Bill Sikes

through the streets of London until he hangs himself while trying to escape. It is left ambiguous as to whether or not this was intentional.

Sikes has almost no redeeming qualities, although Dickens does give him some shading: at the robbery in the countryside, Sikes, rather than leave Oliver at the scene of his botched burglary of Mrs. Maylie's house, picks him up and runs with him as far as he can, before hiding him in a ditch at the suggestion of an accomplice. After he brutally beats Nancy to death, he apparently is capable of feeling guilt—although this is essentially suspicion that Fagin lied to him about her betrayal, and fear of the possibility of being caught.

Sikes lives in Bethnal Green and later moves to the squalid rookery area of London then called Jacob's Island, east of present-day Shad Thames.

Sikes's background and early life prior to joining Fagin are not mentioned in the book.

Theatrical portrayals[edit]
Robert Newton first played Sikes on screen in the 1948 British film noir Oliver Twist. Sikes's death is changed slightly: while attempting to swing to another building to escape the mob, he is shot by a police officer and is hanged from the stomach.

Sikes was played by Danny Sewell in the stage musical Oliver! which won several awards in the early 1960s. Oliver Reed played Sikes in the musical's 1968 film adaptation which also won several awards, with Reed's performance often cited as the best portrayal of Sikes - being labelled as "the sinister core of the film". His songs are removed from the film, making his performance of the character closer to that of the novel rather than the stage version. The famous climax of the 1948 film adaptation is retained and Bill Sikes dies in the same manner of being shot then accidentally hanging himself.

In Disney's animated version, Oliver & Company (1988), Sikes is renamed Sykes and he is a cold-hearted loan shark who lives and works in a New York shipyard with his Dobermans, Roscoe and DeSoto and is voiced by Robert Loggia. Fagin, here depicted as a dogkeeper, owes him money. In a final confrontation, Sykes chases Fagin and the dogs into the subway tunnels until they reach the Brooklyn Bridge. While Roscoe and DeSoto are killed when they fall onto the electrified railway, Sykes fights with Oliver on the roof of his limousine, and is finally killed when his car collides with a train, sending his body falling into the East River.

In Disney's 1997 live action television production, Oliver Twist, Bill Sikes is played by David O'Hara.

Sikes is portrayed by actor Tom Hardy in the BBC One Oliver Twist (2007 miniseries), later aired in the United States on PBS's Masterpiece Classic.

In the 2015 BBC TV series Dickensian, Sikes is played by Mark Stanley. has become the new leader of the gang of thieves