What's the best soap on the box?

For great plots and great acting you can't beat the everyday story of country folk - and I''m not taking about the Archers.

Last night's hour-long Emmerdale special was soap at its best.

The plot involved the cot death of baby Daniel Thomas, son of vicar Ashley and his wife Laurel.

It was a gut-wrenching episode with all the actors concerned pulling out the stops to create believable characters coping with tragedy.

Whitley Bay's John MIddleton, who plays Ashley, delivered a sterling performance of a dad who was a mix of quiet helplessness outside and turmoil inside.

This is a guy who is one of the unsung heroes of Emmerdale having created a man of the cloth who is is a rounded character in his own right and not just a caricature.

Charlotte Bellamy as Laurel deserves an award for portraying a woman who knew from the moment she picked her son up that he was dead.

Her insistence on keeping hold of him, not wanting to be parted, was one of several moments that brought a tear to the eye.

It wasn't pleasant viewing but, as a mirror of real life tragedy, it was necessary.

The writers deserve a mention for not going overboard but delivering lines that were believable in context.

And they did a great job of bringing in the rest of the cast.

Acerbic Viv was stopped in her tracks and had to hold their own babies as her way of coping with the news,

Shambling Shadrach, Daniel's godfather, spent time alone in the barn with his own thoughts.

Jasmine was a tower of strength while still trying to come to terms with her own grief.

It was, quite simply, soap at it's best,