Grey's Anatomy star Melissa George has described the phsyical training for BBC One's Hunted as "the hardest thing I think I will ever experience".

The eight-part spy drama series features the Australian actress as Sam, a highly skilled operative for an elite private intelligence firm.

She told Cinemax: "[Show creator Frank Spotnitz] was adamant on having an actress who will go the distance and fight for real - if I couldn't physically do it, we wouldn't shoot it.

George's training for the role included instruction in martial arts techniques used for hand-to-hand combat, weapons disarming and high-impact blows, as well as the Keysi fighting method, as seen in The Bourne Supremacy.

She continued: "I have never in my life felt so much adrenaline than when we do the fight scenes. I don't sleep the night before, and I'm anxious to make Sam as skilled as she is written on the page. For the first time, I forgot about me and was purely fighting for my life as Sam. I don't want to be an actress for hire and pretend; Sam is so wonderfully layered and deserves whoever portrays her to do her justice. I think I actually want to be her."

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Hunted is due to begin on BBC One this autumn.

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