Greg Davies talks about the return of The Cleaner

As The Cleaner returns for a second series, Greg Davies tells us what to expect from the comedy in which plays crime-scene cleaner Wicky...

[This time around] I think we push Wicky further and further out of his comfort zone. Indeed, he’s often in peril and for a man who just wants a quiet pint we never allow him the luxury of stagnation.

What I like about the character is that in many ways he is quite innocent, almost childlike. He has settled into a very straightforward personal life but does a job that is constantly challenging that.

He is forced to consider things about life that, left to his own devices, he’s probably brushed under the carpet. Rarely does Wicky leave a crime scene without having learned something.

I love that each week is a new adventure for him. He is challenged by eccentric characters with colourful lives. It’s really nice to work intensely with a small cast week on week.

One of the things we were keen to do in our adaptation is to see how Wicky’s journey in life affects him and to gradually learn more about him. The nature of his job forces him to confront things about himself and I think in this series we get even more insight into what makes him tick and how capable of change he may or may not be.

I love the anthology nature of the show. It’s reassuringly old-fashioned in many ways, like Play For Today from the 1970s. What binds the series is the same man responding to a wide range of extreme situations and conflicted characters. It’s a bit like a one-man Scooby-Doo and you can quote me on that even though it’s not particularly, or remotely, accurate.

Most of us crave a level of stability. Wicky is not allowed to play life as safely as he would like. I think people might enjoy seeing him dropped into situations that most of us would go out of our way to avoid. The array of talent that we’ve been lucky enough to attract means that each week is a very different treat from the last.

Getting to work with actors that I have admired from afar is such a privilege with this show. They were all brilliant in the roles and that we have convinced or tricked them in to sharing a screen with a fat comedian is a great joy.  And it may seem petty but I like that, regardless of the guest actors’ illustrious careers, I’m always the tallest person on camera. 

[As for highlights of this series] I’m sure that it reflects very badly on me on so many levels that chucking a bucket of water in Zoë Wanamaker’s face is right up there. She really didn’t seem to mind though.

In no particular order I enjoyed: Making Asim Chaudhry wear a greasy wig and chase me with a gun, having a fight with John Macmillan’s clown, having Simon Callow quote poetry at me, being pinned to the floor by a giant man whilst a chain smoking Dame [Harriet Walter] watched on, talking to Alex Lawther via a fox, my friend Roisin [Conaty] attempting to murder me whilst having my faith challenged by Mark Lewis Jones.

On a more negative note, I was and remain horrified that we couldn’t use a stuntman’s hands in one close up because they were deemed ‘too young and wrinkle free’ for my character. I have beautiful, youthful soft hands and no amount of bullying from a production team will convince me otherwise.

• The Cleaner series two will launch on BBC One and iPlayer on Friday March 24 at 9:30pm

Published: 15 Mar 2023