Sheridan Smith's new ITV drama Cleaning Up is a gritty drama about the seedy world of insider trading — so it's probably not a huge surprise that it took inspiration from Wall Street.
The 1987 thriller is the definitive movie about financial crime after all, but what is interesting is just how the film inspired Cleaning Up writer and creator Mark Marlow to craft his story about a cleaner drawn into the world of financial crime.
"I was searching for an idea and I was lying on the sofa one day where I was watching Wall Street with my wife Holly and there was a scene where Charlie Sheen has been given the task of finding some inside information by Gordon Gekko," Marlow recently told Digital Spy.
"And, in this scene, he breaks into an office, he rifles through a filing cabinet, he finds some inside information. I just happened to notice in the background there was some cleaners. And I just instantly thought, 'If they work in that office, surrounded by inside information, why couldn't they just do that?'"
The cleaner in question is played by Sheridan Smith, whose character Sam has a chance to break out of her working class existence when she stumbles onto some lucrative-but-dangerous insider information.
As part of her research, the actress actually did train with real cleaners in order to pick up some tricks of the trade.
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"We had lessons! So, no I'm not really [a pro]. I'm a bit better because it's dab instead of wipe," she explained, joking: "Don't wipe, always dab!"
Gavin & Stacey star Sheridan also admitted that she's never been entirely sensible managing money, having recently splashed out to buy four donkeys.
"I haven't been very good with money but I'm getting a bit better," she said. "I'm more sensible now, thanks to people looking after me."
Cleaning Up will be airing soon on ITV.
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
