A FORMER Blackburn soap actress will be among eight famous faces swapping red carpets for green fields this summer.

Wendi Peters, best known for playing Cilla Battersby-Brown in Coronation Street, will return to ITV as she takes on the challenge of sheepdog trialling.

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The contestants will all be vying for centre stage with their four-legged partners to herd flocks of sheep, ducks and geese around a set of challenging courses, specially designed to test their skill, technique and discipline.

Flockstars will be hosted by Gabby Logan and will have eight-week prime-time episodes.

Stepping up to the plate will be the former Corrie queen who will be joined by legendary DJ Tony Blackburn, Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole and R&B artist Kelle Bryan.

They will also go up against Fazer, aka Richard Rawson formally of N-Dubz, Birds of a Feather actress Lesley Joseph, property presenter Amanda Lamb and Paralympic dressage champion Lee Pearson.

They will battle it out with their Border Collie sidekicks in an exciting knockout competition to see who’ll be crowned top shepherd and walk away with the much-coveted Flockstars Champion Shield.

Wendi, who appeared in the ITV soap from 2003 to 2007 as well as briefly returning in 2014, has been paired with a Border Collie called Bill.

An ITV spokesman said: “As Cilla Battersby-Brown, Wendi Peters shared many a scene on Coronation Street alongside Great Dane ‘Schmeichel’.

“But how will she fare with a considerably smaller sidekick – this time in the form of Bill, a trusty, steady, nine-year-old from Suffolk.

“Trained and guided by three young, professional shepherd mentors from three corners of the British countryside, our trainee triallers must fully embrace a new way of life as ‘come bye’, ‘lie down’, ‘away’ and ‘walk on’ become everything to succeeding, or crashing out of, the competition.

“Will this brush with nature become second nature to the Flockstars as they attempt to guide the animals around the complex course and walk away with the sparkling Flockstars Champion Shield?”

The BBC show One Man and His Dog ran for almost 40 years before it was absorbed into Sunday evening rural affairs show Countryfile two years ago.

In 2011 Channel 4 launched its own coverage of the World Sheep Dog Trials.

It is expected that the show will air on Thursday, July 30.

In the first episode of the knockout competition, two Flockstars, along with their four legged friends, will be trying their best to guide sheep around the Flockstars trialling course in the quickest time with Wendi Peters not set to feature until at least week two.