COMEDY actress Meera Syal will star in the second series of Broadchurch, it has been announced.

The television actress, who starred in BBC comedy The Kumars at No. 42, was confirmed as a cast member for Broadchurch 2 by ITV this morning.

A spokesman for ITV confirmed that Syal would appear in the show but would not reveal what her role will be or how important it will be in the ITV show, as producers stay tight-lipped about the plot’s secrets.

The announcement of Syal’s arrival is sure to increase excitement ahead of the second series of the smash-hit show, which averaged more than nine million viewers when it was first hit our television screens in spring 2013.

Syal rose to prominence as one of the writers of cult comedy sitcom Goodness, Gracious Me and became one of the UK’s most prominent Indian actresses when she appeared in The Kumars at No. 42, playing Sanjeev’s grandmother, Ummi.

She is the sixth newest member of the star-studded cast after Hollywood-legend Charlotte Rampling, Marianne Jean-Baptiste James D’Arcy, Eve Myles and Phoebe Waller-Bridge were announced earlier this year.

Cast and crew have been filming series 2 in West Bay over the past few months, which is expected to finish soon, with the show earmarked to be screened in spring 2015.