Sheridan Smith is to star in new three-part drama series 'Black Work'.
The 'Mrs. Biggs' actress is set to star as police officer Jo Gillespie in the upcoming thriller, written by Matt Charman and produced my Mammoth Screen for ITV.
Her character will be forced to confront difficult truths about her family life and marriage when her undercover policeman husband Ryan is shot dead in mysterious circumstances.
Matt said of working with Sheridan: "Sheridan is a dream to write for because as an actress there's really nothing she can't do ... And 'Black Work' is a story that pushes her to the limit - it makes her character, Jo Gillespie doubt herself, her family, her friends, everything she's always taken for granted in her search for her husband's killer."
Jo - who is mother to 7-year-old Melly and stepson Hal - is to be left emotionally distraught and heavily conflicted when she unravels the last six months of her husband's life and discovers he's been watching a man recently released from prison.
'Black Work' was commissioned for ITV by Director of Drama Commissioning Steve November and Controller of Drama Victoria Fee.
Michael Samuels of 'The Fear' is to direct the project while Rebecca Deane and Damien Timmer will take on the role of executive producers for Mammoth Screen.
Filming is to begin in Leeds later this year.

Paul O'Grady's dog has landed a part in 'Coronation Street'.
The 'For the Love of Dogs' presenter's pet pooch Krystal will be pacing around the cobbles on tonight's (15.08.14) episode of the ITV soap alongside soap veteran Ken Barlow (Bill Roache), and she even managed to take a trip to the iconic Rovers Return pub.
Paul explained: "In her scene, Ken is preparing his car to go camping with Deirdre and he's outside the Rovers fixing the engine.
"Krystal comes out of the Rovers with Ali, the dog handler, and walks over the road."
Krystal the American Bulldog could be set for Hollywood if her acting debut was anything to go by as Paul was particularly impressed it took his canine just the one take to shoot her scene.
He added: "It took one take, the dog was a star. I think it was my tutelage in the dressing room.
"She gave the Barlows a run for their money, she upstaged the lot of them. That's my girl, she's a star!"
The opportunity arose when Paul took the rescue dog to the Salford set as part of his 'Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs' show.
Krystal will make her acting debut in tonight's 'Coronation Street' at 8:30pm on ITV.

Christina Aguilera is determined to give birth to her daughter naturally.
The 'Your Body' hitmaker is expecting her first child with her fiancé Matthew Rutler and although she had a Caesarean-section with her six-year-old son Max - her child with ex-husband Jordan Bratman - she doesn't want to go under the knife again as she wants to experience a full labour and delivery.
A source told Life & Style magazine: "She's due at any moment. But she's freaking out because with her first child, Max, she had a C-section. This time, though, she wants to have a natural childbirth."
Although she wants a natural childbirth, the 33-year-old pop star is prepared to have drugs to ease the immense pain of labour.
The source added: "Christina hates pain so she wants the epidural and anything else that stops her from feeling the pain. She's open to any and all drugs to make her feel comfortable."
Christina recently showed off her pregnancy body in V magazine and admitted she is very "proud" of her figure.
The singer - who is rumoured to be posing nude for Playboy magazine after she gives birth - said: "As a woman, I'm proud to embrace my body through all stages of life, staying fearless and confident in surrendering to the unknowns the future has in store."

Robert Pattinson says the role of Edward Cullen in 'The Twilight Saga' movies has been "the hardest part" he's played.
The 28-year-old actor was catapulted to international fame through the franchise and despite playing numerous interesting roles since appearing in the final instalment 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2', Pattinson maintains it's his toughest role to date.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, he explained: "I think Twilight's probably the hardest part I've done because to do it for five movies, it's really hard to think of stuff that's maybe not boring. Especially if you don't die. Because what's the drama? You're not scared of anything! And that's the whole essence of drama: life and death."
Pattinson - who can currently be seen in Australian crime film 'The Rover' - recalls having a particularly traumatic first day on the set of the first 'Twilight' film.
He said: "It just didn't feel right for ages. And then there was this one little thing - I had this make-up in my teeth, and it kept rubbing off all the time. It was really putting me off - it meant I had to keep redoing scenes.
"So I started trying to do this thing where I covered my teeth with my lips. And it changes your voice a little bit, but I thought, 'Oh, that's really cool!' And after that I started speaking in this (accent). It's so silly, it's so stupid! I was just kind of making the accent up, I don't even know what state it is really."
Since 'The Twilight Saga' wrapped Pattinson claims he has been finding it difficult to unearth scripts that match his acting talents and has tentatively begun writing his own stories.
He said: "I was trying to write a play the other day and I showed it to my assistant and didn't quite realise how bad it was.
"I was writing it totally by myself in the middle of the night thinking, 'This is how you do it! You just stay up all night and keep writing!' She came in the next morning and I'd been up all night writing.
"I said to her, 'You have to read this! It's amazing!' And then she said, 'It's not in English ... and half the time you haven't even put the character names in so it's just a stream of consciousness."

