EastEnders actor Sid Owen has become a first time dad at the age of 49 after fiancée Victoria Shore gave birth over the weekend.
The star, who played Ricky Butcher in the soap, announced the news on Instagram with a sweet pic of him in scrubs kissing the proud mum.
Captioning the snap Sid wrote: “Been a long a day. But. Can I say. I love you Victoria. Thank you for our baby.”
Sid's EastEnders co-stars were quick to congratulate their former colleague with several paying tribute to the new dad.
Patsy Palmer, who played Ricky's on-screen love interest Bianca, wrote: “Congratulations to you all.”
While Danniella Westbrook, best known as the hapless mechanic's childhood sweetheart Sam Mitchell added: “Congratulations daddy and well done Victoria .”
The happy news comes after Sid and Victoria shared their heartbreak last year announcing they had suffered a devastating miscarriage.
The couple had dated 20 years ago and rekindled their romance last year after reconnecting via Facebook – before unexpectedly falling pregnant earlier this year.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, Sid and Victoria shared their agony over the loss of their baby.
Victoria explained that she became worried when she noticed light bleeding on evening – which “got heavier and didn’t stop.”
Sid rushed his fiancee to hospital the following morning where the couple were told the heartbreaking news that they had lost their baby.
In September, Sid had opened up about his excitement to wed Victoria and begin a family – seven weeks before their sad news was revealed.
He told The Sunday Mirror: “I never ever dreamt I would have kids. The older you get the more distant that idea seems, you give up hope sometimes, so it is a miracle it has happened."
Mum-of-two Victoria added that she expected Sid to be a “chilled dad”, while the soap star added: “I’m glad I am doing it now rather than in my 20s, I would have been a rubbish dad then.
"Vic wants to lose her weight and we want the baby at the wedding – just sat in a pram looking pretty.”
Sid was previously engaged to Carty Hubbard but they split in 2003 – while his romance with Polly Parsons lasted from 2006 to 2012.
The actor may be remembered for playing Ricky in EastEnders, but he could have swapped Albert Square for Hollywood having revealed A-lister Al Pacino wanted to adopt him when he was a child.
Sid and Al starred as father and son in the box office blockbuster Revolution when Sid was 13-years-old.
The Londoner revealed in his book From Rags to Ricky that the Oscar winner had considered becoming his father after finding out his mum had sadly died.
"He knew I had no parents and was from a difficult background, though we didn’t really talk about it." revealed Sid.
"He didn’t have kids of his own then and I found out later he had considered adopting me."
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