Falling

Jane Farrell is now working as an escort, which is where she said she would never end up again, and Chappel has decided to resume the relationship anyway. That is the episode's engine: a man trying to love a woman back into a life she keeps slipping out of, while the corrupt DS Vickers circles her like someone who knows a bargain when he sees one. She has a daughter to protect and a man who wants to save her, and neither makes the maths any easier.

Vickers is played by Tim Pigott-Smith, and casting alone tells you how much trouble he means. Jane starts to believe her daughter Sarah is in real danger because of how close the girl has got to him, and the worry curdles into a heated argument with Pat in which a big secret finally comes out. The secret itself is kept close for most of the hour, and the show trusts you to wait.

Around the edges the squad watches the mess unfold. Hutchins and Morgan try to keep order, Robinson looks on from a distance, and Andrew Lancel's DC Damon Hills moves through the case as the new face. Di Sherlock's Maria and Candice Fagan's Clare James give Jane's world texture, and Catherine Hamilton gets the unenviable job of being the waitress who sees too much.

Rob Pursey, Barry Simner and Simon Tyrrell wrote it, Roger Gartland directed. Sarah Parish carries the hour the way the show always hoped she would, and her scenes opposite Pigott-Smith crackle with the sense that Jane is out of her depth among men who play for keeps.

But it is not a neat episode. The argument happens and the secret comes out. The danger around Sarah keeps its grip either way. Falling is what Jane does all through this hour, and the show is patient enough to watch her do it.