If Dogs Run Free: Part 2 

Frost becomes engaged to Christine Moorehead while trying to put crime kingpin Gerry Berland behind bars and trying to unmask a copycat killer.

Director:

Paul Harrison

Writers:

R.D. Wingfield (characters created by), Michael Russell (screenplay)

Stars:

David Jason, Bruce Alexander, John Lyons

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
David Jason	...	Insp. Jack Frost
Bruce Alexander	...	Supt Mullett
John Lyons	...	D.S. Toolan
Arthur White	...	Police Collator
Adrian Dunbar	...	Gerry Berland
Niamh Cusack	...	Sally Berland
Phyllis Logan	...	Christine Moorhead
Simon Shepherd	...	Tom Viner
Leah Bracknell	...	Carolyn Viner
Adam James	...	Gregory Salmond
George Costigan	...	Allen Moorhead
Jaye Griffiths	...	Alice Parmenter
Fiona Glascott	...	Jenny Mallinger
Jonathan Wrather	...	Dafydd Mansell-Smith
Valentine Pelka	...	Sam Crague

Storyline

Christine survives her ordeal and grows closer to Jack, who meets her apparently friendly ex-husband. To silence Lisowski,a drug addict, Berland gives him an extra strong fix,which kills him. Frost realises the two men know each other but decides to bide his time. However,he has a piece of good fortune when Salmond, Berland's cocky solicitor, has his car stole by joy-riding colleagues and Salmond's large,personal stash of cocaine is found in the car.Frost levers him into revealing the location of the site where Berland trains his fighting dogs and from here on Berland's world collapses. Sean kills himself and Sally leaves him, watched by Neil's mother,who takes her boy to the police to confess everything. The copy cat criminal is revealed as the child of a bent copper exposed by Frost and seeking revenge. There is a stand-off atop a high building but Frost survives to marry Christine. There is, however, an uninvited wedding guest who may well cloud the happiness of the day.

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Plot Keywords:

drug addict | solicitor | cocaine | threat | arson | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Trivia

Three different endings were filmed for this last show in the series.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Insp. Jack Frost: George! George! Come here! I suppose there is no doubt that it was arson.
D.S. Toolan: Well, the Chief Fire Officer thinks so, yes.

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Soundtracks

Route 66
(uncredited)
Composed by Bobby Troup (1946)
Opening several lines sung by Gerry Berland

User Reviews

'A Touch of Frost' comes to an end

As has been said by me numerous times already, 'A Touch of Frost' is a personal favourite of mine, and one of my favourite shows from the detective/mystery genre. Do have a preference perhaps for the earlier-mid-show episodes over the later ones, but none of the episodes are less than watchable and none do anything to embarrass the show.

So much appeals about 'A Touch of Frost'. Love the mix of comedy (mostly through Frost's snide comments and quips) and dark grit, the tension between rebellious Jack Frost and by-the-book Mullet which has led to some humorous moments, how he interacts with the rest of the staff, the deft mix of one or two cases and Frost's personal life, how Frost solves the cases, the production values, music and of course David Jason in one of his best roles.

There may have been people initially sceptical about whether the show would work, and with Jason (a mainly comedic actor) in a departure from usual in the lead role. Scepticism very quickly evaporated, the first six seasons were top notch with a few not-quite-outstanding-but-still-very-good episodes but most of them being near-perfect to masterpiece. Was not sure initially as to whether the Seasons 7-9 two parters would work, having seen two parters not quite work with 'Lewis' for example, but all three worked brilliantly.

Most of Season 10 was of a very high standard, "Held in Trust" was my personal favourite of the episodes but Jim Sturgess' performance in "Close Encounters" is one of the show's best supporting turns. Was a little let down however by "Hidden Truth", which was still decent and much better than a lot of weaker episodes from other shows but considering the high quality of Seasons 1-9 decent didn't seem quite enough. "Another Life" and "Dancing in the Dark" were very good episodes for Season 11, though neither high points. "Near Death Experience" was one of my favourite latter season episodes, while the next episode "Endangered Species", while a long way from bad (pretty decent still) is one of my least favourites of the series.

"Mind Games" was a great return for 'A Touch of Frost' after a two year absence, while "Dead End" while still decent was a disappointment and one of my least favourite episodes overall. As far as Season 14 episodes go, "In the Public Interest" is not as good as "Mind Games" but is superior to "Dead End".

Season 15 was the last, after David Jason decided to retire the role, and is comprised of one two parter. And it's mostly a very nicely done two parter, , though the two parter overall is not quite as good as the previous three two parters from Seasons 7-9.

Am of the opinion that for a show of such longevity the ending was rather too low-key (and maybe a bit on the maudlin side) and that things were solved somewhat too patly. Frost's relationship with Phyllis Logan's character while sweet and very touchingly performed didn't feel properly developed enough to properly care yet.

Production values still look great. It matches the dark, gritty tone of the episode beautifully with atmospheric lighting and the stylish way it's shot. The music is haunting without being over-bearing, the theme tune still iconic.

Good deal of the script is taut and thought-provoking, with a few amusing moments but a good deal of gritty ones. The story is absorbing, with a good deal of tension and suspense, especially a shocking edge of your seat event that leaves a regular character's life in the balance.

Frost is remarkably well established as a character, with his faults but also good qualities. Can't fault Jason as Frost, he is simply brilliant in the role as always with not one foot put wrong. All the supporting cast are on point with not a weak link, with Bruce Alexander and John Lyons being as ever sturdy regular support and Phyllis Logan and Adrian Dunbar faring best of the guest turns.

Overall, despite having reservations on the very ending itself "If Dogs Run Free" was still a very well done episode. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 April 2010 (UK)

Filming Locations:

New Scotland Yard, Broadway, Westminster, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

ITV Studios, Excelsior, Yorkshire Television (YTV)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min (DVD)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1