Cleaning Up
With her world spiralling out of control, a single mum turns her online casino addiction to insider trading.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Reviews, Top Stories
Seven is heading into a run of new British drama, which is always good news.
First cab off the rank is the six part series Cleaning Up, starring Sheridan Smith who has been so memorable in dramas such as Mrs. Biggs, Cilla and Black Work.
There’s no suggestion that Mark Marlow’s script is based on any actual characters but it feels like it could be. With Smith as his central character, Sam, he collides two worlds: a steely corporate London, and a working class single mother, struggling to keep it all together.
By night Sam cleans office towers and by day she is mother of two young daughters. But her estranged husband Dave (Matthew McNulty), who had an affair behind her back, wants custody of the girls, citing Sam’s online gambling addiction and the debts she has accrued.
Hoping for a windfall to answer her prayers, Sam plays casinos on her mobile phone at every opportunity, which is all too tragic for words. Her teen daughter Alice is also resentful when Sam rents out her bedroom to a young lodger. Not much is going right.
But Sam proves resourceful when she stumbles upon a late night office worker orchestrating an insider trading deal. Educating herself quick smart (even reading Investing in Shares for Dummies) she decides to apply her betting skills to the stock market, and ropes in colleague Jess (Jade Anouka) along the way.
Even in the first episode it’s clear these two are getting in way over their heads.
Insider Trading as a drama pitch must be a tough sell (no pun intended) and while the worlds here are polar opposites, it is only because of Sheridan Smith that this works. The plotting is somewhat sluggish but you forgive it due to her buoyant commitment.
London is filmed to look completely contemporary with shiny towers and clean lines. There’s not an Elizabethan building in sight. Yet the cold look helps create sympathy for the beating heart of a mum with the odds stacked against her.
Jade Anouka serves as a grounded colleague while The supporting cBig Love‘s Branka Katić is another work mate, although she does nothing much in the opening chapter.
The plot touches on the extreme, and while Cleaning Up may not be the strongest upcoming miniseries, Sheridan Smith lets it ride on black.
Cleaning Up airs 8:30pm Friday on Seven.
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- Tagged with Big Love, Cleaning Up
17 Responses
I love this show! Ch 7 moved it to 7Two after the first week. It’s still on Friday nights. Tonight is the last episode and on my EPG last night they changed the time from 8.30pm to 10pm!! I’d already programmed it days ago for 8.30pm tonight so lucky I checked or I would have missed out!
If you’ve missed an episode you might be able to catch up on the 7Plus website.
My tastes must be worlds apart to most comments on this Forum, I think it’s one of the best Mini Series I’ve seen in a while. Can’t wait for tonight’s 2 hr ep. Thanks for your review David, that was what drew my attention to watch it in the first place.
This series is now not on tonight, where is it being shown?. Channel 7 should leave this British series to Channel 2 as they at least finish the series
Channel 7 must be torn. It’s about the most anti-gambling show since Cracker and they’ve booted it for a show almost 100% sponsored by gambling advertising.
It will be on 7two tonight. Pity 7 didn’t think to advertise that.
It’s nowhere to be seen this week. Seven’s let AFL completely take over the station for the next seven months
I was intrigued enough to watch it! It was so slow getting anywhere! I won’t be watching again!
It would have been better as a 2 hr movie.
Oh ..I thought it may have just been me…I also thought it looked good…but struggled to stay with it…
I did….and will try again next episode…but unless I am more engaged…that will be it for me also… 🙁
I am afraid I did not last the hour…just could not get into it….all the closeup camera work annoyed me…and the gambling…just got annoying.
As with pretty much every other time Seven screens a British show, will it be shunted around the schedules then quietly dropped, before it then gets picked up by the ABC and shown some proper respect?
A lot of them are short-run 3 or 4 eps. So unless it pertains to second seasons it may not apply. 6 for CU.
This looks good,i’ll definitely give it a go.I assume though that it’s going to move to another night when the A.F.L season begins next week.I wonder what night that will be?
So it’s like a UK version of Weeds, except with insider trading instead of drug dealing?
Nah nothing like Weeds in tone. Two mums resorting to extreme measures that’s about it.
ah ok. I’ll check it out all the same.
Thanks David, I’ll also check it out, but agree with AFL football commencing next week, why hook viewers in and then shift time slots and potentially days?
And once again 7 picks an odd time…don’t know how long this time slot will be given to this drama given AFL returns soon in southern states.
Will definitely check it out though given your rating David 🙂