990s included Keep it in the Family , Never the Twain , After Henry , and Mr. Bean . The Mr. Bean pilot episode , starring Rowan Atkinson as the titular character, was first broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990, and

3162-680: The British royal family. More successful was The Frost Report , broadcast between 1966 and 1967. The show launched the television careers of John Cleese , Ronnie Barker , and Ronnie Corbett , who appeared together in the Class sketch . Frost signed for Rediffusion , the ITV weekday contractor in London, to produce a "heavier" interview-based show called The Frost Programme . Guests included Oswald Mosley and Rhodesian premier Ian Smith . His memorable dressing-down of insurance fraudster Emil Savundra , regarded as

3255-467: The ITV regions. After its loss of franchise in 1992, it continued as an independent production company until 2006. The British Film Institute describes Thames as having "served the capital and the network with a long-running, broad-based and extensive series of programmes, several of which either continue or are well-remembered today." Thames covered a broad spectrum of commercial public-service television, with

3348-504: The London area, the Midlands, and the North. The initial six contracts were parcelled out to different companies. Associated-Rediffusion (Rediffusion) won the London weekday service while Associated Television (ATV) operated weekends. ATV also won the weekday service in the Midlands, while ABC Weekend TV operated the weekend service. Granada Television won daytime service in the North, and ABC

3441-559: The camera seemed the most natural thing in the world." According to some accounts, Frost was the victim of snobbery from the group with which he associated at Cambridge, which has been confirmed by Barry Humphries . Christopher Booker , while asserting that Frost's one defining characteristic was ambition, commented that he was impossible to dislike. According to satirist John Wells , Old Etonian actor Jonathan Cecil congratulated Frost around this time for "that wonderfully silly voice" he used while performing, but then discovered that it

3534-511: The changes made by the Independent Television Commission in 1991. After transferring from ITV, his Sunday morning interview programme Breakfast with Frost ran on the BBC from January 1993 until 29 May 2005. For a time it ran on BSB before moving to BBC 1 . Frost hosted Through the Keyhole , which ran on several UK channels from 1987 until 2008 and also featured Loyd Grossman . Produced by his own production company,

3627-416: The children's show Magpie (1968–80), intended as a rival for Blue Peter on BBC1 , and The Tomorrow People (1973–79), a science fiction series commissioned as an answer to the BBC's Doctor Who . For preschool children there was Rainbow , which started in 1972 and ran for 20 years. The programme used animation and graphics created by Stop Frame Productions, which later became Cosgrove Hall ,

3720-466: The collapse of other companies, particularly Granada. It was reported that Rediffusion's chairman Sir John Spencer Wills felt the ITA owed his company a 'debt of gratitude' for this, a comment which particularly annoyed the authority. During the interview process, several members of Rediffusion management also appeared in interviews for applicants for other regions, principally the consortium of which David Frost

3813-565: The comedy prize at the Montreux Golden Rose festival." Frost was the only person to have interviewed all eight British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2016 ( Harold Wilson , Edward Heath , James Callaghan , Margaret Thatcher , John Major , Tony Blair , Gordon Brown , and David Cameron ) and all seven U.S. presidents in office between 1969 and 2009 (Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford , Jimmy Carter , Ronald Reagan , George H. W. Bush , Bill Clinton , and George W. Bush ). He

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3906-475: The company would be awarded the London weekend franchise. Instead, after an impressive application by a consortium led by David Frost and others, this market was awarded to what became London Weekend Television . This led to a serious problem for the ITA as ABC was a popular station, whose productions earned vital foreign currency - one such series was The Avengers . Its station management and presentation style were also well-admired. While they were still in

3999-491: The contract to serve London on weekdays. Control of the new company would be given to ABC, a move unpopular with Rediffusion. Questioning the ITA's decision, Rediffusion attempted to slow down the merger: only the threat of giving the licence solely to ABC made it relent. To assist Rediffusion financially, the ITA insisted that the new company have two sets of shares: voting shares which would allow ABC to have control (with 51%) and 'B' shares which were to be split equally between

4092-533: The crime from 1998 and its return to the hour long slot and then became much more a soap opera in 2002 (when individual story titles were dropped) until coming full circle dealing predominantly with crime again in about 2007 for the last few years of its existence. In January 1985, the company made a deal with international distributors for US production company Lorimar to purchase the UK broadcasting rights for US drama Dallas , at that time transmitted on BBC1 . This broke

