WEM native and TV comedian Greg Davies will appear on our screens this Friday in his new show, the Cleaner.

Davies, who has previously appeared as a teacher in the Inbetweeners and Man Down, as well as serving as the host of Taskmaster, will take on the role of a crime scene cleaner Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead in his latest show.

Davies, 53, also wrote the six-part show, which is a remake of the immensely popular German comedy, Der Tatortreiniger (Crime Scene Cleaner).

It will also star Helena Bonham Carter, David Mitchell and Ruth Madeley, in select episodes but 'Wicky' is the only constant character.

Davies says the show is based on the German series, which he says appealed 'immediately'.

Greg said: "Shane [Allen, the head of comedy at the BBC] rang me and said, 'There's this strange show in Germany that I think you'd like, and we could get the rights for to do an English adaptation of it'.

"There are seven series of the original, all written by one woman, and he sent me them and I just loved it straight away.

"I met the wonderful writer, Mizzi Meyer, and she was happy to let it go.

"So we took the premise of it, and I took some of her brilliant storylines as a basis for this first series, and then it was largely a total rewrite, because there are cultural differences, especially in humour, that just didn't translate across.

"I hoped it would be the laziest job I've ever done, where I would just steal everything, but in the end, it turned out to be quite a bit more root and branch than that."

Davies says he drew inspiration for the show from a TV series from his childhood.

He added: "I thought about a show called Mr Benn, from when I was a kid, where a character went to a costume shop, opened a cupboard, and then got lost in the world of whatever his costume was.

"There's something old fashioned about a comedy-drama like this, where there's only one constant character, and it's my character, and he goes on a different adventure every week and it's all wrapped up.

"So, there were comforting feelings from my youth that I felt watching it.

"But also, I think it lives in the modern world as well."

The character of 'Wicky', Davies says is very relatable, despite his unusual occupation.

"He has had the same group of friends for 30 years, he goes to the same pub, and he has very simple needs, which I relate to; all of my best friends are friends I've had for a very long time," added Davies.

"He's quite a straightforward guy, but then he has this extraordinary job.

"Each week, he turns up to a new horrible bloodbath, and then by chance, he gets to meet people who were either involved in the crime or affected by it.

"He's also quite a moral man, and quite an opinionated man in many ways."

Davies also says working with the wide variety of cast members, including Helena Bonham Carter, has been 'great'.

"I thought it was a practical joke at first," said Davies.

"She's obviously a great actress, that's well documented, but I just had such a great time with her.

"She's such a fun person, and she's great company.

"The fact that it's a bit crazy, it's a bit nuts, was what appealed to her, I think. It was just great fun.

"I love that episode – I love all of them actually.

"They're all so different, you don't get any repetition across the series."

The Cleaner will air weekly on BBC One from Friday, September 10 and will also be available as a box set on BBC iPlayer.