Having liked Greg Davies in other things, particularly his sitcom "Man Down" I watched the first season of "The Cleaner" with more of a grudging appreciation than any real love and largely that's how I felt about this second season two.
Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead (Greg Davies) returns to clear up more crime scenes and fall foul of various, bureaucracies, conspiracy theorists and even serial killers trying to stop him from getting back home in time to go to the pub. Implausibly, he's in a relationship at the start of this run and that has put him somewhat at odds with PC Edwards (Zita Sattar) but, inevitably, it won't last.
As with last season, there's a procession of guest stars for Davies to spar with; Harriet Walter, Simon Callow, John MacMillan, Asim Chaudhry, Alex Lawther and Zoe Wanamaker each appear in an episode. The best is probably saved for last though, when his "Man Down" colleague Roisin Conaty appears as one half of a murderous couple, and her bizarre turn steals the episode. It's generally mild and slightly implausible stuff. There is a 'taken from the news' episode this year - although it's not exactly recent news - with the penultimate edition focusing on the removal of an objectionable statue, and with the defilement of its odd replacement.
I probably chuckled a bit in every episode, though there's still something awkward about the whole enterprise. It's as if it leaves pauses for laughs that aren't likely to be forthcoming.
I didn't hate it though, and again, if they made more I'd probably watch it.