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Emma Amos's acting was what earned this episode my tenth star. She's raw, she's real, she's everything a parent would be in such hideous circumstances; it certainly seems to come from within right down to her stuffy nose from all the crying making here barely able to speak.

Another star goes to Nicholas Woodeson, reprising his role as a murderous sex offender from another crime series - I won't tell you which one - and who in both cases gives such a blood-curdling performance that you kind of wonder what secrets he might hold in real life. No slander intended here, I'm sure he's a fine person in real life, but I'd still feel less uncomfortable with him being on a leash tied to a tree. Just in case.

I also think Bruce Alexander deserves more credit than he gets. This is one of many occasions where Mr Mullet is visibly torn between his disgust for Frost's methods and his admiration for his results. He acts it out with all the subtlety for you to feel it, even if it's never spelled out, and even if it might not even have been in the script.

Speaking if which, the script certainly puts a knife into one of Britain's sorest underbellies and twists it. There is no room for clerical errors in the sex offenders' list, period, and there certainly isn't enough being done about mistreatment of minors.

I take solace in another young woman, almost a minor herself, being one of the heroes of this episode. She's a neat contrast symbolising goodness overcoming evil.

But that's just me.

Jim Sturgess!

Jim Sturgess!

Jim Sturgess!

Jim Sturgess!

I came here only to write it: Jim Sturgess!

Jim Sturgess!

Jim Sturgess!

Jim Sturgess!

What. A. Performance!!!!

Did I say Jim Sturgess? His portrayal of an autistic boy is up there with Daniel Day-Lewis's portrayal of a quadriplegic in "My Left Foot". You know, Daniel Day-Lewis, the only actor ever to receive three Oscars for Best Male Lead?

Well, Jim Sturgess is just as extraordinary in this performance, what a performance, what an actor of actors. He should have had an award for this episode, no question about it.

I'm a die-hard Frost fan and all the others are as great as always; David Jason and the lot, Malcolm Russell's writing which certainly lifts the later Frosts to a whole new level, Paul Harrison's inventive direction, sure - but Jim Sturgess is simply extraordinary, outstanding, superior.

Watch this for Jim Sturgess's performance, if not for any other reason.

Oh, and did I mention Jim Sturgess?

This is nothing short of than a perfect piece of television. Absolutely perfect.

The writing. The plot. The acting. The cinematography, the photography. The way it's edited and cut. Even the lighting for all I care. Absolutely perfect.

This is by far my favourite episode of the entire show - and I'm a huge Frost fan indeed.

The script stands out in so many ways, not only fleshing out the characters, but inserting cues and foreshadowing and plot twists, and being witty right to the very end... "Paperwork, Jack..." has me in stitches every time.

I'm also happy to see the return of D. S. Reid, superbly played as always by Robert Glenister. I think he should have had a series of his own to be honest.