Sir David Jason has reprised his iconic role as the legendary Detective Inspector Jack Frost for the last time in a two-part finale of A Touch of Frost, which has gone into production for ITV1.

Three endings will be filmed for the episode which will see Britain’s best loved detective tackle his final case. Viewers will be kept waiting to find out how Frost will depart the series which has been running for 17 years. Sir David himself, together with Producer David Reynolds, and senior drama executives at ITV will decide in post-production which ending is screened. The decision will be shrouded in secrecy with only a small number of colleagues aware of how the last episode concludes.

The two-part film entitled If Dogs Run Free follows Frost’s battle to convict Gerry Berland (Adrian Dunbar), a dangerous criminal masquerading as a successful businessman. He’s been evading prison for years and, tenacious as ever, Frost is determined to send him down. Tipped off by RSPCA officer, Christine Moorshead (Phyllis Logan), Frost raids an illegal dogfight organised by Berland, but fails to trap him. Berland is convinced that his son’s classmate is the police’s informant and urges him to teach him a lesson. However, when a scuffle results in the murder of a teenage boy, to which Christine is the only witness, the case against Berland becomes more pressing. As Frost protects Christine from the mounting harassment of Berland’s thugs, he finds himself falling for her. Will Frost find love in this concluding story?

The episodes will also see Frost investigating a series of homicides which appear to mirror the crimes that he failed to solve over 16 years ago. It soon becomes clear that the copycat killer has a personal vendetta against Frost, but will he get to the bottom of it before the murderer strikes again?

Niamh Cusack (Always and Everyone, Heartbeat) guest stars as Gerry Berland’s downtrodden wife, Sally. Leah Bracknell (The Royal Today; Emmerdale) and Simon Shepherd (Peak Practice) play the parents of a boy who becomes entangled in the Berland’s corrupt world and George Costigan (Unforgiven; New Tricks; Whistleblowers) plays Allen Moorshead, Christine’s ex husband. John Lyons returns as Frost’s loyal sidekick, DS Toolan. Bruce Alexander plays Superintendent Mullet and Arthur White returns as Trigg.

Sir David Jason says: “I thoroughly enjoy playing Jack Frost, he’s been a huge part of my acting life after more than 40 episodes, and I’ll give him a dramatic and fitting send off, whichever ending we decide to screen.”

David Reynolds, Controller of Comedy Drama and Drama Features for ITV Yorkshire added “It’s been tremendous working with Sir David Jason on such a long running and successful series. The final episodes are a dramatic conclusion to what has been one of TV’s best loved crime dramas.”

Carl Meyer (Jonathan Slinger) has been released from prison on parole after serving 20 years for the murder of 14-year-old Jane Crewes, who went missing along with her best friend Harriet Collingham. Meyer was also the chief suspect for Harriet’s murder, but as her body was never found, he couldn’t be charged for the crime. Frost (David Jason) is perturbed by the news of Meyer’s release. He worked on the case 20 years ago and is desperate to know where Harriet’s body is buried, not only for the family’s peace of mind, but also for his own.

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