The Cleaner (TV Series) The Dead End (2023) User Reviews

A fine end to the second series.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 24 April 2023]

Wicky heads of to rural Wales, to clean up after a gamekeeper, who was brutally murdered and mutilated, unbeknownst to Wicky, a pair of killers are very close by.

Great end to the series, after the somewhat serious and straight laced Statue, this series finale is all manner of weird and wonderful.

You sometimes worry when a show heads to Wales, if they'll go overboard, and make Wales out to be a little overly zany, but credit to them for keeping it in check, a good balance of zany and Welsh. Timber made me laugh.

Cracking acting here, the humour comes from Rudi Dharmalingam and Roisin Conaty, the pair were great as the serial killing duo, Mark Lewis Jones, as always is just quality.

Is romance finally on the cards between Wicky and Ruth? Hopefully we'll get a third series, and discover if something has happened.

9/10.

The Dead End

[Prismark10 · 9/10 · 29 April 2023]

I was not a big fan of the first series of The Cleaner. The second series was more consistent and has found its feet.

The final episode of the second series is the best yet. Comedy, darkness and real peril for Wicky.

He ends up in Wales desperately looking for a mobile phone signal. When he arrives in the house, it is a grisly crime scene.

The dead man was shot by a crossbow and later his head decapitated which was dropped near the door.

Wicky has a hard time getting the full facts from Richard, the funeral arranger. His priority is to give the dead full dignity and keep an eye on his dim younger brother.

Unbeknown to them, the real killers are outside and they want the head back as a trophy.

Having visited Wales a lot in recent years as my daughter studied there. I did think at one point there might be an overload of stereotypical Welsh jokes.

Instead there was a great meeting of minds between Wicky and Richard. Especially when the latter asks about who will look make the funeral arrangements after Wicky has died.

The serial killers were very much Inside No 9. Comical but with a real evil edge to them.

Now I want a third series of The Cleaner.

Season Two Review

[southdavid · 6/10 · 29 April 2023]

Having liked Greg Davies in other things, particularly his sitcom "Man Down" I watched the first season of "The Cleaner" with more of a grudging appreciation than any real love and largely that's how I felt about this second season two.

Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies) returns to clear up more crime scenes and fall foul of various, bureaucracies, conspiracy theorists and even serial killers trying to stop him from getting back home in time to go to the pub. Implausibly, he's in a relationship at the start of this run and that has put him somewhat at odds with PC Edwards (Zita Sattar) but, inevitably, it won't last.

As with last season, there's a procession of guest stars for Davies to spar with; Harriet Walter, Simon Callow, John MacMillan, Asim Chaudhry, Alex Lawther and Zoe Wanamaker each appear in an episode. The best is probably saved for last though, when his "Man Down" colleague Roisin Conaty appears as one half of a murderous couple, and her bizarre turn steals the episode. It's generally mild and slightly implausible stuff. There is a 'taken from the news' episode this year - although it's not exactly recent news - with the penultimate edition focusing on the removal of an objectionable statue, and with the defilement of its odd replacement.

I probably chuckled a bit in every episode, though there's still something awkward about the whole enterprise. It's as if it leaves pauses for laughs that aren't likely to be forthcoming.

I didn't hate it though, and again, if they made more I'd probably watch it.

Her ruined it for me

[estathena2 · 6/10 · 22 December 2023]

I've loved everything about the series and its first two seasons - the writing especially, the dialog has been quick, the comedy sardonic, and the characters effortlessly effective with a charm that warmed & tickled the funnybone.

The Writer (Season 1 Episode 2) has been the best episode thus far & this one - The Dead End, has been the worst, mostly due to the cardboard character that was "Her" played by Roisin Conaty. A character that doesn't even merit a name fails to make a point or strike any kind of emotional impact - other than incredibly annoying.

I'm hoping for Season III and look forward to more great writing with better character development.