Rising star Blake is the latest actor to play David Jason’s sidekick in A Touch of Frost, as DC Robert Presley.
The young Brit actor has already made a name for himself with parts such as the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in the BBC’s docu-drama The Romantics and recently starred opposite Billie Piper as the hero Edmund Bertram in ITV’s big budget production of Mansfield Park. A new episode of Frost will appear on ITV1 this winter.
ITV.com met Blake in London and he discussed working in the hit crime series. The characters of Jack Frost and Presley are unlikely housemates, as Blake explains.
“At the moment he’s kind of living with Frost, which is fun. There’s a lot of bickering. It’s a kind of love/ hate relationship between the two of them. But he’s a lovely character. I think he’s quite wry. He’s learning very quickly, but he’s actually very inexperienced.”
How does Frost take to the new upstart? “I think he’s one of the only people who can get away with ribbing Frost without him biting his head off. I think there’s this huge mutual respect there, which is why he gets away with it.”
Like most people of his generation Blake grew up with David Jason on TV and he admits he has to pinch himself sometimes when his co-star arrives on set.
Blake says: “You meet a lot of familiar faces when you’re acting, but it doesn’t get much bigger than David Jason.
“He’s so ingrained in our consciousness. I remember shows such as Dangermouse, where he’d be doing the voice over and Duckula. And Only Fools and Horses, obviously.
Blake is also taking the chance to learn a few tricks from the veteran actor. “He’s one of those actors who are so brilliant at what they do,” he says. “that it’s really exciting working with him. There’s a real thrill because the new series is much more comic than the last Frost.
