Comeback: LassieComeback: LassieWorld famous adventure dog Lassie is to make a big screen comeback.

And Irish actor Peter O'Toole has broken the golden rule of never working with children or animals to star alongside the pooch.

Filming will start shortly in Ireland for Lassie Come Home, although the film will be set in Yorkshire and Scotland.

The famous actor, who shot to fame in the 1962 classic Lawrence of Arabia, will play the Duke Of Rudling who buys the dog from a poor family and takes him to a remote Scottish castle.

But the film will show Lassie desperately heading back to his former owner south of the border in time for Christmas.

The original 1943 film starred a young Elizabeth Taylor.

More films followed before it was turned into a popular TV series, with nearly 700 episodes made.