Sheridan Smith bulks up at £2,350 workout bootcamp for new ITV role as troubled police officer in Australia

Sheridan Smith is preparing for her new role as a troubled police officer in Australia.

Miss Smith, who has been throwing herself into preparations for ITV’s Two Birds series, which will soon start filming in the Outback, signed up for a luxury £2,350 boot camp program to gain muscle, which put her on a rigorous exercise regime alongside a strict nutrition plan.

The Mrs Biggs and Cilla star, 44, plays Constable Izzie Cornwell, who moves Down Under to rebuild her life after being widowed.

In the six-part film, Ms. Smith’s self-destructive character is assigned to a murder investigation into a death within a notorious local crime family.

Photos on the versatile actor’s Instagram account show him training and last week he was spotted learning to ride a motorbike. Ms Smith told her social media followers she ‘didn’t have a day off’.

Speaking to comedian Romesh Ranganathan on his podcast, Ms Smith said she was looking forward to the action-packed project, adding: ‘My next job is a drama in Australia. I need to learn to ride a motorcycle and get combat training; ‘I need to get stronger.’

The star was spotted at the UK premiere of her new show The Cage, in which she plays a crooked casino croupier.

Sheridan last appeared in BBC drama The Moorside in 2017, receiving rave reviews for her portrayal of Julie Bushby in the 2008 story about the disappearance of Shannon Matthews.

She recently completed her stage run in Glasgow in Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman In Mind and looked increasingly frail during her stint playing a housewife on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

But to get in shape, the star not only enrolls in the intense program of Year 1 Training Camp, but also goes through a grueling schedule of stunts and fight choreography.

Ms Smith will return to television on Sunday night in BBC thriller The Cage, in which she plays a crooked casino croupier who falls foul of gangsters.