Former EastEnders star Sid Owen experienced life behind bars in Channel 4’s Banged Up, in an attempt to discover what his convict dad went through.
Fifty-one-year-old Sid is one of seven celebrities who get their first taste of life in prison for the new reality show. The actor is locked up with real life ex-cons for the new C4 show – which has reportedly already been commissioned for an all-female second series before the first has even aired.
Sid lives in the decommissioned Victorian jail, HMP Shrewsbury, for a week. He joins Conservative MP Johnny Mercer, comedian and actor Tom Rosenthal, Gogglebox star Marcus Luther, singer HRVY, newspaper columnist Peter Hitchens and former MP Neil Parish.
However, while other celebs are perhaps taking part for the experience – and, no doubt, the fee – Sid has more personal reasons for taking on the challenge. His own dad and brothers have been in jail.
Actor Sid Owen ‘grew up as a petty thief’ like his dad
Former soap star Sid Owen played Ricky Butcher in BBC soap EastEnders between 1998 and the present day. And he credits his acting career with helping him escape a potential life of crime.
Sid’s brother and bank robber dad have both served long stretches, and Sid is interested to discover what they went through. In a recent interview with The Sun, he reveals his own mum was a petty thief, and he also grew up stealing from the age of four.
London-born Sid says: “I grew up as a petty thief because I had three older brothers and there was violence, thieving, burglary, and robberies.”
Tragically, his eldest sibling Mark died last year and spent his life “in and out of prison for theft”. He adds: “Without acting I would have definitely done a prison sentence.”
Sid’s other older brother Darren, now 54, recently spent eight years in jail for his part in a drug ring which smuggled £1million of cocaine into the UK. He admits he rarely speaks to him these days.
Meanwhile, Sid’s third brother, Scott, also avoided a life of crime and lives in Cornwall with his family where he works as a chef.
Banged Up star Sid Owen on convict dad David Sutton
Sid’s mum Joan died of cervical cancer when he was just seven, and he reveals he grew up on the streets after her death. He had no contact with his “abusive” dad, who left when he was six. Sid Owen’s dad David Sutton was jailed for life for “a heavy duty robbery” when he was a young boy.
Speaking to the newspaper, Sid says: “My mum died when I was seven and I never knew my dad.”
Sadly Sid did not repair his relationship with his late dad, who he says only bothered with him after he found fame in 1988. In 2021, Sid admitted he only had “pure hate” for his dad who he says beat him, his mum and brothers up in drunken rages.
Speaking in his autobiography From Rags to Ricky, he recalled the “ominous” feeling when his dad would return from the pub and beat up his mum and brothers. The actor blocked out much of his dad’s behaviour at the time.
He now says: “You just have pure hate for someone like that.”
When Sid became an EastEnders regular, his dad David contacted him and arranged a meeting. But Sid says: “I didn’t want anything to do with him.”
When David died, a relative contacted EastEnders to ask if Sid wanted to go to the funeral, to which he replied with a firm “no”.
Does Sid Owen have children of his own?
Sid recently became a dad himself. He admits being away from his 20-month-old daughter Skye was the hardest part of filming Banged Up.
He shares Skye with partner Victoria Shores, 43.
Sid says: “I love being a new dad. I spend a hell of a lot of time with my child, which is something I never had, so I want to make up for that, in a sense. It was hard being away from my little one.”
Read more: Who is Ricky Butcher on EastEnders? Why did he leave the soap?
Banged Up starts on Channel 4 at 9.15pm on Tuesday, October 31, 2023.
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