Kim Woodburn, who has died aged 83, found fame in an unlikely way. She had just turned 60 and was earning £1,000 a month as a cleaner and housekeeper for an Arab sheikh in Kent when an independent production company interviewed her about fronting a new reality TV show. “How long have you been cleaning?” she was asked. “Too bloody long!” replied Woodburn. “I’ve worked for some dirty beggars in my time.”
After a screen test, she was paired with the journalist Aggie MacKenzie, who wrote cleaning tips in Good Housekeeping magazine, to star in the Channel 4 series How Clean Is My House? (2003-09), entering homes – accompanied by horror movie music – to discover the worst excesses of human filth and squalor.
