Polycell Polyfilla Commercial – What’s the Song?

A young singer contributes a remake of a classic song in a new commercial for Polycell's Polyfilla product, a spackling compound used to repair holes and cracks in walls.

The ad uses a breathy cover of 'Don't Leave Me This Way' performed by Lindsey Cleary, a London-based singer-songwriter. While the original recording by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes was directed at a love interest, Cleary is singing about holes in the walls of an old house in the Polycell commercial.

It begins with Cleary's piano ballad playing as viewers see a mantle with ceramic cats. Behind one of the cats is a large crack. The next scenes of the commercial show a torn-up floorboard, old nail holes, an indentation in the wall left by a door handle, a chunk missing from a wall hidden by colorful wallpaper, and a piece of the ceiling dangling by tape. This is a house in need of serious repairs.

The final shot depicts a man spreading Polycell over a crack in a wall, repairing the damage while an unseen announcer says, "If you want to do a proper job, use the proper stuff." The final words appearing on the screen are "Polyfilla since 1954."

Cleary recorded an album called 'This is...Lindsey' in 2009 on her own label, TLC Records. In a recent Facebook post, she linked to the Polycell ad and wrote, "I hoped that in doing the Polyfilla advert my husband might get the hint about the crack in the ceiling."

'Don't Leave Me This Way,' composed by the renowned songwriting team of Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, was a hit not only for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes but also for Thelma Houston, whose disco-flavored version hit No. 1 in 1977.

Listen to Lindsey Cleary's 'Don't Leave Me This Way' in the Polycell Polyfilla Commercial