No pain, no gain, is the motto of dominatrix Lady Sian, who shows Steve Pratt round the red-walled dungeon of her otherwise ordinary home on a Teeside housing estate.

LOUNGING on a leather sofa in her cluttered living room, Lady Sian does not strike you immediately as someone who likes to cause other people pain.

Her appearance gives little away. She admits the facial piercings and bright red hair might not conform to other people's idea of normal. Casually dressed as she is, in jumper and jeans, she'd hardly merit a second look if you passed her in the street.

But most would certainly stare at the ample-bosomed woman, clad in leather and stilettos, at work at home in Teesside in the red-walled room she calls her dungeon. For Lady Sian is a dominatrix. The tools of her trade are whips, canes, paddles, riding crops and bondage tape. The agony is ecstasy for those people - or slaves, if we're being technical - who enter that dungeon.

She describes being a dom as a "more of a hobby" than anything else. She doesn't charge for the service, accepting only gifts. "I enjoy seeing people walk out happy," she says of her job satisfaction.

"It's not a sexual thing. I don't get off on it. I enjoy them enjoying it and come out no longer feeling angry with the world. People say, 'isn't it about sex?' It's not for me."

Ironically, this 24-year-old dominatrix is on painkillers herself. She broke her back 18 months ago, after falling down stairs while working at North Tees Hospital radio station. She can't stand for a long time, which is why she's stretched out on the sofa.

People used to hear about her services through word of mouth. Now they make contact through her website. "They come to see me for an interview to discuss what they want to explore," she explains.

"For some, it's pain. For others, it's to dress up as a girl. Sometimes it's just sitting kissing someone's feet for an hour. Some like feet or shoes. Others, stockings. Or they just want to see you walk around the room or tell them how pathetic they are.

"Usually people will ask you straight out if you're a prostitute. I don't have sex with people and don't charge them money.

"They come to me because they have a fetish, or want to explore a fetish that their partner or the person in their life doesn't want to. It's an exploration of the more unusual side of life."

She can trace this liking for the unusual - a word she much prefers to weird - back to childhood and, as an eight-year-old, beating up a best mate for fun. Her interest in the subject developed as she grew up and realised that many people like painful activities.

"I didn't realise how wide it was or how many different sides there were," she says. "I thought a dominatrix was a woman with a whip, but the list of what she does goes on and on. I started out with two pairs of handcuffs and a bullwhip, which most people end up with sometime in their life for a laugh.

"It's always a learning experience. You have someone who has a different idea or something you've not heard of before. You can be as imaginative as you like. No matter what the fetish, no one takes the mickey.

"The men who come are dominant in their lives but want to be dominated because it's so different for them."

Her attitude is that anything goes "as long as you're not hurting anyone" - which sounds odd coming from a woman who deliberately inflicts pain.

It's no shock to learn that most of her clients are men, although even she's been surprised by those who seek her out. Once, she went to a Park Lane hotel in London to discuss ideas with a potential client. "Usually, I can do sophisticated but in there I felt very out of place," she recalls. "He was six feet four, blond, handsome, good figure. So you can't ever say, 'this is the type of person you're going to get'."

Another time, the name given by a client over the telephone seemed familiar. When he turned up, she realised he'd been in the year below her at school.

Lady Sian doesn't consider a married man is being unfaithful by visiting her, and is careful not to leave marks if she knows a client is going home to his wife afterwards. "It's not cheating, although a lot of partners don't see it that way and I can understand why they don't," she admits.

The reasons for people wanting painful experiences have occupied her thoughts. The desire for caning and spanking can be traced back to a previous generation subjected to it during childhood. Being disciplined by someone in uniform appeals to some.

Others aim to pep up their routine existence. "Maybe they have a boring job and boring life with a mortgage, wife and two children, and want something to spice it up. They're going home to their wives happy, I'm not doing any harm."

Boyfriend Andy doesn't share her interest in pain, but agreed to pose as a client being spanked for cameras filming Lady Sian for Tyne Tees Television's series Body Parts, beginning tonight. "He doesn't have a problem with what I do," she adds.

She admits that being a dominatrix gives her a power rush and makes her feel good. "I come out feeling so calm and serene. I'll spend an hour giving them a beating, they'll go home and then I'll take off my clothes, because they're rubbery and sweaty, and sit there feeling relaxed. Most of the time I'm a stress-head, so it's nice to be so calm."

She agreed to take part in Body Parts series in the hope of making what she does "a bit more acceptable".

She knows what it's like to be a victim of being judged purely by looks. People stare if she ventures out in her full Gothic look. "There's so much prejudice about how you look. Just avoid people you don't like. We want a quiet life, then walk down the street and get hassled," she says.

"If someone owns up to a fetish, they're called freak or pervert. People comment on my piercings, but look at the Spice Girls, they had them. What does it matter whether it's one or a hundred? I can't see why people all want to look like each other."

Body Parts begins on Tyne Tees tonight at 10.50pm