Television series
Cleaning Up
A tight-wound drama about a single mum who stumbles into insider trading and discovers she's terrifyingly good at it. Sheridan Smith carries the show with controlled intensity as Sam, a woman watching her life come apart until she finds a dangerous way to take control. Dark, morally sharp, and genuinely gripping—it's *Bodyguard* energy without the politics.
If you liked this
Bodyguard2018
Explosive British thriller with the same breakneck pacing and moral ambiguity. Every episode ends with a reason to keep watching immediately; the tension rarely lets up and the performances are uniformly excellent.
But If you watched it already, this won't surprise you. And it's darker in different ways—less intimate, more geopolitical.
Godless2017
A woman takes charge of a lawless town and makes brutal decisions to survive. It has the same edge of watching an ordinary person become capable of extraordinary things, with that constant hum of menace underneath.
But It's a Western, which might feel like a genre leap. And it's much more violent and operatic than *Cleaning Up*.
Killing Eve2018
Obsessive cat-and-mouse between two women, one of them a cleaner who's really a psychopath. It's wildly entertaining and genuinely funny, with the same fascination with how ordinary people do terrible things.
But It leans harder into dark comedy, which changes the mood entirely. If you want grim seriousness throughout, this might feel too playful.
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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Wolf of Wall Street2013
Both track the precise moment an ordinary person decides the rules don't apply to them, and both are fascinated by the addict logic of making money illegally—the lie you tell yourself that gets easier with each win.
DiCaprio as a man who rides an adrenaline high into the abyss, making increasingly insane choices because the rush never stops. It's *Cleaning Up*'s dark mirror—both about the intoxication of illegal money, but where Sam is controlled and calculating, Jordan Belfort is chaos incarnate. Scorsese captures that sickness in magnificent, horrible detail.
But It's three hours, it's relentlessly excessive (which is partly the point), and it asks you to spend that time inside a genuinely loathsome character without apology. It's also from 2013, so you've probably seen it.
More like this (8)
The Fall2013
Stella Gibson hunts a serial killer with the same obsessive intensity Sam brings to trading. It's methodical, smart, and Gillian Anderson's performance is hypnotic—you watch her think.
But It's slower and more cerebral. There's less plot momentum and more long stares; if you want constant forward motion, you'll feel the pacing.
Happy Valley2014
Sarah Lancashire carries a show about a woman who's been broken by life and now won't break anymore. It's brutal, funny, and genuinely moving. The writing is exceptional and the sense of place is suffocating.
But It's deeply Yorkshire and deliberately unglamorous. If you want something sleek or international, this is defiantly local and rough-edged.
The Newsroom2012
Brilliant people making serious decisions under pressure in confined spaces. The dialogue crackles, the stakes feel real, and there's something hypnotic about watching smart people work.
But It's Aaron Sorkin doing his thing—if you find his style exhausting or his politics heavy-handed, this won't convert you.
Dave Chappelle: Deep in the Heart of Texas2017
A woman embedded in an underworld for her own survival, having to think several moves ahead. It's taut and clever, with excellent support from the ensemble cast around the central performance.
But It's less well-known and feels a bit rougher around the edges. Some people find the pacing uneven, and it doesn't quite have the same polish.
The Fall of the House of Usher2023
Carla Gugino in a gothic series about a woman determined to destroy a dynasty. There's tremendous style here, and the moral corruption keeps building. It's ambitious and visually alive in ways most drama isn't.
But It's fundamentally fantastical and stylized in a way *Cleaning Up* isn't. If you want grounded, realistic crime, this goes somewhere else entirely.
Industry2020
A group of ambitious young people climb and claw at a ruthless London banking firm. It captures the intoxication of money and power with real insight, and the ensemble work is excellent.
But It's much more ensemble-focused and less about a single character's moral journey. The tone is also cooler and more detached.
Margin Call2011
Both are about insider information and the choices people make when they understand something the rest of the world doesn't. Both also understand that the real horror isn't the risk—it's how easy it becomes to take it.
A taut chamber piece set inside an investment bank during the 2008 crisis. It's all dialogue and tension in rooms where powerful people watch their world collapse. The performances are immaculate—Irons, Penn, Tucci—and the moral weight builds unbearably. Utterly gripping despite having almost no action.
But It's extremely dense and finance-heavy. If you don't know what mortgage derivatives are, it won't explain them, and that can be isolating. Also, it's relentlessly bleak with no redemption in sight.
Informer2018
Both are about an ordinary person stepping into a hidden world for survival reasons, and both understand that every small compromise stacks. Sam crosses a line; Malik is already living across multiple ones. The engine is the same: once you start, how do you stop?
A Pakistani-British counterterrorism officer becomes a police informant in his own community and watches his life atomize. It's tense and claustrophobic, with real emotional stakes—Paddy Considine is extraordinary. The moral compromise happens in real time and it *costs*.
But It's very heavy and doesn't pull punches about identity, faith, and belonging. It's also only two episodes, so if you want something to live in for weeks, this passes quickly. Some found it dated in its post-9/11 politics.
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- Mark MarlowCreator