Lennie Kravitz says his daughter Zoe is the most important person in his life.
The 50-year-old musician is incredibly proud of his daughter, who is from his marriage to actress Lisa Bonet and is busy carving out a career in her own right, starring in the film 'Divergent'.
Reflecting on this special relationship, Kravitz said: "She's a joy to have. We take care of each other in such a beautiful way. There's so much love and mutual respect and a friendship. It's wonderful to watch her life because she is doing well at what she loves. She's filming the Divergent sequel and playing gigs with her band. I'm so proud."
Kravitz, who is currently promoting new album 'Strut', has dated a host of famous women through his career, including Kylie Minogue, Naomi Campbell and Natalie Imbruglia, but is single at the moment.
He added: "It's all about timing between two people whether a relationship works or not. You may have met the right person but maybe you weren't ready."
Kravitz turned 50 in May, but is unconcerned about passing the milestone, explaining it's had no bearing on his outlook on life.
He said: "It doesn't mean anything as I don't relate to a number or numbers in general. With age it is how you take care of yourself and what your mind and spirit is like."

Jesse Eisenberg used to write sex jokes on napkins when he was 13 years old.
The 'Double' actor - who is dating actress Mia Wasikowska - thought the gags were great at the time but admits he recently found it funny looking back on them because they are so "misguided".
He said: "[I wrote] a lot of jokes, in fact. And they were all sex-based. I've since revisited them, and looking at them I felt like, 'Clearly, this person will never have sex.' They were just totally misguided."
But the 30-year-old star later realised he wanted to write comedy movies after watching films by Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler.
Speaking about his thoughts after watching some of their movies, he added: "I could write stuff like this."
As well as writing, Jesse has gone on to land the part of Lex Luthor in the hotly-anticipated 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice', and he he is enjoying the chance to appear in a big budget film because he is getting more of a chance to experiment with his character.
He told The Times newspaper: "In some ways the Batman movie allows me to experiment more with my character because there's a lot more time; in independent movies I can sometimes only do one take of a very interesting scene, but in 'Batman' I can do 40 takes of the one scene just because they plan to spend the whole day on the scene because they have so much money."

'Twilight' star Ashley Greene looked gorgeous as she stepped out for a shopping trip to Bristol Farms in West Hollywood. Despite dressing casually for the occasion, the 27-year-old actress still managed to turn heads with her flowing locks.

Jessica Alba looked as beautiful as ever as she strolled through LAX in Los Angeles. The actress wore a pair of designer shades, but there was no chance of concealing her identity as her enviable figure gave her away.

Ashley Tisdale emerged from her sweaty gym session wearing a 'You Can't Sit With Us' T-shirt. The 29-year-old is often snapped wearing quirky T-shirts, and was happy to debut the latest addition to her ever-expanding collection.

Rihanna wore a revealing black dress and high heels to a party at the Bowery hotel in New York City. The Bajan beauty is one of the sexiest women in pop and she certainly lived up that reputation at the bash.

Sofia Vergara looked beautiful at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Grants Banquet at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. The 'Modern Family' star has been dating actor Joe Manganiello and it is easy to see the attraction.

Channing Tatum looked handsome as he posed for photographs at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Grants Banquet at The Beverly Hilton Hotel. The actor is one of the most sough-after stars in Hollywood - and it's not hard to see why!