Ex-Pussycat Doll and X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger has signed up for the planned TV movie remake of ‘Dirty Dancing’.

She’s set to play Penny in the remake, being produced by US network ABC, the dance partner to Patrick Swayze’s character Johnny Castle, originally played by Cynthia Rhodes in the 1987 movie.

Penny is the character who falls pregnant to the philandering Robbie, and who Jennifer Grey’s Baby then takes over from in the dance show, leading Baby and Johnny to fall in love.

Playing the role of Baby in the new version is 'Little Miss Sunshine’ star Abigail Breslin, while Colt Prattes will play Johnny.

Debra Messing, meanwhile, will play Baby’s mother Marjorie.

Scherzinger delivered the news with a celebratory tweet:

The ABC version is to be a three-hour musical take on the story of Frances 'Baby’ Houseman, who goes on holiday to an upscale resort in the Catskill Mountains with her wealthy parents.

It’s there that she becomes involved with Johnny and the resort’s entertainment staff, learning to dance and finding herself.

It’s being made by Wayne Blair, director of 'The Sapphires’, though there is no confirmed transmission date as yet.

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Image credits: Rex Features