Clean Sweep

My Review - Clean Sweep Streaming on SBS on Demand

My Rating 7/10

Clean Sweep is an Irish six-part thriller television series created by Gary Tieche and starring Irish actress Charlene McKenna in the role of Shelly Mohan a housewife and mother of three children .

Her apparent life of calm domesticity is turned upside down when her chaotic past and criminality comes home to haunt her.

Shelly makes an irreparable decision and commits a horrific act in fact a murder when Charlie Lynch, a man from her troubled past, contacts her.

Then when her husband Jason who just happens to be the Garda detective assigned to the murder case Shelly has to retrieve incriminating evidence at the crime scene.

Jason Mohan the husband played by Barry Ward is a womaniser who is never at home and romantically involved with his partner Fiona. He thinks if he can crack this case a promotion to Sergeant is guaranteed.

I found the story at times far too improbable to be true but it's a well acted and well produced series .

If you can get past its many credulity-stretching twists and its frequent excursions into the just plain silly area of to many convenient coincidences I think you'll enjoy Clean Sweep.

Created and written by Gary Tieche my main criticism of his otherwise reasonable script is the fact that why would anyone with a past like Shelly Mohan marry a Garda detective in the first place then after committing murder or was it self defence gain access to her incriminating evidence .

I've given it a 5, which feels about right. The production values are good, likewise the cinematography. And there's just enough content to keep the viewer engaged. Only just, though.

Essentially, this is a prime example of a Netflix serial that's been over-extended, and thereby stretched thin and a bit see-through. Four episodes, maybe even three, would have been enough. There's far too much drag in each episode, sub-plots that don't really add anything, and not really too much of a story to begin with. Also, the budgetary constraints imposed from having to fill six episodes were, to my mind, reflected in the choice of cast. The lead actor aside - she gave an excellent performance - most of the other performances were so-so, a bit second-rate, and in one particular case laughably awful (the London DI). Maybe, though - to give the actors their due - it could also be down to the fact that most of the characters were flat, cardboard-cut-out, cliched and under-developed. This is down to the writer.

As I said in the title... it's okay if you've exhausted all other options. Don't expect anything you haven't seen a dozen times before, though.

Great to see a clever drama set in Ireland. Quality direction and acting. It was slow to start and episode one was probably the worst of the episodes but once the different layers of the drama and the interweaving stories start to reveal it becomes very good television.

I cannot understand the negative reviews of the main Irish newspapers, the critics seem to be looking for Scandinavian noir or an art house production. This is none of those things, it is a detective series with a family drama overlap, it is a difficult thing to marry but for all the occasional incoherences I think it works very effectively.

This was a decent show, I was entertained and didn't ever feel the need to give up on it. The acting was well done by the main actress and her husband. Some of the others were questionable but not horrible. A few of the characters are so unlikeable both. Ok most of them.

Story wise we didn't really get the whole story, I assume they want a season two, but if there isn't one it still ended somewhat resolved. I actually don't know what the purpose of some of the sub plots were with the kids etc. I guess they wanted us to get to know the whole family?

There wasn't a lot of mystery in this show so the fact that it still kept me interested and gripped is quite a good feat. I'd watch a second season, but I kind of think it should end here.

Shelly Mohan appears to be an ordinary house wife living in Wicklow. She is married to Jason, a sergeant in the Garda, and has three children; Derek, Caitlin and youngest Naill, who suffers from cystic fibrosis. It soon becomes apparent that she has a past none of her family know about. She is approached by a man in a car park who calls her Maggie. Later she goes to meet him at his hotel. It is clear that they were previously involved in something illegal. He has 'found Jesus' and believes both of them must come clean... she doesn't and shoots him! Life is about to get very complicated as her husband is given the job of finding the killer while she tries to carry on as normal. If that weren't enough there are plenty of ordinary family issues to deal with.

If you enjoy crime dramas and are looking for something a little different you could do a lot worse than this. There may not be a mystery concerning the identity of the killer but there are plenty of intriguing questions; most obviously concerning Shelly's past. Sometimes 'personal problems' can detract from a drama but here their serve to emphasise Shelly's apparently ordinary life... a life she will kill to protect. The cast is solid; most obviously Charlene McKenna who really impresses as Shelly. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to people looking for a new six-part crime drama who want something a little different.