Original caricature by Jeff York of David Frost as seen in the new MSNBC docuseries DAVID FROST VS (copyright 2025)
If you only have heard the name David Frost associated with the award-winning play & film FROST/NIXON, you need to see the new MSNBC six-part documentary series DAVID FROST VS. airing on MSNBC Sunday nights at 8 PM CST. Frost, of course, was the British journalist who took the fight to President Richard Nixon three years after he resigned the office in disgrace. Frost challenged Nixon on his abuse of power during Watergate, overreach in Vietnam, and using his White House for vendettas. (That was the subject of the play and film, natch.) Indeed, the tenacious Brit was one tough journalist, fair and compassionate too, but he understood “the moment” better than most journalists and asked the questions that America wanted answered from the pardoned POTUS. He got them too, including the famous confession from Nixon that he thought presidents were above the law. (Sound like anyone you can think of today?)
Thus, this documentary series is not only a fascinating examination of Frost’s career in journalism when he took on some of the toughest interviews imaginable, but it’s also a clarion wakeup call to the journalism community to follow suit. Frost went into the lion’s den with Nixon, his Veep Spiro Agnew, the Beatles, Jane Fonda, Muhammed Ali, and dozens of movers and shakers of their time. He won their respect, and repeated visits, without ever losing his focus as a journalist willing to ask tough questions, and even more importantly, continue with tough follow-up questions.
That’s especially clear in the third episode of the series entitled “David Frost Vs Jane Fonda.” It’s not only about his numerous sit-down interviews with the controversial A-list actress, but about the political turmoil in the 60s and 70s and Frost’s participation in trying to make the events understandable to his worldwide audience. The episode is incredibly thorough as it charts Frost probing of such turbulent times by digging deeper than the headlines and asking pointed questions of politicians, activists, and his audience as well as why they were happening. (Frost’s shows were famous for his Q & As with guests as well as his audience.) In one compelling exchange, Frost confronts sitting Vice-President Agnew, sitting two feet away on the stage in front of a packed house, asking why he supported the National Guard breaking up the Kent State protests by killing four students. “Maybe if they hadn’t thrown rocks…” Agnew cynically muses about the students, to which Frost retorts, “Maybe if the Guard didn’t throw tear gas cannisters first.” Have you seen any tough follow-ups like that on any news programs lately? I didn’t think so.
The show stands as a detailed stroll through history and the evolution of some of his most famous guests too as Frost interviewed many of his famed guest multiple times. The documentary doesn’t skimp on showing us numerous bits that provide insight to the celebrities as well as their adaptation to the turbulent 60s as well. And through it all, Frost evolves too, learning more, becoming more confrontational, and even adapting to the style and lingo changing world culture. (Those sideburns of his were really something!) And Frost’s tenacity on live television is something to see. At one point while interviewing Ali, he gets into a heated exchange over the definitions of evil and racism and even lets Ali leave the stage for a minute to retrieve an article he wants to counter Frost in his defense. That kind of chutzpah would never happen today, but Frost talked to his audience during Ali’s absence, and it made the whole shebang even more tense and compelling.
It’s fascinating to watch Frost dig deep with John Lennon about how effective his art is in advocating for peace or whether Fonda made mistakes in going to Hanoi. Just three episodes in and the show is must-see every episode and there are three left. This coming Sunday, May 18th, Frost vs Nixon is the full subject, and my guess is it will likely be the highlight of the series.
The show benefits greatly from not only the extensive clips, but from conversations with production staff today that Frost worked with back then, as well as many of the guests he had on his various programs in England and the States. Frost’s son Wilfred Frost, one of the show’s producers and an international journalist in his own right, provides a lot of insight into his father as well. It’s a loving remembrance, but tough too, quite like the ethos of his parent.
Throughout Frost is presented as an ambitious man, a journalist willing to fly back and forth to keep both his shows on two continents (the US and the UK) going strong. The man is effortlessly charming in his low-key style (captured very well by actor Michael Sheen on stage and screen), but beneath the smile, the intimate body language (he sat very close to his guests on stage), and his sartorial splendor, the man could still needle, push and press for more candor from even the stingiest of guests. It’s a fascinating examination of what geopolitical journalism could be today, and should be, so I implore everyone to watch it, especially those in the press who need to keep fighting the good fight.
