EastEnders’ Patsy Palmer and Sid Owen reunite for TV interview but actor refuses to appear onscreen

Old school EastEnders fans were treated to quite the delight on Friday, when Patsy Palmer and Sid Owen reunited for a joint interview on ITV’s Loose Women.

However, there was an element of disappointment as Sid, 48, refused to appear onscreen for the video chat, after losing six teeth in a golfing accident in January.

Sid – who played Ricky Butcher on the show, opposite Patsy’s Bianca – admitted that the freak accident, which occurred in Thailand, had ‘knocked [his] confidence’.

Patsy, 48, dialled in for the interview from her home in Malibu, California, while Sid joined the chat via his phone in London, after returning from France. 

When Loose Women panellist Stacey Solomon asked why Sid wasn’t on video call like his co-star, opting to show a smiling snap of himself instead, he got candid.

Responding he explained that after his accident earlier this year, he’s still been having problems with his teeth and because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, he hadn’t been able to see his dentist.

Concluding his explanation on the matter, he heartbreaking admitted: ‘It’s knocked my confidence,’ prompting sighs of sympathy from the panellists and Patsy.

However, the mood soon lifted when the former co-stars, who portrayed of the show’s most memorable couples, reminisced about their early days on the soap.

With Patsy having joined the BBC soap at the age of 21, the pair shared how they constantly got into trouble during their time together on the show – often getting sent to the office.

Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha also chimed in about her times with the pair on the EastEnders set, having played Annie Palmer in the late 1990s.

But when the subject was raised of Ricky and Bianca reuniting onscreen at some point in the future, Patsy revealed that an attempt to return to EastEnders earlier this year was scuppered by the pandemic. 

She said: ‘I would like to work with Sid again, but I don’t know – I haven’t watched EastEnders so I don’t know how they are doing it now.

‘I mean, I was there just before lockdown and I had to leave. There was a little bit I was going to do but I didn’t end up doing it and I don’t know how they’re doing it now because I haven’t seen it.’

With travel between the US and UK remaining restricted, she was forced to fly home before the borders were closed.

Elsewhere, they spoke in support of their onscreen daughter Maisie Williams ahead of her appearance on Strictly  Come Dancing, with Sid saying he’d be ‘surprised’ if she didn’t go on to win the hugely popular ballroom show.

It became an even bigger reunion toward the end of the interview, when Shaun Williamson, who played Barry Evans on the show, joined the chat via video call.

Sharing his own memories, Shaun recalled the time they were all escorted out of a church by police while filming Ricky and Bianca’s wedding because it caused such hysteria – with about 1,000 excited fans turning up. 

Sid Owen was left with a shattered jaw and lost six teeth while on a trip to Thailand in January, with doctors saying he was lucky to be alive after the gruesome incident.   

During a game of golf on January 17, a ball hit a nearby tree, ricocheted off and hit him at close range at the Siam Country Club Old Course near Bangkok. 

He told The Sun at the time: ‘I’ve almost been lucky because they’ve told me if it had hit me two inches higher up I’d probably be dead from that sort of impact.  

‘I was stood about 10 feet away when it hit me, hard, and of course it hurt like hell, but it was the shock factor too.’ 

The immediate trauma caused by the impact of the golf ball flying into his face lodged his teeth into his bloodied mouth. 

Sid was stranded abroad for weeks, unable to fly home as he was awaiting brain scan results.  

But he eventually made it back to the UK just in time before COVID-19 travel restrictions were put in place. 

Recalling the gruesome details, Sid said: ‘I remember seeing two teeth fly straight out of my mouth but it turned out to be a fracture in my face and a broken jaw, along with another tooth embedded into my jaw. 

‘I had to have a bone graft, followed by several rounds of dental surgery because it was too much damage to try to treat it all at once.’

The surgery is said to have taken 15 hours so far with Sid on strong painkillers. 

He has described the experience as ‘hell’ but said it has ‘changed’ him. 

The soap star – who played Ricky Butcher on EastEnders from 1988 until 2012 – had to skip auditions he had set up for February while stranded halfway across the globe.

Having to extend his stay has also cost Sid money on accommodation and the ordeal is not guaranteed to be covered by travel insurance.

The worry also caused him to drop nearly two stone – partly also down to his inability to eat, thanks to his damaged mouth.