BBC One orders new sitcom based on German comedy

Greg Davies is to star in a BBC One series about a crime scene cleaner.

The Corporation has ordered six half-hour episodes of The Cleaner, following a successful pilot which Chortle revealed earlier this year.

It is an adaptation of the hit German comedy Der Tatortreiniger (Crime Scene Cleaner), which began in a graveyard timeslot in 2011 but quickly acquired a cult following and ran for seven seasons.

David says: ‘As a young man I told a careers adviser that I wanted to mop blood up for a living or be a comedian. He told me with a giggle that neither were real jobs and I should consider learning a trade. Well he’s not laughing now is he?! (Sadly, he’s dead).’

His character, Paul ‘Wicky’ Wickstead, works for a Shropshire-based contractor, and the publicity blub for the show says: ‘When carrying out his duties, he stumbles across the strangest of people: from the victim’s relatives, employers, neighbours and acquaintances, to occasionally even the murderers themselves. And because he’s a sociable type, he sometimes gossips more than he cleans.'

Shane Allen, the BBC’s controller of comedy commissioning, said: ‘Greg has done a knockout job of repositioning this hit sitcom for the UK audience. 

‘Wicky is a thoroughly decent everyman whose differing work situation each week brims with comic flourishes and opportunities to test his moral fibre. 

‘As with Ghosts and The Goes Wrong Show we’re keen to back distinctive ideas that play with form and tone for a mainstream BBC One audience and take the sitcom to unexpected new settings.’

The show is being made by Studio Hamburg UK, whose managing director Vivien Muller-Rommel said: ‘We are very excited to be partnering with the BBC, the Holy Grail of British comedy, on this show. 

‘Greg Davies has always been our top choice to portray our charmingly chatty protagonist, and we couldn’t be more delighted that he’s also writing the series. In times of a global pandemic, we all need more comedies. Fortunately our protagonist already wears a mask by profession.’
Davies has also been working on Safe Space, a possible comedy for Sky,  in which he stars as a demotivated small-time psychotherapist.

Created by: Ingrid Lausund
Made by:  Studio Hamburg UK
Commissioned by: Charlotte Moore, director of BBC content and Shane Allen, commissioning controller of Comedy.
Executive producer: Vivien Muller-Rommel
Commissioning editor: Ben Caudell

Published: 26 Aug 2020