The Player (Tyne Tees); Bare Knuckle Fighter (C4); Bailiffs (BBC1): Those who think having a weekly £1 flutter on the National Lottery makes them a gambler would do well to consider the life of Casper Berry. He's an actor (as one of the original cast of Byker Grove), writer, and runs a production company. But his passion is playing cards - he's a professional poker player.

His film - the first in the Night Shift series of regional documentaries - took us inside the mind of a gambler. Berry turned to "the power of the shuffle" after feeling his life was going nowhere. Gambling was a job "where people wouldn't judge me by the importance of my agent, the company I kept, or the credits on my CV".

He spends much of each year at the poker table in Las Vegas, but back home found a thriving poker scene in Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland. This attracts some of the biggest and best players from Europe. One, Carlos Citrone, echoed Berry's view on being a gambler: "You do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it. You're your own boss. As long as you're a winner, it's a fabulous life," he said.

Former slave Bill Richmond wasn't a loser either, and his career in 19th century England came about through gambling. With bear-baiting and cock-fighting losing their attraction, people were looking for something equally violent and bloody on which to bet. Bare knuckle fighting was the answer.

The latest in the fascinating Georgian Underworld series told how Richmond became the world's first black superstar and received the royal seal of approval.

He came to this country as a parson's servant, and was taken under the wing of an English artistocrat at Alnwick Castle. He taught himself to read and became a cabinet maker.

An incident while walking through York, with a female under his protection, caused him to show his boxing ability. A brothel keeper insulted the woman and called him a "black devil". Richmond gave him a good "milling" - which Call My Bluff enthusiasts will know means to thrash, beat or box.

Richmond became famous in the ring in a sport that existed on the edge of the law, but which carried enormous status for its stars with fearsome names such as The Gravedigger, The Jawbreaker and The Bristol Butcher.

He went on to establish London's first boxing academy and promote his protege Tom Molineaux, who was unfortunately distracted by the city's "dirtiest pleasures".

Not paying court fines for parking offences is a gamble too. Offenders bet on the law not catching up with them. But, as Bailiffs shows, they nearly always get their man.

Gervaise was dealt a bad hand - warrant after warrant for unpaid fines. By the end of the programme he'd coughed up more than £14,000 to bailiffs. Each ticket had cost him around £300 in fines and fees. Set this against the tax-free £240,000 earned in 14 months by a poker player in The Player, and you can tell who's the better gambler.

Published: 02/05/2003