Call The Cleaners

Season 1 TLC (*135) 21:00 Lifestyle

Hold on to your masks – you’re going to smell a whole lot of nastiness when you tune into Call The Cleaners. A team of dedicated pickers, packers and scrubbers are going into homes that need a top-to-bottom soaking. “We do everything, from hoovering and vacuuming, to mopping, dusting and decluttering,” says series star Maxine Stafford, who works with her daughter Jasmine.

Housework is an unavoidable chore everyone must face, but for some, the challenge of cleaning can be too much, especially when you are caring for a loved one who’s sick. “We’re not just cleaning,” says Jasmine. “We’re transforming homes into fresh and liveable spaces. It’s more than just cleaning, it’s caring,” adds Maxine, who’s taken on extreme jobs including dead-body clean ups, years of rubbish and neglectful hoarding, rotten food and bacteria.

Patricia Hodge (Mrs Pumphrey in drama series All Creatures Great And Small) was hired as the narrator because of her “calm and soothing tones,” says Maxine, but she’s adding more to the viewing pleasure. “She has insightful comments that gives our audience a better understanding of the task that lies ahead of us. She also gives a sense of sympathy to the home owner.” Like in episode 1 tonight, where the hoarder’s property is so grimy that they’re forced out of the home while it’s cleaned and into a shed. There’s also a drug den that’s fumigated this season, a microwave so filthy that the only solution might be throwing it out, and having to use a strong hydrogen peroxide spray to clean blood stains. “It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it. And we have fun because we meet and see all sorts of interesting people,” says Jasmine.