Former Spice Girl Mel B is to star in a new BBC drama which is being billed as a Manchester-based version of cult series This Life.

Burn It will also feature Spooks star Lisa Faulkner alongside the debutant.

Mel B will play a nurse in the BBC Choice show, which will chronicle the lives of a group of friends.

The cast is wicked and I can't wait to get stuck in

Mel B

The former Spice Girls singer has worked as a TV presenter and recently appeared in the West End production of the Vagina Monologues.

Burn It is her screen acting debut and the show will be held up to This Life, the hit BBC Two series which focused on the lives of young lawyers sharing a house in London.

Despite huge critical acclaim, This Life was not recommissioned by the BBC after its second series finished in August 1997.

Burn It is being made by the team behind Clocking Off, Linda Green and Queer As Folk.

Filming starts

Mel B said: "This is my first serious acting job since the Vagina Monologues.

"The cast is wicked and I can't wait to get stuck in."

Filming is likely to start soon and the 10-part series will be broadcast on BBC Choice later this year or at the beginning of 2003.

Faulkner was last seen on screen in the BBC One spy drama Spooks, in which her character met a grisly end when her head was pushed into a deep fat fryer, sparking viewer complaints.