'Hollyoaks' actress cast in new BBC drama

Former Hollyoaks actress Summer Strallen has landed a role in a new BBC show called Land Girls.

The five-part period drama, part of a season of programmes marking the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, follows the lives and loves of four girls in the Women's Land Army.

Strallen - who played Summer Shaw in Hollyoaks and most recently Maria Von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound Of Music - will play Nancy, a cosseted rich girl conscripted into the WLA against her will.

Nathaniel Parker, Christine Bottomley, Sophie Ward, Mark Benton, Danny Webb, Jo Woodcock and Becci Gemmell are also starring.

"Land Girls is a warm and vibrant drama celebrating the unsung heroes from the Second World War, and we're delighted to have secured this talented cast to realise the story," said BBC daytime controller Liam Keelan.

Land Girls is currently filming in and around Birmingham and is due to air on BBC One in September.