Rodney Wingfield had no objection to the TV series being made, but he just felt that it was not 'his' Frost.
The production company made a number of changes to the character when the TV series was in development. Firstly, Frost swears heavily in the books, which was toned down for TV. Secondly, Frost in the books was a heavy smoker, and David Jason didn't want to smoke on screen, as he was aware that the changing times meant such habits were becoming more unacceptable, and that as Del Boy, he was almost constantly seen to be smoking. Instead, they turned the TV Frost into someone who had just given up smoking. Thirdly, Forst in the books had a rather keen interest in very young girls, and this didn't sit very easily with the producers of the TV series.
Rod Wingfield admired David Jason as an actor enormously, and was a big fan of him in Only Fools and Horses, but just felt the TV version of Frost was just too 'different' to his own conception of the character. However, the author did see the benefits of having the TV series as it meant wider readership for his novels, a greater chance for him to get 'his' Frost out there.
As for the rights issues, only 2 novels had been written when the TV series was first made (A Frost At Christmas 1984, and A Touch of Frost 1987). The majority of the TV episodes were original stories, not based on any of the novels. Some of the later books (Night Frost 1992, Hard Frost 1995, Winter Frost 1998, and, lastly, A Killing Frost 2008) were adapted for later episodes of the series (except 'Killing' which only came out this year, just after Wingfield's death). As I understand it, the rights that were originally sold included full use of the character, any of the material from the two novels published at that point, the exclusive use of any material written subsequently, and for the use of Wingfield's name in promotional material. No doubt it was a lucrative deal from Wingfield's point-of-view, but he lived very modestly, refused most offers of interview (even in spite of the money offered), and would not have been solely motivated by money.
So, all in all, though Wingfield wasn't keen on the TV series, for him, the benefits outweighed the negatives.
reply
share
padzok
16 years ago
Thanks for that. Really informative. Just on general principle, I hope he got a fair deal on royalties for the character, even if he chose to live modestly.
reply
share
scarlet1881
16 years ago
My pleasure, padzok.
Yes, RD Wingfield was a fairly wealthy man. He just preferred to live in quiet obscurity (in Basildon, Essex, not far from me), choosing never to attend book launches or promotional events, very very rarely giving interviews, and had a real loathing of having his photo taken. Wingfield was just a very private man, and another reason possibly why he wasn't keen on the TV series was that it brought added interest in him as a person, which he found difficult to cope with.
David Jason did read the audio versions of the original novels, if you didn't know, so the character as Rod Wingfield originally conceived it was still portrayed by Jason in a way.
reply
share