Sheridan Smith's ITV drama 'Cleaning Up' has been axed after one series.

Sheridan Smith

Sheridan Smith

The 39-year-old actress starred in the show as an office cleaner who resorts to insider trading in order to pay her debts, but production ­company Sister has decided to cut the drama in order to focus on new projects.

A ITV spokesperson told the Daily Star Sunday newspaper: "The writer Mark Marlow felt the story was complete and wanted to write something new for ITV. We are continuing to develop ideas with him and Sister."

The production company has developed a string of hit shows in recent years, including 'Broadchurch', 'Chernobyl' and 'The Split'.

And 'Cleaning Up' was actually one of ITV's biggest successes of 2019.

The broadcaster's bosses are said to be unimpressed by the decision to axe the drama.

A source explained: "Ratings hits like 'Cleaning Up' don't happen very often. The interest was there, so we'd have loved to have aired another run."

Meanwhile, Sheridan recently starred in ITV's coronavirus lockdown series 'Isolation Stories', and is one of the country's most recognisable actresses.

However, she previously confessed to suffering "imposter syndrome" and feeling "totally paranoid" earlier in her career.

Reflecting on her personal troubles, she shared: "I never went to drama school, I was suffering from imposter syndrome, and I was just waiting for it to all blow up in my face."

Sheridan struggled to cope with the public's expectations of her, and she can still remember feeling "lonely and scared" amid her mental health issues.

The actress said: "I felt so lonely and scared a lot of the time and it killed me. I felt I couldn't actually say that to anyone because no one wanted to hear it.

"All people wanted to hear was how happy I was that I was doing so well, but inside I was just screaming. I thought everyone could see I wasn't right."


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