He is one of the busiest lawyers in Sussex. He could easily be earning treble his current salary. But Andreas Serghis chooses to work as a legal aid solicitor.

He explains his career path in a BBC Inside Out programme to be screened tonight after he allowed camera crews to follow his hectic schedule for two days.

The 40-year-old was joined for the feature by actor Peter Polycarpou, best known for his role as Chris the jailbird in the hit TV series Birds Of A Feather.

The two men were both born in Brighton and are of Greek Cypriot origin.

Mr Polycarpou discusses Mr Serghis's decision to work as a legal aid lawyer when he could be earning three or four times as much in other legal work.

"I come from a relatively impoverished background," Mr Serghis says in the programme. "We were brought up in a pretty destitute situation so I know what it is like not to have the things you want, to play with kids who have nothing and to live in a situation of virtual poverty.

"It wakes you to the fact that there is more outside than the middle-class lifestyle that we're all exposed to."

The film meets some of Andreas's clients, including a young man accused of dealing in ecstasy tablets at a Brighton nightclub.

Another is a 13-year-old boy arrested for allegedly stealing a car stereo. The boy's 18-year-old older brother sings the lawyer's praises.

He says: "He's well known around where I live. He's a blinding solicitor."

Mr Serghis, who often works an 18-hour day, has earned the respect not just of his clients but also of staff at the Brighton courts.

The deputy court keeper at Brighton magistrates' court, who is also an Elvis impersonator, enlisted Andreas to change his name from Ray Caldwell to Elvis Aaron Presley.

"He is a caring lawyer," says Elvis. "He's not just someone who'll come into court and try and ramble something off in two minutes. He takes his time.

"He doesn't like to lose and if he sees someone going into custody, it does affect him."

The programme is due to be screened at 7.30pm.