Sid Owen
"Ricky Butcher"
GETTING SHTICKY WITH "THICKY RICKY"
An Interview With Sid Owen - By Tim Wilson
My fears of using the phrase "Thicky Ricky" around Sid Owen proved groundless. It was Sid, in fact, who first used that label as we lunched at a pizza-and-pasta restaurant in London with the tape recorder playing.
So I replied by pretending to have seen the "Thicky Ricky" designation in print once or twice, even though I knew darned well that the British tabloids had been insulting Sid for most of the 1990s by interchangeably calling both the actor and his fictional character "Thicky Ricky." (In Britain, "thick" is a popular slang term for "stupid," which Sid, emphatically, is not.
WG -- When exactly did that insult begin?
OWEN -- Probably two or three years into my run with EastEnders. I Don't know where it actually appeared first. I'd like to know. Because then I'd go over to the newspaper office and thump that so-called journalist.
If it was a lady, I guess I'd just shout the ^ÓB^Ô word at her in front of her colleagues and that would make me feel much better. But if it was a bloke, I'd definitely thump him one.
WG -- I wouldn't blame you. The labeling of Ricky as "thick" reduces him to a one-dimensional character, doesn't it? I don't think Ricky's genuinely stupid, anyway.
OWEN -- (GRINNING SARCASTICALLY) Thanks for your support, Tim. I genuinely appreciate it.
No, seriously. I can handle it when I see a photo of me in the paper accompanied by some crack about 'Thicky Ricky.' Guys used to think they could get away with shouting it at me in nightclubs. Let's say they know better now!
Ricky is just a sort of lovable innocent, really. He's just bungling his way through life the best way he can. All right, so he'll never win any prizes for his brain power. So what? He's a good bloke, a good mate to his friends and he can work miracles with motors.
WG -- In an episode that ran in Britain last year, Ricky's sister Diane told Bianca that, when Ricky was a little boy, he was labeled 'a bit slow, a bit thick' and that he'd started to believe it. Growing up, she said, he would sometimes use that label as an excuse for not trying harder to learn.
OWEN -- And, in that same scene, Bianca told Diane that she'd heard on The Square that he couldn't tie his shoelaces until he was fourteen! Isn't that a bit far-fetched? I mean, c'mon... Maybe it's true of Robby Jackson!
WG - Ricky's Dad, Frank, sometimes treated him like he was not very bright. Frank would roll his eyes in exasperation when Ricky was not being particularly quick on the uptake.
OWEN -- Yes, he did. But Frank loves him and cares about him. So it was all right. It was sort of a comic relief for the show, wasn't it? Anyway, Frank obviously loves his kids even though they're not terribly clever. Diane got knocked up by some French guy before she even got to see The Eiffel Tower. Am I right?
WG -- You are correct, sir!
OWEN - Janine's probably not going to be the Brain of Britain, either. Am I starting to sound defensive? Okay, let's move on to something else. That one's been done to death. Ricky Ain't Thicky!
WG -- You started on EastEnders when you were about sixteen. Prior to that, you had appeared in an Al Pacino movie.
OWEN -- Yes. It was called Revolution. I guess you could say it was not one of his more successful efforts.
WG -- Among snide cinephiles, that film is known as 'Duh British Are Coming.'
OWEN -- (POLITELY, BUT WITHOUT LAUGHTER) Oh, that's funny. Hmmmm. I did that movie when I was fourteen and it was a really brilliant experience. Al is a genuinely great guy and we got on extremely well. I visited him a few years ago in New York and had a laugh together. I still have his home phone number -- but I wouldn't just ring him out of the blue: 'Hiya, Al Baby! It's Sid! How ya' doin'?' I don't think so. He's a big star.
WG -- So are you, Sid.
OWEN - C'mon! I'm nowhere near as big as Pacino. He's an international movie star, for God's sake. BIG DIFFERENCE!!! Anyway, he's really cool.
WG -- What made you want to start acting in the first place?
OWEN -- (QUIETLY) I was very young when my Mum died and my home life was not very good. So I jumped into acting head first, doing the Anna Scher Theatre workshops. Anna and the school became a second family, a good family. And EastEnders eventually became another family -- A Great Family!
WG -- I gathered from Edna Dore (Mo Butcher) that you all got on well.
OWEN -- Absolutely. Mike (Frank) is great to work with. Pam (Pat) is great to work with. Edna was great, Sophie Lawrence (Diane) was great....even that little brat who first played Janine! We were close. Thank God we all liked each other.
WG -- What about Daniella Westbrook, who played Sam?
OWEN -- Sure, Daniella was a lot of fun. She's a wild girl. Very tough but also very sweet. We enjoyed working together. I wish she could have been on longer after they brought her back from Spain. That seemed a bit of a waste. She came back and then left so quickly. Anyway, Ricky's got Bianca to torture him, for the time being.
WG - Didn't you already know Patsy Palmer (Bianca) from your Anna Scher Theatre days?
OWEN -- We practically grew up together. We'd known each other for years. It was wierd when she started on the show and we began playing the 'Ricky & Bianca Get To Know Each Other' bit. I had already spent a lot of time with Patsy. I think we were both seven when we met.
