And he also charmed the producers of the hit prison drama.
“I put it purely down to I’m A Celeb,” he says. “As soon as I came back from there, they phoned my agent and asked to meet me. But it was coming up for Christmas and I really wanted to know if I had the job, so I was quite pushy. I rang them up and said, ‘Can you tell me if I’ve got it because I want to know what I’ll be doing.’ They rang me within an hour to tell me I’d got it. It was a nice Christmas present.”
Bad Girls reunites Sid with fellow EastEnder Nicola Stapleton, who stars as Janine. And it seems an on screen romance is on the cards at HMP Larkhall.
“It’s fantastic to be with Nicola again,” Sid says. “She’s a great actress and most of my scenes are with her. We also get it on a bit in this and it’s good that we’re comfortable with each other because that makes it easier. Our characters, Ricky and Mandy, did have a fling in EastEnders, so we’re back for seconds!”
Sid is sniffing as he talks and reveals he caught a cold while filming on location.
“We’re coming up to the end of the run and it’s been really hard work, 12 to 14 hour days. I’m not used to it anymore,” he laughs. “I’ve been quiet the last few years so it’s a bit of a shock to the system!”
Between leaving EastEnders for the second time in 2004, and popping up in the jungle last November, Sid spent time travelling before settling down in France.
“I’ve always had a bit of the gypsy in me so I like moving about and travelling. I went to Australia four times as well as Thailand and Malaysia, Singapore and Bali. Australia is beautiful. I think it’s one of the best countries in the world. It’s got everything, including the weather.”
In between his trips, Sid renovated a house in France and ran his own restaurant, which he recently sold.
“I really didn’t have the time to put into it anymore,” he explains. “If you have a restaurant, you have to be there, you have to be hands-on. It was all right while I wasn’t acting because it was my job. I enjoyed it but it’s a stressful game.
“I had 12 or 13 staff and sometimes I’d enjoy working in the kitchen, just because I like cooking and I learned more about food. By the third season I was comfortable enough to hold the fort in the kitchen and cook the whole menu. I did it once but never again! It was really hard work.”
Although he recently bought a flat in London, Sid still lives in France when he’s not working in the UK.
“I moved out of London and kept moving further and further away, first to Essex, then Cambridgeshire, then France,” he says.
“I don’t know why I chose France. It just seemed right at the time. I don’t get recognised over there so I can go shopping and just do normal stuff and it’s really relaxing. I love being in the UK when I’m here, but I don’t miss it when I’m gone.”
Single Sid, who began his TV career aged eight with a role in Metal Mickey, was recently asked to take part in Love Island, but decided against it.
“I think they ask all the old soap people,” he laughs. “It was very tempting. It sounds appealing — seven weeks to sit around and do nothing, but I was too busy this time round. Maybe next year, if I’m still single.”
At 34, he admits he has yet to meet Miss Right.
“Relationships so far haven’t gone as planned,” he says with characteristic frankness. “As you get older, you know what you’re looking for but it’s quite hard to find it. You get fussy and I don’t want to waste time on dates. I just want to meet someone and hopefully settle down.”
In the meantime, Sid, who has already signed up for another two series of Bad Girls, is in the right place for a single man on the lookout for love, as the vast majority of the prison drama’s cast is female.
“They’re not at all intimidating,” he says with a grin. “Actually it’s quite nice to be surrounded by women!”
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