David Frost is an outstanding television presenter, political interviewer, and producer, who is successful on both sides of the Atlantic. The awards recognizing his achievements in television include two Golden Roses from the Montreux international festival (for Frost over England), as well as two Emmy Awards (for The David Frost Show) in the United States. His long career was recognized when he was granted a knighthood in 1993.

Frost was one of the first generation of university graduates who bypassed print journalism and went straight into television. While at Cambridge he showed his satirical talent in the Footlights Revue and edited the university newspaper, Granta. In 1961 he moved to London to work for ITV during the day and perform in cabarets at night. His nightclub performance drew the attention of BBC producer Ned Sherrin, who invited him to host That Was the Week That Was, often called TW3. In the "satire boom" of the early 1960s the irreverent, topical, and politically oriented TW3 introduced satire to television in Britain. Among other topics, the program poked fun at the Royal family, the Church, high politics, and the respectable tenets of British life. TW3 brought the divisions of British society to the surface, and the ensuing controversy made the BBC discontinue it. From 1964 to 1965 Frost co­ hosted the next, milder satirical program, Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life. At its most successful, this program bore significant resemblance to TW3 and reached the same end.

The success of TW3 made Frost a transatlantic commuter, after NBC bought the rights to the program and aired the American version (1964-65) with executive producer Leland Hayward. The shorter, less political, and less outspoken program never had the same impact as its British counterpart, but it nevertheless made Frost's name in the United States.

Back in Britain, the BBC's new show The Frost Report (1966-67) focused on one topic per program and tackled social and contemporary issues, as opposed to the political and topical focus of TW3 and Not So Much. Drawing on the talents of John Cleese, Ronnie Barker, and Ronnie Corbett, the program brought humor to the topics of education, voting, and like the working environment provided for the development of a new humorous trend in Britain, and five of the comedians went on to form Monty Python's Flying Circus.

From 1966 to 1968, The Frost Programme at ITV showed the beginning of Frost's transition from comedian to serious interviewer. Frost pioneered such TV techniques as directly involving the audience in the discussions and blending comedy sketches with current affairs. From this time on, Frost's mixture of politics with entertainment would draw mixed responses from critics. At this time his "ad-lib interviewing" style, as he calls it, was characterized by rather remorseless fire on well-chosen subjects and led to his label as the "tough inquisitor."

From anchorman to executive producer, Frost filled many different roles in the television business. In 1966 he founded David Paradine Ltd., and as an entrepreneur he put a consortium together to acquire the ITV franchise for London Weekend Television (LWT) in 1967. LWT's programming did not live up to its franchise undertaking in the long run and was criti­cized in Britain for emphasizing entertainment to the detriment of substantial programming.

On the strength of his British chat shows, Group W (the U.S. Westinghouse Corporation television stations) selected Frost to anchor an interview daily from 1969 to 1972. Frost kept his London shows and fronted The David Frost Show in the United States. He used more one-to-one interviews than before and managed to mix friendly conversation with confrontation. Throughout these endeavors, Frost's instinct for television, his handling of the audience, and his ability to put guests at ease and make them accessible justified the moniker "The Television Man," given him years ear­lier by the BBC's Donald Haverstock.

Frost's television personality status and ability to market himself well enabled him to attract prominent interviewees. He has interviewed every British prime minister since Harold Wilson, as well as leading politicians and celebrities from a number of different countries. His U.S. television specials The Next President (1968, 1988, 1992) featured interviews with presidential candidates in the run-up for the presidency. The most famous of the big interviews characterizing Frost's recent focus were The Nixon Interviews (1977). This program offered the only televised assessment Richard Nixon gave about his conduct as president, including the Watergate affair. The interviews were syndicated on a barter basis and were subsequently seen in more than 70 countries.

When interviewing leading public figures, Frost retains his persistence, but he has refined his style into an apparently soft interrogative method where the strength of a question is judged more by the range of possible responses. As a result, he has sometimes been criticized for "toadying," presenting an overly sympathetic ear to his influential guests. Unlike his entertainment­ oriented shows, which were often followed by rows over questions of bias, the big interviews are usually judged as fair and balanced.

On the way to fame as a serious political interviewer, Frost had a new chance to combine politics and satire. As executive producer, he helped to launch the British program Spitting Image in 1984. This show, a scathing satire, picked up on already existing perceptions of politicians and highlighted them in puppet caricatures. When Margaret Thatcher was portrayed as a bald man who ate babies and lived next door to Adolf Hitler, the life-size puppets were thought to be as dangerous to politicians as TW3 had been. As a result, before the 1987 U.K. elections, the program was not broadcast. In another transatlantic parallel, this popular program also made it into the United States. In 1986 NBC carried Spitting Image: Down and Out in the White House, hosted by David Frost, and in 1987 The Ronnie and Nancy Show appeared on U.S. television screens.

In 1982 Frost successfully bid for a commercial breakfast television franchise, TV-AM, and became director of the new venture. Despite the five famous flagship presenters, TV-AM as a whole faced the same criticism as London Weekend Television. Its leisurely approach to hard news, especially during the Gulf War, was thought to cost it the franchise in 1991.

After losing TV-AM, Frost moved to the BBC to front a weekly interview program, Breakfast with Frost. Despite years of success, the value of the program for the channel is currently being examined. In addition, Frost's ten-week ITV documentary Alpha: Will It Change Their Lives? about a popular evangelical introduction to Christianity for yuppies stirred controversy in the summer of 2001.

In the United States, Frost signed a contract with the Public Broadcasting Service in 1990 to produce Talking with David Frost, a monthly interview program. Frost took advantage of newly declassified documents and made a two-part documentary, Inside the Cold War with Sir David Frost, in 1998. On cable, he is currently presenting One-on-One with David Frost for Arts and Entertainment, and Millennium Monday, a series of historical documentaries, for the National Geographic Channel. In 2000 he signed a deal with Newsplayer. com, a website that offers subscription access to archived newsreel footage, to make his interviews available on the Web.

Frost's business ventures also include filmmaking, where he acts as executive producer. The satirical The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970), featuring Peter Cook taking over the prime ministership, and the documentary The Search for Josef Mengele (1985) exemplify the variety of films he has produced. Most recently, in 1999, he produced Rogue Trader, based on the story of Nick Leeson who brought down Barings Bank. As a writer, Frost draws on his commuter observations. Along with other writings, he has published his autobiography (1993)
In Britain, Frost has often been criticized for his mannerisms and his apparent ability to use the fame bestowed by television to further his career in a num­ber of different fields. Nevertheless, his flair for televi­sion and his ability to produce high-quality current affairs and interview programs are widely recognized. His excellent political interviews show how television is able to provide insights into political decisions and contribute to the historical record. Throughout  his long career, Frost has always been ready to experiment with something new. His personal contributions to satire and political programs, as well as his business ven­tures, make him a prominent figure of broadcasting.