Still Open All Hours will return to BBC One later this year for a Christmas special, followed by a third season in 2017.

Written by Roy Clarke, the Open All Hours spin-off series launched in 2014, with Season 2 becoming the highest rated comedy series of the past 12 months.

Season 3 and this year’s festive episode will start filming location segments soon, with studio filming beginning in October.

Buy the complete original Open All Hours box set on Amazon here.

David Jason commented: “I can’t wait for viewers to see the scrapes Granville gets into this series, almost as much as I can’t wait to start filming them. Roy Clarke has once again written seven fantastically warm, funny and inventive scripts, full of the humour and eccentric characters that the nation has come to love over the years.”

Executive producer Gareth Edwards added: “I continue to be bowled over by the incredible audience response to Still Open All Hours, so it’s a real pleasure to welcome the series back to BBC One. The opening Christmas special is our most festive yet, and the wonderful mind of Roy Clarke has conjured up many more eccentric, classic adventures for Granville and the gang over the series.”

The Christmas special will see Granville and Gastric (Tim Healy) find themselves playing marriage counsellors, whilst Leroy (James Baxter) adopts a festive disguise to avoid relationship trouble of a different kind. Meanwhile, Mrs Featherstone (Stephanie Cole) struggles to get into the Christmas spirit and Kath (Sally Lindsay) attempts to bring the street together as one harmonious choir of carollers and beat Finkle Street once and for all – but does Granville have a trick up his sleeve to help them out?

Returning regular cast members include Maggie Ollerenshaw as the love of Granville’s life, Mavis, plus Johnny Vegas as Eric, Kulvinder Ghir as Cyril, Brigit Forsyth as Madge, Nina Wadia as Mrs Hussein and Geoffrey Whitehead as Mr Newbold.

However, Lynda Baron will not be returning in Season 3.

She explained: “I was thrilled by the huge success of Still Open All Hours and was very happy to be a part of it. However this year it just isn’t possible to fit it in with my schedule. I am disappointed not least because it is beyond doubt the nicest cast and crew a girl could wish for. There are as many laughs off the set as there are on. Long may they stay Open All Hours.”

Are you looking forward to the return of Still Open All Hours? Let us know below…