ITV's Frost is top TV detective

David Jason has played DI Frost for 11 years

David Jason's DI Jack Frost has been voted Britain's top TV detective by readers of What's On TV magazine.

Jason, 63, has appeared in ITV1's A Touch of Frost for 11 years.

The late John Thaw's Inspector Morse came second in the vote. Thaw reappeared at number 12 as The Sweeney's DI Jack Regan from the 1970s.

The highest-ranking female detective on the poll was Miss Marple, played by the late Joan Hickson in the long-running BBC series, who came fifth.

In third place was Sherlock Holmes, as played by Jeremy Brett in the 1984 TV series.

Top five TV detectives 1 DI Jack Frost (A Touch Of Frost) - David Jason 2 Inspector Morse (Inspector Morse) - John Thaw 3 Sherlock Holmes (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) - Jeremy Brett 4 Jonathan Creek (Jonathan Creek) - Alan Davies 5 Miss Marple (Miss Marple) - Joan Hickson Source: What's On TV

In fourth place was Jonathan Creek, the BBC One detective played by comedian Alan Davies.

Helen Mirren's DCI Tennison, the star of ITV1's Prime Suspect came sixth.

Actor John Nettles featured twice in the list, first as DCI Tom Barnaby from Midsomer Murders (number seven) and for his earlier role as Channel Islands detective Jim Bergerac in the 1980s TV series.

The TV detective vote was also held through web provider AOL.

DI Frost actor Jason recently said he thought he may retire from acting.

"You reach a point when there are only so many times you can say, 'Time of death'," he said at last week's National television Awards in London.

"When a show is still popular you do want to continue but Frost should retire now and maybe I should retire."