Sir David Frost’s son: What I learned reviewing broadcast legend’s famous interviews

Dad was a showman with great charisma, but he never lost sight of the fact that an interview is about the guest, not the host.

Dad was a showman with great charisma, but he never lost sight of the fact that an interview is about the guest, not the host.

That is made clear when you review the 10,000+ interviews he did, as I have done over the last decade since he left us.

That theme has been central to the series, David Frost Vs.

Image:
David Frost with Muhammad Ali. Pic: David Paradine Productions Ltd

Pic: Adam Scull/Shutterstock 

Elton John and David Frost USA New York City
Elton John David Frost 1978
Image:
Elton John and David Frost in New York in 1978. Pic: Adam Scull/Shutterstock

Pic: ITV/Shutterstock 

John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear on the 'Frost on Sunday' tv chat chow programme, produced by ITV London Weekend Television, with David Frost
ITV ARCHIVE
Image:
John Lennon and Yoko Ono with Sir David. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock

Six individual films about crucial moments in our recent history, that are still relevant and resonant today, where Dad just happened to have a front row seat, not six films specifically about Dad.

His extraordinarily revealing interviews with the likes of The Beatles, Yoko Ono, Muhammad Ali, Jane Fonda, Elton John and Richard Nixon are in part so revealing because they were given time to breathe.

Jane Fonda being interviewed by David Frost
Image:
Jane Fonda being interviewed by David Frost. Pic: David Paradine Productions Ltd

Pic: ITV/Shutterstock 

'The Frost Programme'  TV - 1967 -
David Frost, George Harrison, John Lennon.
ITV Archive stills
TV PRESENTER BEATLES
Image:
David Frost with George Harrison and John Lennon in 1967. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock

Long-form is critical to have a chance of delivering the era-defining conversations that stand the test of time as he did so often. But it takes much more than that. These conversations are deeply personal.

I think our films will reveal more than expected about the people and topics we explore because you really feel the words being spoken.

Dad understood live television better than anyone and when it came to interviewing, both his guests and his viewers are drawn in because what drove him was a genuine curiosity about people.

Sky's Wilfred Frost spoke to Sir Keir Starmer
Image:
Sky’s Wilfred Frost interviewing Sir Keir Starmer last year

David Frost with his wife Lady Carina and Wilfred as they left St Mary's Hospital in Paddington. Pic: PA
Image:
David Frost with his wife Lady Carina and Wilfred as they left St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington on 19 August 1985. Pic: PA

He never entered an interview with an agenda. He was interested in the person in front of him and what they had to say.

But I don’t think that is something you can teach or learn. He just genuinely loved people.

David Frost Vs is coming soon to Sky Documentaries.