Rav Wilding is training to be an osteopath.

Rav Wilding

Rav Wilding

The 'Crimewatch' host has been inspired to study a five-year course with the College of Osteopaths after he suffered some life-changing ­injuries, which saw him snap hamstring tendons during a somersault dive leaving him with one leg shorter than the other, while taking part in ITV's now-axed diving show 'Splash!' in 2013.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, he said: "Human anatomy is something I've always been fascinated with. My goal is to understand how the body works, especially in relation to injuries and rehabilitation. I'm studying in between ­filming various shows for the BBC and enjoying the challenge. I'm already attending clinic and meeting real patients, seeing how osteopathic care is helping. As someone who has had numerous injuries I feel most people's pain and can easily relate to them."

The 40-year-old presenter is hoping his new skill will lead to him bagging his own health show in the future.

He explained: "I think it is healthy to have a new expertise under my belt. It may come in useful at later date for a TV health show."

Rav is certainly no stranger to dangerous work as he previously revealed he almost had his face slashed by a drug mule when he was a policeman.

Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz about the close encounter, Rav - who joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 2000 - said: "I remember a time in the police when I got called to a burglary in a disused school.

"I climbed over the fence and it was all completely pitch black and I was going through with my little torch and finding if there was anything going on. Very often when you get calls to these things the alarm has gone off by accident.

"Then suddenly out of nowhere a guy just jumped out in front of me with eyes like saucers and slashing a knife across towards my face.

"This guy was a drug mule and he'd come over from Europe to smuggle a load of drugs into the UK, but instead of smuggling he had eaten a lot of the content, a drug called LSD, which was a drug that made him hallucinate.

"That was pretty horrendous because the knife was pretty close, I felt the wind brush past my face and my nose. It could have been anything."