Modlyn worked as a proofreader's assistant for the Daily Mail and then wrote for the South London Press and the Evening Standard.
He presented The World of Monty Modlyn for Tyne Tees and in 1969 he moved to Thames Television as a reporter on Eamonn Andrews' evening magazine programme Today.
[2] Modlyn cultivated an East End working-class image, together with an apparent lack of respect for the rich and famous.
[2] As well as pubs, Modlyn had a fondness for smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels, which he would consume each week during his Sunday evening phone-in show on LBC.
Former BBC Producer Roger Ordish has claimed, as part of an audiobook "extra" to the documentary maker Louis Theroux's autobiography, that Modlyn was his first choice to present what was later titled Jim'll Fix It but he was overruled.
[citation needed] In the 1983 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for charitable service",[5] most notably for the RSPCA.