By Nick Jackson BOLTON actor Nicholas Gleaves returns to our screens tomorrow night in the second series of the footballing women drama Playing the Field. The series, written by Band of Gold writer Kay Mellor, is chiefly about the trials and tribulations of a team of women players, but Nick has a prominent role as rakish husband Rick Powell. He made quite an impression in the acclaimed first series on BBC1 in which there were raunchy scenes of his character having sex with his brother's wife.

In the new series Gleaves becomes a menacing character when he gets obsessed when Geraldine, his mistress, played by Lorraine Ashbourne, has a baby.

Nick said: "In the first series he was quite a cad. But now he is more menacing and dangerous and he's extremely disturbed because Geraldine is pregnant and he's convinced it's his baby.

"She has the baby and he steals into the hospital and he turns into a bit of a maniac. I loved playing the part. Rick's problems are enormous because his own marriage is slipping away also."

Former Smithills High School pupil Nick now lives in London, but he is a avid supporter of Bolton Wanderers and regularly travels back to his home town to visit his parents in Sharples and watch his beloved team.

Father-of-two Nick, who always has his feet firmly on the ground, was also full of praise for the series shot in Bolton in 1998 - The Cops.

He said: "It blows away anything else on TV recently. It had some of the best acting I've seen on TV in ages."

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