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Season 1 – Cleaning Up

Play trailer Poster for Season 1 – Cleaning Up Jan 2019 Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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92% Tomatometer 12 Reviews 45% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
An after-hours cleaner in corporate London tries to play the markets by getting insider tips from her co-workers across the city.
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Cleaning Up — Season 1

Cleaning Up — Season 1

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Critics Consensus

Cleaning Up is a twisty delight thanks to Sheridan Smith's plucky heroine, who grounds the series' more incredulous turns with a lived-in charisma.

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Critics Reviews

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Lucy Mangan Guardian 03/07/2019
3/5
Indispensable to it are the actors, who throw themselves uncynically into it with their whole hearts. This is always Smith's greatest gift, and here she is surrounded by a supporting cast doing likewise. Go to Full Review
Deborah Ross The Mail on Sunday (UK) 01/14/2019
3/5
This may build into a substantial thriller -- it's Sheridan Smith! -- but it's often clumsy...and it's truly got its work cut out if it's going to zip along in a way that takes us with it. Go to Full Review
Helen Brown Independent (UK) 01/10/2019
3/5
You can't help rooting for them in the absurd scene where Sam balances on a desk to plants a microphone in the ceiling of the insider dealer's office and cheering as their 50 investment blooms into 500. Go to Full Review
Marina Zucchi Clarín 10/05/2020
[Sheridan Smith's] Sam is an ode to imperfection, she always seems to have something up her sleeve to worsen every decision she makes. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Alison de Souza The Straits Times (Singapore) 03/20/2019
3/5
The six episodes this is stretched to are full of holes. Yet the silliness is rather enjoyable to watch. Go to Full Review
Victoria Segal Sunday Times (UK) 01/14/2019
[Sheridan] Smith is such a seamless, subtle actor, she absorbed the balder moments of Robin Hood rhetoric: you could see the rebellious schoolgirl still lurking inside her, suspicious of authority, toughened up by disappointment. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Hadyn C @RT05120371 10/27/2024 Sam came across as a very very dislike-able character that made me shout "wtf are you doing." The show is ok, it's something to watch, and a tad entertaining, but you will find yourself facepalming many times throughout, as plenty of selfish stupidity takes place. Other than that, it's not a bad watch, and it passes the time. See more Alan M @RT07378434 04/14/2024 This seems to have been based on the 1960s movie Ladies Who Do a gentle comedy starring Peggy Mount, not a bad series but flawed as usual by writers who have little idea of the people employed in this type of work. Sheridan Smith gives her usual performance surrounded by the usual range of cosmopolitan characters that UK TV dramas roll out. It would be more realistic if it reflected the genuine demographic of cleaners particularly in London which are migrants who are prepared to do the jobs that people in the West believe are beneath them showing their work ethic and entrepreneurial skills. See more Pat O @RT34777974 04/02/2024 Watched the whole season but felt the main character Sam (Sheridan Smith) had almost no redeeming qualities and was thoroughly dislikeable. Some of the side stories were better. Wouldn't recommend at all. See more Jan V @RT50475020 01/08/2024 Good show, horrible ending. No lessons where learned: apparently it's OK to gamble everybody's money away, use your children in scams, steal, and lie to the people closest to you. All just to stick it to "the man". Very disappointing. See more 07/27/2021 This is great fun and yes slightly bonkers. Disappointed if ITV are dropping this because of the moral outrage by some viewers at Sam's craziness. Get a life people - it's fiction. Actually her motivations all seem pretty plausible to me and I think the writer was showing an ordinary person doing the same as some of those financial institutions were up to in real life - have we forgotten the devastating financial crash caused by a phoney derivative market that lead to a decade of austerity. AAA rated :-) See more 02/22/2019 At every turn the lying, cheating, work-shy, law-breaking, thief portrayed by Sheridan is rarely brought to task for anything done wrong. Not only that, but when she gets away with something we are treated to anthemic 'feel good' soul music to reinforce how well she's doing. I couldn't believe what I was watching in the first episode, and only hoping that perhaps the character might 'clean up' their act, but to no avail after 6 episodes. I can't fathom how the creators of this series felt that the character causing a car accident whilst playing with a phone and then then speeding off with absolutely no further comment or repercussion on this act was 'OK'. But of course, that's just the start... we hear the character is a hard-working cleaner but one that spends a lot of her 'working' hours feeding an addiction or breaking into and bugging offices and listening in to conversations. Lying to teachers in front of her children, breaking into and stealing from a private clients home, stealing money from friends and family at every turn, deceiving those closest to her to save face. Again, all of these with little to know comeuppance and often accompanied by "Go-girl!" music. The worst part of all this is the last episode. We are now left with a message that Gamblers Anonymous is 'a dangerous place to go' and really, you don't need it even though you have a crippling addiction. In fact, it alludes that she has solved her addiction problems and the daughter who was desperately trying to get Mum to GA meetings now is proud of her... why? Because she's set up a cleaning business with the sole intent of stealing information from legal and financial companies and committing further crime by leveraging insider trading. But of course everything's OK... because they played more life affirming Aretha-esque music. ITV should be ashamed of this. Sheridan is a thousand times better than this. See more Read all reviews
Cleaning Up — Season 1

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Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Jan 9, 2019 A single mother called Sam struggles to juggle her fresh separation and her gambling addiction. Her ex Dave threatens to take their daughters away if she doesn't stop. Details Episode 2 Aired Jan 16, 2019 Sam's money-making plan starts to bear fruit, but it comes at a great cost; frustrated by her mom's constant absence and the new lodger living in her bedroom, Alice seeks refuge at her dad's house. Details Episode 3 Aired Jan 23, 2019 Sam and Jess get interrogated by the firm's compliance team; Jess tells Sam that she has made an important discovery about Blake. Details Episode 4 Aired Jan 30, 2019 Terrified that her identity will be revealed, Sam navigates her way through the Network meeting. Promising Swanny that she can fill Blake's shoes, she is left with the impossible task of acquiring secret information about an upcoming property deal. Details Episode 5 Aired Feb 6, 2019 Sam and Swanny get closer as he trusts her to make a big investment for him and she is enthralled by his risky world. Details Episode 6 Aired Feb 13, 2019 Sam's world crumbles apart when her landlady comes back with some shocking news. Although it means potentially losing her family, Sam comes clean to Dave, who could help her solve all her problems. Details
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Season Info

Director
Lewis Arnold, Robbie McKillop, Karen Lewis
Creator
Mark Marlow
Executive Producer
Jane Featherstone, Chris Fry
Screenwriter
Mark Marlow
Network
ITV
Genre
Drama
Original Language
British English
Release Date
Jan 9, 2019