YEARS and Years star Ruth Madeley is to star in her first comedy role.

The Westhoughton actress will is appearing in BBC's new series The Cleaner, which follows Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead, played by Greg Davies ­— whose job as crime scene cleaner is to remove any signs of death

SET: Ruth and Greg on set of The Cleaner. Pic credit: BBC/ Studio Hamburg UK/Jonathan Browning

SET: Ruth and Greg on set of The Cleaner. Pic credit: BBC/ Studio Hamburg UK/Jonathan Browning

Ruth makes her appearance in episode three ­— as a proud vegan ­— where Wicky has the wrong key for his next job.

And when he meets the radical vegan who lives next door, the confident carnivore in Wicky might have met his match.

Ruth said: "The pull for me mainly was Greg.

"We’ve followed each other’s work for quite a while, and he was definitely on my bucket list of people who I would I love to work with. Also, the fact it was a comedy as well. I do so much drama, and doing an out and out comedy role was an absolute dream, and I really can’t think of anyone who I would want to do that with more than Greg, so it was just a dream job.

"I was very honoured and very flattered to be asked, and as soon as it came through I said 'Yes, without a doubt!'"

SERIES: Ruth and Greg on set. Pic credit: BBC/ Studio Hamburg UK/Jonathan Browning

SERIES: Ruth and Greg on set. Pic credit: BBC/ Studio Hamburg UK/Jonathan Browning

She added: "Every day on set was hysterical, and it was a lovely way to do it, because you could tell that production really cared about representing disability properly but in a really funny way, and we need that and the world needs that especially when we are living in such chaotic times - we just need some out and out comedy!”

Speaking about her character, Ruth said: "Helena, my character, is a very proud vegan, that is her through and through. She is proud of her vegan life, and she is a very ballsy character.

"She has so much about her, and I personally absolutely love her dry wit. She doesn’t suffer fools and is very aware of who she is and how she wants to live her life, and is very proud of it and I love that about her.”

The series, also stars Helena Bonham Carter and Jo Hartley. The Cleaner will air weekly on BBC One from 9.30pm on Friday 10th September, and will also be available as a box set on BBC iPlayer.