Actor Donovan cast in ITV1 soap

Donovan is currently relaunching his pop career

Ex-Neighbours star Jason Donovan is to appear with former EastEnders actress Martine McCutcheon in ITV1's upcoming soap opera about surfing in Cornwall.

The former soap stars play ex-lovers in Echo Beach, a post-watershed drama set in fictional coastal resort Polnarren.

The show will run in tandem with Moving Wallpaper, a sitcom starring Ben Miller as a hapless producer desperate to make Echo Beach a success.

The two shows are being made by Kudos, producers of BBC One's Life on Mars.

Donovan and McCutcheon will make cameo appearances on Moving Wallpaper, set to begin transmission alongside Echo Beach early next year.

According to an ITV1 spokesman, jokes, characters and subplots will cross from one show to the other over the course of 12 weeks.

The first episode of All Saints features a horrific train accident

Both series are the brainchild of Tony Jordan, a lead writer on EastEnders and co-creator of Life on Mars.

In other soap news, BBC One has acquired the long-running Australian medical drama All Saints for its daytime schedule.

The series, which first aired Down Under in 1998 and focuses on the doctors and nurses of Ward 17 at a busy Sydney hospital, will make its debut in July.

BBC head of series, Sue Deeks, has praised All Saints' "engaging" characters, "compelling" storylines and "superb" production values.

"We are delighted that BBC viewers are finally going to have the opportunity to see this multi-award winning series," she continued.