4185-780: The cruise ship MS  Queen Elizabeth , where he had been engaged as a speaker. His memorial stone was unveiled in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey in March 2014. David Paradine Frost was born in Tenterden , Kent , on 7 April 1939, the son of a Methodist minister of Huguenot descent, the Rev. Wilfred John Paradine Frost (1900–1967), and his wife, Maude Evelyn ("Mona"; 1903–1991), née Aldrich; he had two elder sisters. The name "Paradine" reflected Huguenot ancestry. While living in Gillingham , Kent, he

4278-434: The cultural changes of the time, with its output altered accordingly. By the time of the 1967 negotiations, Rediffusion believed that its contract renewal for London weekday service was a formality, and its application reflected this complacency: the company had treated the ITA high-handedly in interviews. In the early days of ITV, the company had worked hard to keep the network on-air during financial crises that threatened

4371-466: The decision was taken because of falling ratings, very high production costs and Hill was looking tired. The show at its peak had 21 million viewers, while the last episode had nine million. Through the early 1980s, Thames experienced a series of local disputes while management deliberately confronted contractual ‘rackets’, and pursued the introduction of new technologies based on operational requirements rather than precedent. For Thames’s management, this

4464-539: The end of its ITV franchise. These included Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983), Jack the Ripper (1988), Capital City (1989–1990), Selling Hitler (1991), and Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1992). The Bill (1984–2010) began as a one-hour series of separate stories in 1984, but from 1989 until 1998 was broadcast several times a week, usually in a 30 minute slot. Its storylines became overly melodramatic and focussed far more directly on particular police characters rather than

4557-567: The eventual run lasted beyond Thames holding of its franchise. Less well-known is its adaptation of Andy Capp (1988), starring James Bolam . Two of its post-franchise sitcoms found more success when they transferred away from ITV – Men Behaving Badly , which moved to the BBC in 1994 and Is It Legal? , which moved to Channel 4 in 1998. Both were written by Simon Nye and co-produced by independent company Hartswood Films . A few years after The World at War , Thames broadcast Hollywood (1980),

4650-589: The first example of " trial by television " in the UK, led to concern from ITV executives that it might affect Savundra's right to a fair trial. Frost's introductory words for his television programmes during this period, "Hello, good evening and welcome", became his catchphrase and were often mimicked. Frost was a member of a successful consortium, including former executives from the BBC, that bid for an ITV franchise in 1967. This became London Weekend Television , which began broadcasting in July 1968. The station began with

4743-597: The last appearance of Nigel Kneale 's best known creation in Quatermass (1979). In this era, Euston also made single one-off dramas such as The Naked Civil Servant (1975). On 1 December 1976, the punk band the Sex Pistols were interviewed live on Thames's regional news magazine programme, Today . Members of the group uttered obscenities during their interview with Bill Grundy . Grundy, in his introduction, said they are "as drunk as I am", but later claimed his comment

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4836-472: The late 1960s Frost began an intermittent involvement in the film industry. Setting up David Paradine Ltd in 1966, he part-financed The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970), in which the lead character was based partly on Frost, and gained an executive producer credit. In 1976, Frost was the executive producer of the British musical film The Slipper and the Rose , retelling the story of Cinderella . Frost

4929-501: The literary magazine Granta . He was also secretary of the Footlights Drama Society, which included actors such as Peter Cook and John Bird . During this period Frost appeared on television for the first time in an edition of Anglia Television 's Town And Gown , performing several comic characters. "The first time I stepped into a television studio", he once remembered, "it felt like home. It didn't scare me. Talking to

5022-465: The new company and the make-up of its board predominantly (and eventually fully) came from ABC. The use of ABC's old studios at Teddington meant the workforce was predominantly ex-ABC, although those at Kingsway were ex-Rediffusion. After some discussion as to the name of the new company—some directors favoured ABC London, while others suggested Tower Television to reflect the Post Office Tower and

5115-486: The new shows never gained the audiences or matched the esteem they had previously enjoyed. One of the early anchor presenters was radio DJ Tom Edwards . Like most of ITV, Thames was beset by conflicts with trade unions, notably the Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians ( ACTT ). A two-week technicians strike in the summer of 1975 shut down the whole of ITV with the technicians being bought off with

5208-588: The president does it, that means that it is not illegal", by definition. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution , Frost was the last person to interview Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , the deposed Shah of Iran. The interview took place on Contadora Island in Panama in January 1980, and was broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company in the U.S. on 17 January. The Shah talks about his wealth, his illness,

