A WIRRAL actress is set to scale the heights for charity once again when she treks to Everest's base camp later this year for the Bobby Moore Fund.

Suzanne Maddock, who played PC Cass Rickman in The Bill, will fly to Nepal with boyfriend Matt Grummett for the start of their 20-day expedition to base camp on December 12.

Their aim is to get above Everest base camp at Kala Pattar, reaching an altitude of 5,545 meters.

It promises to be a breathtaking experience with stunning views of Everest.

Suzanne, 32, originally from Wallasey but now living in Essex, told the Globe: "I summitted Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania for the charity back in 2001, so fingers crossed I will be okay this time around.

"Unfortunately, the training has not being going very well, because I fractured my skull during a fall a few weeks ago and am trying to get back in shape.

"It's not all bad news, though, because the doctor has told me I should be able to train in a few weeks, which should take about three months."

Since leaving the popular ITV police soap in 2004 after four years with the series when her character was killed off, the former Wirral Metropolitan College performing arts student has appeared in BBC dramas Hetty Wainthrop Investigates with Birkenhead star Patricia Routledge and Casualty and regularly does voice over work for Radio City.

No stranger to charity work, Suzanne trekked Kilimanjaro back in 2001 as part of a project that was filmed for a Channel Five documentory called Soapstars Up A Mountain.

She was joined by Coronation Street stars Naiomi Lewis and Simon Rouse who plays DI Jack Meadows in The Bill and the climb raised £30,000 for the Bobby Moore Fund.

In 2003, she ran the London Marathon and raised £1,000 for Leukaemia Research and walked along The Great Wall of China, raising £3,500 for Help The Aged.

"The Great Wall trek was by far the easiest as we were covering miles not altitude," Suzanne said. "People ask how far we will be walking up Everest, I don't know the mileage, only the altitude, as that is what makes the trek so difficult."

She has recently been selling property in Essex but said: "I would like to get back into some more regular acting work and am waiting to hear whether I've got a role in Holby City."

The cost of the trip to Everest has been met by Suzanne, whose own mother Rose died from cancer in 1999 after a three-month battle with the disease, and Matt, but donations to Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research can still be made to: www.justgiving.com/mattsuzeeverest