Monks (Oliver Twist)

Monks does not appear at all in Oliver!, the musical adaptation of the novel, nor in several film versions of the novel which seek to simplify the story, including Roman Polanski's 2005 adaptation of Oliver Twist. He does, however, appear in several mini-series versions of the novel, as well as in David Lean's 1948 film version.

Carl Stockdale played Monks twice in the 1916 film version and the 1922 film version. In the ending of the latter, Monks is forgiven by Oliver who persuades Mr. Brownlow not to turn him over to the police.

Ralph Truman portrays Monks in the 1948 film version. At the end of the film, Monks' involvement with Fagin is discovered and he is arrested.

John Carson portrays Monks in the 1962 BBC serial. This depiction of the character is considered to be very faithful to the source material.

In the 1980 British television series The Further Adventures of Oliver Twist,^[4] Monks is played by Geoffrey Larder. In this series, Monks does not leave for America, as stated in Dickens' novel, but continues his vendetta against Oliver and at the end of the series apparently commits suicide by leaping into the Thames while being pursued by police (although there is a possibility that he may have swum to safety and escaped).

Oliver Cotton played Monks in the U.S. 1982 Hallmark TV version of the film, where he actually has an encounter with Oliver and his red mark was on the top of his right eyebrow instead (not to be confused with the Australian film version, which was released the same year). At the end of the film, Monks is arrested.

Pip Donaghy played Monks in the 1985 BBC TV serial, where he also had an encounter with Oliver, constantly suffered severe epileptic fits every time his half-brother's name was mentioned, and his red mark was on his neck instead.

In the 2023 series The Artful Dodger (2023 TV series), Monks is portrayed by Australian actor, Ezekiel Simat. In this iteration, there is no reference to Monks' epilepsy. He is a seemingly omnipresent threat to Fagin and Dodger but does not cross paths with Oliver Twist at all.

The character of Monks (aka Edward Leeford) was particularly elaborated upon in a 1999 mini-series starring Robert Lindsay as Fagin.^[5] Monks (played by Marc Warren) is shown as a pathetic, snivelling character, Manipulated by his ambitious mother Mrs. Leeford (Lindsay Duncan).^[6] At one stage he complains "If I could live my life again, I wouldn't." Eventually his mother dies of a heart attack and, with some money granted by Oliver's guardians, he moves to the Caribbean where he finds happiness with a local woman with whom he starts a family (this does not happen in the Dickens novel). In one musical adaption using female actors, the Monks character, young "Emma Leeford," wants to give "Olivia Twist" a bad name so she may inherit her father's money. At the end of the movie, Monks tells Brownlow and Oliver about the horrible childhood he has had and promises to change his ways, Brownlow frees him and allows him to go down South. Years later, Monks is married and expecting a baby.

Edward "Monks" Brownlow appears as a much different character in the 2007 British TV serial played by Julian Rhind-Tutt. He is portrayed as a suave, manipulative mastermind, darkly witty and attractive to women. He is Mr. Brownlow's grandson, heir, and master of the household. Arrogant and greedy, he is somewhat more daring than in the book and most of its adaptations and is shown to be a gifted liar and smooth-talker. Edward goes under the alias "Monks" and hires Fagin to kill Oliver but when Fagin doesn't, he gives Fagin two more days or Monks himself will kill Oliver. Nancy eavesdrops on this, and the next day informs Mr. Brownlow and Rose. Rose believes her, but Mr. Brownlow doesn't until Fagin also tells him that Monks wanted Oliver dead. When Monks returns to his mansion from Mudfog Workhouse with Oliver's birth details, Mr. Brownlow angrily disowns and disinherits Monks, and sends him to the West Indies, and Oliver becomes the new heir.

Monks has been criticized as portraying all epileptics as evil.^[7][8][3][9]