5301-544: The programme was first shown in prime time and on daytime television in its later years. Frost worked for Al Jazeera English , presenting a live weekly hour-long current affairs programme, Frost Over The World , which started when the network launched in November 2006. The programme regularly made headlines with interviewees such as Tony Blair , President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan and President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua. The programme

5394-472: The running for the seven-day service in the Midlands, it was clear this would be won by ATV, who was also a large earner of overseas revenue, having won the Queen's Award for Export in 1966. In programming, Rediffusion was originally considered stuffy but in the previous contract round of 1964, it had re-invented itself, dropping the name Associated-Rediffusion in favour of the trendier Rediffusion London, to reflect

5487-410: The same time Thames broadcast its new purchases. Ultimately, pressure from several ITV companies (especially Yorkshire Television ) to the IBA, forced Thames to sell the series back to the BBC at a loss. Bryan Cowgill , the managing director of Thames left the company, as he believed his position was untenable since the board was unwilling to support his plans to buy the series. In October, Thames paid

5580-468: The show in 1964. Another BBC favourite was comedian Benny Hill , the star of The Benny Hill Show (1969–89), who was placed under contract. Hill spent most of the rest of his career with Thames. The Sooty Show , cancelled in 1967 by the BBC, now aired on Thames and began on the first day of transmission. It continued after Harry Corbett 's retirement in 1975 with his son, Matthew Corbett , and lasted on Thames until late 1992. The company also produced

5673-617: The silent era, Unknown Chaplin (1983) and Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1987). A programme on Harold Lloyd ( The Third Genius ) followed in 1989. Hollywood and the Chaplin series were narrated by the actor James Mason . Unusually for a commercial broadcaster, Thames also produced lavish versions of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . Thames's subsidiary production company Euston Films continued to produce many of Thames's highest-profile drama contributions to ITV network programming to

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5766-569: The start of transmissions on Monday until its handover to London Weekend Television at 19:00 on Friday. (From 1982, the handover time was 17:15.) The former ABC studios at Teddington became Thames's main production base. Thames's corporate base moved to its newly constructed studios and offices on Euston Road (next to Euston Tower ) in 1970, when it relinquished Television House , Rediffusion's former London headquarters. The Teddington studios were highly desirable, as they had participated in colour experiments and were already partially converted by

5859-464: The summer of 1963 and stayed with the producer of the New York City production of Beyond The Fringe . Frost was unable to swim, but still jumped into the pool, and nearly drowned until he was saved by Peter Cook. At the memorial service for Cook in 1995, Alan Bennett recalled that rescuing Frost was the one regret Cook frequently expressed. For the first three editions of the second series in 1963,

5952-468: The then standard 'hybrid' studio video/location film format, but the British industry was in the slow process of dropping the multi-camera studio format for drama, excepting soaps, to making the genre entirely on film. The Thames offshoot Euston Films was founded in 1971 to specialise in drama output made entirely on film, then still a rare practice. Euston made the police series The Sweeney (1975–78), Danger UXB (1979), and Minder (1979–94), plus

6045-497: The time of the franchise change, and as such had been sought after by both Thames and LWT. When Thames was formed, the new company acquired numerous other properties of the former franchise holders. Rediffusion's main studio complex at Wembley was leased to London Weekend Television by order of the ITA before being sold to Lee International in 1977. ABC's Midlands base in Aston, Birmingham (see Alpha Television ), co-owned with ATV,

6138-408: The two, thus sharing profits fairly. The structure of the new company was also a problem. A merger between the two existing contract holders A.B.C. Television Limited and Rediffusion Television Limited was impossible, owing to internal politics, as was a merger between their respective parent companies Associated British Picture Corporation and British Electric Traction . The answer was found to be

6231-495: The union agreed to rostering according to need, while the management dropped plans for ending six-day working fortnights. Bryan Cowgill said: "The need for sensible change in the way we conduct our operations has been at the heart of this dispute. The outcome of a damaging and costly dispute has resulted in substantial progress towards a more realistic and effective way of working". David Frost (broadcaster) Sir David Paradine Frost OBE (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013)

6324-525: The variety show Opportunity Knocks , Armchair Theatre , the last series of The Avengers , and the detective thrillers Callan and Public Eye , all inherited from ABC. The comedy Do Not Adjust Your Set , though, originated with Rediffusion, and if nominally a children's show, was one of the forerunners of Monty Python's Flying Circus . More conventional sitcoms, all of which began in Thames's early years, included Father, Dear Father (1968–73),

