The Cleaner - Series 2, Episode 5 - The Statue - British Comedy Guide (original) (raw)

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.

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

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

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!