British Comedy Guide
The Cleaner. Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies)
The Cleaner

The Cleaner

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC One
  • 2021 - 2024
  • 19 episodes (3 series)

Greg Davies stars as a crime scene cleaner in this UK adaptation of a hit German show. Also features Zita Sattar.

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Series 2, Episode 5 - The Statue

The Cleaner. Image shows left to right: Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies), Lucille (Zoë Wanamaker)
Wicky is called to a quiet town where a row has broken out over a statue. Tempers in the town are running high, and it looks like things might turn nasty.

Further details

Wicky is called to a quiet town where someone has chucked a bucket of blood over a new statue in protest - goose blood, judging by the feathers and the beak. Wicky sets to work cleaning it, but the row about the statue is far from over. Tempers in the town are running high, and Wicky finds himself embroiled in a debate that looks like it might turn nasty.

Susannah Fielding interview

The Cleaner. Image shows left to right: Fran (Susannah Fielding), Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies), Lucille (Zoë Wanamaker)

Can you tell us a bit about your character and what attracted you to the role?

Fran Culpepper isn't my usual casting and that's exactly what excited me about playing the role. She's a holey cardigan wearing, cat loving, vegan shoe wearing, do-gooder who entirely lacks a sense of humour and takes her job as council officer extremely seriously. She takes absolutely no nonsense from Wicky and tries to update him on her version of woke... he proves a challenging student...

What was it like working alongside Greg?

He's tall isn't he? And also the loveliest bloke on telly. He had me in stitches from 5am in the morning until we wrapped every night.

Do you have a favourite moment from filming your episode?

I think marching Greg across the bleakest town square in the UK (much like where I grew up!) whilst blindly singing the praises of the town centre 'improvements'. This episode makes some brilliant points on the sad state of our town centres and the lack of human interest shown by many of the people planning them. But as usual it's done in a clever, funny way that hits just the right note.

How do you think you would fare as a crime-scene cleaner?

Oh I'd be absolutely terrible.... I'll leave that to Wicky. He's certainly found his calling.

Louis Emerick interview

The Cleaner. Vince (Louis Emerick)

Can you tell us a bit about your character and what attracted you to the role?

My character, Vince, he's the handyman of the centre and very chilled and laid back, he takes the two right-on do-gooders in his stride! What attracted me to the role? Simple, the opportunity to work with Greg Davies, a brilliantly funny man! They say, never meet your heroes, well no problem there, he was everything... and more! Plus, working with the delightful Zoë Wannamaker again after 30 plus years was a beautiful bonus!!

What was it like working alongside Greg?

What I liked above all was, with Greg also being co-writer, it meant he had the power and foresight to amend dialogue, whilst we were on set, which is gold for any actor! I had a long speech towards the end of the episode, and Greg tweaked it from its original form to give it a bit of edge and it worked beautifully!

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 21st April 2023
Time
9:30pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
30 minutes

Catch-up

Cast & crew

Cast
Greg Davies Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead
Guest cast
Jane Lewis Barbara Chant
Zoë Wanamaker Lucille
Susannah Fielding Fran
Louis Emerick Vince
Terry Molloy Old Man
Gareth Tunley Gavin
Sam Ward Man in Meeting
Writing team
Greg Davies Writer
Mike Wozniak Writer
Michael Odewale Script Consultant
Production team
Tom Marshall Director
Sam Ward Producer
Vivien Muller-Rommel Executive Producer
Ben Caudell Executive Producer
Lesley Cruickshank Line Producer
Gareth Heal Editor
Polly Aspinall Production Designer
Tracey Gillham Casting Director
Ross Marshall Director of Photography
Claire Wilson Costume Designer
Alyn Waterman Make-up Designer
Samuel Karl Bohn (as Samuel Bohn) Composer
Bethan King Graphics
Claire Grossmith 1st Assistant Director

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