6417-417: The weekend contract was extended to include Friday evenings, but was opened to new applicants. As a result of the changes to the schedule, ABC was at risk of losing both of its existing franchises, the weekend services that would be going away. Consequently, ABC applied for both the Midlands seven-day operation and the contract to serve London at the weekend, preferring the latter. It was widely expected that

6510-404: The weekends. Geographical and structural changes to the network led to the first significant shakeups of the network, a process that started in 1967 to take effect from 1968. As part of these changes, the separate weekend service was eliminated in the Midlands and North, who would instead be served by a single seven-day schedule. The London weekday/weekend split schedule remained the same, although

6603-678: Was "considered too high-brow for the show's low-brow format." Frost was one of the "Famous Five" who launched TV-am in February 1983; however, like LWT in the late 1960s, the station began with an unsustainable "highbrow" approach. Frost remained a presenter after restructuring. Frost on Sunday began in September 1983 and continued until the station lost its franchise at the end of 1992. Frost had been part of an unsuccessful consortium, CPV-TV , with Richard Branson and other interests, which had attempted to acquire three ITV contractor franchises prior to

6696-645: Was Frost's real voice. After leaving university, Frost became a trainee at Associated-Rediffusion . Meanwhile, having already gained an agent, Frost performed in cabaret at the Blue Angel nightclub in Berkeley Square , London during the evenings. Frost was chosen by writer and producer Ned Sherrin to host the satirical programme That Was the Week That Was , or TW3 , after Frost's flatmate John Bird suggested Sherrin should see his act at The Blue Angel. The series, which ran for less than 18 months during 1962–63,

6789-405: Was a joke, and had allowed the bad language to illustrate the character of the individuals in the group. The interview filled two minutes at the end of the programme, but the production team feared trouble in the studio if they stopped the programme mid-air. Thames's telephone switchboard was jammed by complaining viewers. Responding to the incident, Thames said in a statement: "Because the programme

6882-457: Was a materialist operation with a clear dimension, and to weed out unscrupulous bargaining and working practices. In the summer of 1984 a major strike was called, this time, over Thames's management unilaterally issuing new rostering schedules (overtime payments for transmission staff), and the use of new cameras and editing equipment. There were no internal discussions of the potential savings that could be derived from new shift patterns, but there

6975-461: Was a member, as well as the interview for Rediffusion, leading the ITA to question the loyalty at the company. The outcome proposed by the ITA was a " shotgun marriage " between ABC and Rediffusion. "The combination of these two companies," announced ITA Chairman Lord Hill , "seemed to the Authority to offer the possibility of a programme company of real excellence." The resultant company was awarded

7068-680: Was a patron and former vice-president of the Motor Neurone Disease Association charity, as well as being a patron of the Alzheimer's Research Trust , Hearing Star Benevolent Fund, East Anglia 's Children's Hospices, the Home Farm Trust and the Elton John AIDS Foundation . He was also recognised for his contributions to the women's charity "Wellbeing for Women". After having been in television for 40 years, Frost

7161-427: Was a strong sense that union controls had to be removed before the company embarked on increasing its operations. The technicians walked for a few hours on Monday 30 July, but the station was able to return just one day as management and administration staff took over their roles. On Monday 27 August, ATTC technicians walked out again over the new shift patterns; the strike ended on 3 September 1984, at 1p.m. after

7254-576: Was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme That Was the Week That Was in 1962. His success on this show led to work as a host on American television. He became known for his television interviews with senior political figures, among them the Nixon interviews with US president Richard Nixon in 1977 which were adapted into

7347-488: Was an avid football and cricket player, and was offered a contract with Nottingham Forest F.C. For two years before going to university he was a lay preacher, following his witnessing of an event presided over by Christian evangelist Billy Graham . Frost studied at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge , from 1958, graduating with a Third in English. He was editor of both the university's student paper, Varsity , and

7440-465: Was engaged to American actress Diahann Carroll ; in 1974, he was briefly engaged to American model Karen Graham ; between 1972 and 1977 he had a relationship with British socialite Caroline Cushing; in 1981, he married Lynne Frederick , widow of Peter Sellers , but they divorced the following year. He also had an 18-year intermittent affair with American actress Carol Lynley . On 19 March 1983, Frost married Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard, daughter of

