parliament if the serial should've even been allowed to air. 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, including the Oscar for Best Picture, with Reed's performance often cited as one of the best portrayals 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 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 pet Dobermans, Roscoe and DeSoto, and is voiced by Robert Loggia, who was cast in the role after Marlon Brando rejected an offer to voice the character because he felt the film was going to be a flop. Fagin, here depicted as a dogkeeper, owes him money before Sykes proceeds to kidnap a young wealthy girl, Jenny Foxworth, planning to take a ransom to himself. In a final confrontation, Sykes chases Fagin and the dogs into the subway tunnels in attempt to recapture Jenny until they reach the Brooklyn Bridge. While Roscoe and DeSoto are killed when they fall onto the electrified railway, Sykes fights with Oliver and Dodger on the roof of his limousine, and is brutally killed when his car collides with a train, sending his corpse falling into the East River. In Disney's 1997 live-action television production, Oliver Twist, Bill Sikes is played by David O'Hara. In the 2005 Oliver Twist Bill Sikes is played by Jamie Foreman. In 2007, Sikes is portrayed by actor Tom Hardy in the BBC One miniseries Oliver Twist, later aired in the United States on PBS' Masterpiece Classic. In the 2015 BBC TV series Dickensian, Sikes is played by Mark Stanley. In the 2021 movie, Twist, Sikes is altered into a female portrayed by Lena Headey with a pet Doberman named Bull's-eye and appears to be a lesbian when seen in a supposed relationship with Nancy. This version, however, was criticized for transitioning a male character into female. References Oliver