Cleaner to wheeler dealer!
Sheridan Smith plays a down-on-her-luck single mum who takes a huge gamble…
An office cleaner with huge debts sees a way to turn her life around when she ventures into the world of insider trading in ITV’s new six-part drama Cleaning Up.
Single mum Sam works hard through the night cleaning offices at a stock-trading company in London’s Canary Wharf to provide for her two daughters, Alice and Lily. But with an online gambling addiction that’s got her into a financial hole, Sam needs to find a way out… fast.
‘Sam’s a great mum but she’s struggling,’ says Cilla star Sheridan Smith, who plays her. ‘She’s really savvy – she just hasn’t had the breaks in life or the opportunities that other people have had. She’s very flawed, but she has a good heart.’
One night shift, Sam overhears dodgy stock-market trader Blake (Brief Encounters’ Ben Bailey Smith) plotting some ‘insider trading’ – an illegal practice of buying stocks and shares for personal gain, using confidential information meant for the workplace only.
Risk-taker
‘Being a gambler means Sam’s good with numbers and has a quick mind,’ says Sheridan. ‘So when she hears what Blake is up to, she does some research and picks up this “insider trading” thing quickly.’
Sam thinks this could be the answer to all her problems and hatches an elaborate plan with co-worker Jess (Trauma’s Jade Anouka) to get a piece of the action.
‘It’s massive for Sam,’ says Sheridan. ‘She sees it as her chance to make a better life for herself and her kids.’