BritBox's 'The Cleaner' Season 2 Sweeps In A Huge Guest Cast

The BBC initially commissioned Season 1 of The Cleaner in August 2020, during what felt like a never-ending pandemic. The show's premise was inspired by the times, starring a guy in the hazmat suit whose job was to come in and clean and disinfect various locations after the murder had been committed. Based loosely on the popular German comedy Crime Scene Cleaner (Der Tatortreiniger), which ran six seasons from 2011 to 2018, the new series was pitched by Greg Davies (The Inbetweeners), who wrote the first season six episodes run, casting himself as the titular Cleaner, Paul Wickstead, known to his friends as Wicky.

The show's premiere is a mystery of the week series, told from the view of the guy brought in to clean up the mess. Each week, he'd deal with a variety of characters, played by high-end guest stars such as Helena Bonham Carter (The Crown), Layton Williams (I Hate Suzie), Georgie Glen (Call The Midwife), Donald Sumpter (Game of Thrones), Ruth Madeley (Years and Years), and Stephanie Cole (Doc Martin). Over the course of his clean-up, Wicky would figure out whodunit and then call his BFF, PS Ruth Edward (Zita Sattar), to make the arrest. The series proved so popular that it landed a 2022 Christmas special along with a second season renewal, and if the guest cast is anything to go by, this could be a show that runs for a long time.

The BBC released two first-look photos along with the extensive guest cast list for Season 2 in February 2023.