WG - I'd like to backtrack to Ricky & Sam. Do you consider the episodes dealing with the break-up of their marriage to be some of your best work?
OWEN -- Not at all. I think my best work has actually been done in the past ten months, because some absolutely brilliant stuff was written for Ricky and Bianca to play. Big problems to sort out and a very big, dramatic........tragedy I guess you'd call it. You Yanks won't see it for a really long time, I hear.
WG -- Yes, by the time those episodes get here, I'm expecting to see the wedding of Ricky & Bianca done in either Virtual Reality or Three-D.
OWEN -- And you'd get to throw rice at us and see it land in our hair! That'd be pretty funny.
WG - Wasn't Ricky a racist for about two minutes in 1989, after his Indian girlfriend's father forced them to break up?
OWEN -- Yeah. He also smoked cigarettes for about two minutes. But he stopped doing that because the show didn't want him to set a bad example for the kids who watched.
The racist thing was strange. He just stopped one day from seeming racist. The show didn't tell me anything beyond what I read in my scripts. I was a little relieved that he wasn't going to keep acting that way. John Altman (Nick Cotton) had gotten a lot of hassle from people on the street because his character was a racist, Being a recognizable TV celebrity is difficult to cope with.
WG -- Who were Ricky's other love interests, besides Sam and Bianca. Let's see if we can dredge them up. Sometimes it seems as though Ricky has only been with Sam and Bianca.
OWEN -- What about Natalie? How quickly you forget! I guess she really Wasn't a love interest, though. He just shagged her, like he did Mandy, the street urchin. The Indian girl was his first love interest, I guess. I can't remember her name.
WG -- Shireen.
OWEN -- Right, Shireen. Then there was that hairdresser's assistant. And I definitely can't remember HER name.
WG -- Uh....Marie.
OWEN -- Oh, right. Aren't you a source of useless information?!
WG -- I know....I frighten myself sometimes. But what about Tiffany. Wouldn't it be fun for Ricky and Tiff to get drunk and fall into bed?
OWEN - They'd have to get REAL drunk to get it on, wouldn't they? They're just like chalk and cheese.
WG - Let's get into some more personal stuff, Sid, which our readers do enjoy to a certain extent. Do you share Ricky's passion for autos?
OWEN -- Well, let's see.... I've got a Mercedes and a Porsche in my garage. Does that answer your question?
WG -- Ricky would have to win The National Lottery to acquire those...
OWEN -- ......Or become an actor in a long-running television show!
WG -- You live in a house in the countryside now, don't you?
OWEN -- Yes. In Cambridgeshire. It's very nice, if I do say so myself.
WG -- And I hear you have a beautiful girlfriend.
OWEN -- God yes, she's lovely. Her name is Lucy Braybrook. (GRINS) She's a model.
WG -- Oh. Big surprise!
OWEN - She's got brains as well, Tim. She's also sweet and funny and we enjoy a lot of the same stuff. Believe it or not, we both like to hunt for antique furniture. And we both like to cook.
WG - You're a stay-at-home kind of guy, then?
OWEN -- These days, yes. I have gone wild in the past, clubbing and all that. These days, I like to pull out a bottle of wine and watch a video on my 43-inch TV screen. That's my idea of a good time.
WG -- Do you plan on staying with EastEnders for awhile?
OWEN -- I don't know. I've currently got an offer for another TV series, which will be firmed up by The Spring. I'll know by then. I'd leave the show, take a few months off and start working on the other show by the end of the year.
WG -- Can you provide us with any details about that project? Perhaps SID OWEN; GENERAL PRACTITIONER?
OWEN -- I won't talk about that. What's a General Practitioner? Is that a Yank occupation?
WG -- Fuhgeddabout it. What does Patsy Palmer think about the possibility of your leaving? She was quoted in a magazine called The Big Issue as saying 'No. No! He can't go without me. Not my Rick-kay!'
OWEN - She's a very smart girl and she certainly understands this situation. All of us face it eventually, this need to go off and do other things. Gillian (who plays Kathy) is taking a six months break to explore what's out there. Paul Bradley (Nigel) is leaving too.
WG -- Back to Rick-kay. Do you believe those rumors which state that Ricky is a closet stamp collector?
OWEN - Don't make me gag on my Pizza Classico! I mean it. Ricky does actually develop a hobby which ties in with his job -- and it ain't stamp collecting. Besides, Ricky's not a closet ANYTHING. What you see is what you get where he's concerned.
WG -- You don't see the writers changing him in any radical way?
OWEN -- No. Why should they? I don't think the audience wants him to change. They like the same old Ricky.
WG -- What would you like to have the writers come up with for Ricky?
OWEN -- (SMILING) I want him to shag every hot girl in sight, baby.
WG -- That was an excellent 'Austin Powers' impersonation.
OWEN -- Thanks. Anyway, I know Ricky loves Bianca, but she can be such a domineering cow. He should be allowed to run wild for awhile. Maybe become a Male Escort.
WG -- Pam St. Clement told me that Ricky is doubly appealing, because women want to mother him, as well as 'that other thing.'
OWEN - Pam's a very smart lady, isn't she? Very perceptive.
WG -- Thanks for the interview, Sid.
OWEN -- No problem, Tim. Next time let's go for the pasta, okay?
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