Plan B slims down for Sweeney role

Plan B had to go on a diet for his role as a flying squad officer in the film remake of The Sweeney and said it has changed his "whole aura".

The singer-turned-actor, whose real name is Ben Drew, lost more than two stone before filming started.

He told Men's Health magazine: "Maybe if you didn't give a s*** about your weight, no one else would. The fact is, I'm someone who gives a s***, and so losing the weight has changed my whole aura. When I walk into a room, I'm not paranoid about my weight any more, I'm just feeling a lot more comfortable and obviously that's an attractive thing in any human being."

The original 1970s television version of The Sweeney featured John Thaw and Dennis Waterman as the tough cops Jack Regan and George Carter, and Drew said he would not have been believable on screen if he had not lost the weight.

He said: "I needed to look like I could come through the door and arrest people, like I could compete with villains out there. The way I looked before, it just wasn't believable."

:: Read the full Plan B interview in the Men's Health June issue, on sale tomorrow.