TV legend Nick Owen being treated for 'extensive and aggressive' prostate cancer

07 August 2023 , 16:00

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TV host Nick Owen has revealed he has been treated for "extensive and aggressive" prostate cancer.

The 75-year-old will be best known to many TV viewers for working on TV-AM in the 80s where he co-hosted the show with Anne Diamond. The pair then reunited for hit series Good Morning with Anne and Nick on BBC One from 1992 to 1996.

Speaking for the first time about his cancer, he said it had been a "grim" time since receiving biopsy results on April 13 this year. Since 1997 he has co-presented BBC Midlands Today as one of the lead presenters, but has been absent in recent weeks after doctors discovered the disease.

Speaking on BBC Midlands Today he said: “I went to a specialist, he wasn't too worried because my figures weren't that high. “But he decided I ought to have a scan and then the scan said there was something dodgy going on. And then he sent me for a biopsy which he did. And the results of that were the killer. On April the 13th, a date which will forever be imprinted on my mind.

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Veteran TV host Nick Owen being treated for 'extensive and aggressive' prostate cancer

“He told us that it was extensive really and aggressive, and I had prostate cancer full-on, and something needed to be done pretty fast. And that was probably the worst day of my life, or certainly one of them. It was a very grim moment, driving home after that sort of news and ringing people, texting people, my phone went crazy for hours on end. And it was a very, very difficult time for me, and indeed for my wife Vicki who was by my side all the time through this, you know. It was grim.”

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Owen married his second wife reflexologist Vicki Beevers, in July 2020. A BBC spokesperson said: “Nick has been one of the faces of Midlands Today for more than 25 years. Our viewers and his colleagues have missed him dearly in recent weeks.

"We can’t wait to welcome him back to the studio as soon as he’s ready. We all wish him a speedy recovery.” Owen reunited with Anne Diamond for the first time in 24 years on screen in 2020 by presenting and online talk show together in lockdown.

At the time Nick said: "It is instinctive being back with Anne. We rarely talk across each other - we just think the same way journalistically. It is heartwarming to think there are still people who have good memories of our [shows]."

Owen revealed he had had a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test which had shown slightly elevated results. "My GP insisted that I go and see a specialist just to reassure me... he saved my life," he said. Following his diagnosis, Owen has taken time off work for recovery and plans to be back presenting Midlands Today in the autumn.

A scan before surgery had given him "a beacon of hope" as it showed the cancer was contained in the prostate and had not spread, the presenter said. He has now had successful surgery but has been through a "bumpy ride"

On his wife Vicki, Owen said: "She had to do a lot of things medically when I came home, to look after me, including having to give me an injection once a day for about a month - and she's got no experience of that, I've certainly got no experience of doing [it] myself or having it done by a non medical professional," he explained.

TV legend Nick Owen being treated for 'extensive and aggressive' prostate cancer

Anne Diamond and Nick Owen are both battling cancer (Mirrorpix)

"So that was one of the many ingredients [which] made it a tough time. He added: "Although I'm not exactly myself at the moment, I do feel a lot more like it."

Owen's news comes just a few months after Anne Diamond revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The GB News presenter said she received the diagnosis the same day as finding out she was to be made OBE. Speaking in June she revealed she had undergone a double mastectomy in her “fight against breast cancer” – which she described as “a long journey”.

“I haven’t been on a world cruise, which is what I know social media has been saying … because I’m well-known now for loving cruises,” she said. “It’s been a fight against breast cancer. That’s what it’s been. It’s been a long journey. And five months later, I’m still not at the end of the journey, but I’m through it enough to come back to work.”

Prostate cancer affects one in eight men in the UK and diagnosis has tripled over the past three years. "I think it's very important to get yourself checked," Owen said. "For goodness sake, speak to a doctor about it and get it checked because if it's caught early - and I know it's a bit of a sort of medical cliché - but if it's caught early, you've got a chance. If it's left too late, you probably haven't."