This series was truly, truly awful. It is hard to know where to start, but my biggest gripe (setting aside the plot holes) is that it didn't seem to know what it was trying to say. Sheridan Smith, (who's acting ability I am now seriously starting to question), smirks and heavy-breathes her way through the role, creating a dishonest, and thoroughly unlikable lead character for whom we end up having no sympathy - even when her children leave her. As Smith's character's gambling addiction spirals towards rock-bottom, it would seem the writers had finally plumped for a 'cautionary tale'.approach...only to ditch this in the later stages and adopt an 'underdogs getting one over on the establishment' crime caper. The trouble is, this only works (like say for the Italian Job or Oceans 11) if the audience has actually warmed to the protagonists over the course of the series. By the end I was rooting for Smith's character to be caught and prosecuted, to protect her from others as well as herself. Utter drivel - avoid..
Review of Cleaning Up