7533-531: Was featured on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 's international affairs programme Foreign Correspondent in a report titled "The World According To Frost", reflecting on his long career and portrayal in the film Frost/Nixon . Frost had several relationships with high-profile women. In the mid-1960s, he dated British actress Janette Scott , between her marriages to songwriter Jackie Rae and singer Mel Tormé ; from 1970 to 1973, he

7626-485: Was interred in the church's graveyard. On 13 March 2014, a memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey , at which Frost was honoured with a memorial stone in Poets' Corner . British Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute, saying: "He could be—and certainly was with me—both a friend and a fearsome interviewer." Michael Grade commented: "He was kind of a television renaissance man . He could put his hand to anything. He could turn over Richard Nixon or he could win

7719-537: Was introduced. However, on 1 January 2012, the Thames brand was revived and Talkback Thames has now been split into four different labels: Boundless, Retort, Talkback and Thames , within the newly created FremantleMedia UK production arm. From its formation in 1954, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) offered broadcasting licences to different companies for weekday and weekend service in its first three Independent Television network locations,

7812-412: Was live, it was impossible to foresee the language that would be used." The press continued to be interested in the incident for several days. Grundy was suspended and Today ended soon afterwards; his career never recovered. Over time, Thames replaced Today with a more conventional news offering as seen on other ITV stations. Thames at Six was launched, later Thames News . In 1978, Thames secured

7905-532: Was paid $ 600,000 plus a share of the profits for the interviews, which had to be funded by Frost himself after the U.S. television networks turned down the programme, describing it as " checkbook journalism ". Frost's company negotiated its own deals to syndicate the interviews with local stations across the U.S. and internationally, creating what Ron Howard described as "the first fourth network". Frost taped around 29 hours of interviews with Nixon over four weeks. Nixon, who had previously avoided discussing his role in

7998-449: Was part of the satire boom in early 1960s Britain and became a popular programme. The involvement of Frost in TW3 led to an intensification of the rivalry with Peter Cook who accused him of stealing material and dubbed Frost "the bubonic plagiarist". The new satirical magazine Private Eye also mocked him at this time. Frost visited the U.S. during the break between the two series of TW3 in

8091-409: Was presented as a stage production in London in 2006 and on Broadway in 2007. Frank Langella won a Leading Actor Tony Award for his portrayal of Nixon; the play also received nominations for Best Play and Best Direction. The play was adapted into a Hollywood motion picture entitled Frost/Nixon and starring Michael Sheen as Frost and Langella as Nixon, both reprising their stage roles. The film

8184-477: Was produced by the former Question Time editor and Independent on Sunday journalist Charlie Courtauld. Frost was one of the first to interview the man who authored the Fatwa on Terrorism , Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri . During his career as a broadcaster, Frost became one of Concorde 's most frequent fliers, having flown between London and New York an average of 20 times per year for 20 years. In 2007, Frost hosted

8277-428: Was released in 2008 and directed by Ron Howard . It was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards , winning none: Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Director-Drama, Best Actor-Drama (Langella), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score. It was also nominated for five Academy Awards , again winning none: Best Picture, Best Actor (Langella), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. In February 2009, Frost

8370-520: Was sold in 1971 when ATV moved to new colour television facilities. Its northern base in Didsbury , Manchester , was used by Yorkshire Television prior to its Kirkstall Road studios in Leeds being completed, and eventually sold to Manchester Polytechnic in 1970, with a lease on sales offices in central Manchester being surrendered. The station continued formats inherited from its predecessors. These included

8463-614: Was taught in the Bible class of the Sunday school at his father's church (Byron Road Methodist) by David Gilmore Harvey, and subsequently started training as a Methodist local preacher , which he did not complete. Frost attended Barnsole Road Primary School in Gillingham, St Hugh's School, Woodhall Spa , Gillingham Grammar School and finally – while residing in Raunds, Northamptonshire – Wellingborough Grammar School . Throughout his school years he

8556-426: Was the subject of This Is Your Life in January 1972 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at London's Quaglino's restaurant. In 1968, he signed a contract worth £125,000 to appear on American television in his own show on three evenings each week, the largest such arrangement for a British television personality at the time. From 1969 to 1972, Frost kept his London shows and fronted The David Frost Show on

8649-578: Was working on a novel. Frost interviewed heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali in 1974 at his training camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania before " The Rumble in the Jungle " with George Foreman . Ali remarked, "Listen David, when I meet this man, if you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait till I whip Foreman's behind." In 1977, the Nixon interviews , which were five 90-minute interviews with former U.S. President Richard Nixon , were broadcast. Nixon

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