The Cleaner 🆚 Der Tatortreiniger - Series 3

Did you know that Greg Davies' BBC comedy series The Cleaner is a remake of a German comedy series called Der Tatortreiniger?

Last year I compared the English episodes to their German counterparts. Only one episode was unique to the UK version - the rest were more-or-less faithful remakes.

What about the new series 3?

S03E01 The Reunion / S05E05 Freunde

This has the same basic plot - although the German crime scene is a stabbing rather than a falling piano. The Cleaner can't come to terms with the fact that an old school-friend has become wildly successful.

The German Cleaner is a lot more bitter - and a good deal funnier - about the friend stealing from him years ago.

S03E02 The Baby / S06E02 Özgür

In truth, there's only a fleeting similarity to the German version. A single woman in a guest house, her waters break while The Cleaner is around, and he has to deal with his lingering sadness of not being a father.

Der Tatortreiniger has a fairly hefty dollop of racism. The British version has a randy gardener. It's like they mopped up the challenging bits of the plot and replaced them with innuendo.

S03E03 The Committee

A totally original episode! Even better, this one stars my mum!

S03E04 The Lighthouse, S03E05 The Housekeeper, S03E06 The Wedding

All of these are original! The Lighthouse and The Housekeeper are almost as surreal as some of the German episodes. Having a single actor play multiple characters is genius! It's the sort of thing which should have been in the original, but wasn't.

While it is nice to see some original takes on the premise, it's a pity some of the more fanciful episodes haven't been recreated for a wider audience. Sadly, the DVDs of Tatortreiniger are all in German but have no English subtitles. You'll need to find a streaming service which has translations if your German isn't up to scratch. There are some utterly beautiful moments in the original.

Tschüß!