Former 'H&A' star joins rival TV channel

Former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie has landed a role in a new television drama on the TV network that rivals her old employer Seven.

The Nova radio host, who appeared in crime show Underbelly last year, was seen at the Nine Network headquarters last week after signing her new job contract.

Ritchie told Woman's Day magazine: "The working title of the show is Cops LAC (Local Area Command) and I play a plain-clothes detective called Sam. She's a ground-roots type of woman.

"The show is sort of an upstairs-downstairs police drama. It's all about how cops and detectives get along together. It's really exciting. It's a long time since I left Home and Away, so it's great to think I'll be working on a TV set regularly again."

She added: "There were many times [during Home and Away] I thought, 'Why am I doing this? Is it just because it's too hard to leave?' It took being away from acting to realise how much I loved it.

"It's great to be working with a new 'family'. Everyone has been so welcoming and the excitement I feel is reciprocated. I can't wait to work with different people and in a new environment. Learning new things is what it's all about for me."