Hot stuff: The Full Monty to return as TV series after 25 years

Twenty-five years after The Full Monty became a worldwide box office hit, the team behind the film has begun work on a TV sequel for Disney+.

The movie – which followed a group of unemployed former steelworkers in Sheffield attempting to make a living from a Chippendales-style striptease act – is being turned into an eight-part drama series.

It will reunite the original cast, including Robert Carlyle, and is being created by the movie’s Oscar-winning screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy, and its producer, Uberto Pasolini. It will be directed by Andrew Chaplin (whose credits include BBC Two’s Alma’s Not Normal) and Catherine Morshead (No Offence, Ashes to Ashes).

The plot will catch up with the characters as they navigate healthcare, education and employment today. Disney+ said the series “will explore the brighter, sillier and more humane way forward where communal effort can still triumph over adversity”.

Beaufoy said: “We’re chuffed to bits to get all the Monty men back together again – now with a chaotic entourage of children, grandchildren, pets and assorted hangers-on – to see what life in Sheffield is like 25 years on.”

Lee Mason, the director of scripted content at Disney, added: “Twenty-five years ago, Simon introduced us to a group of funny, fearless and resilient unemployed working-class men from Sheffield and the world fell in love with them.

“We’re delighted to reunite the original cast … and we can’t wait to introduce a host of exciting new faces and characters.”

The original movie took £154m ($258m) at the box office and was the 10th biggest film that year. It was nominated for four Oscars, winning for best original musical or comedy score, and won the Bafta for best film. It became such a sensation that Prince Charles did an imitation of a scene where the characters perform a dance routine while queueing for benefits.

The success was particularly impressive given that the film was produced on a budget of only £2m. “We were all staying in a budget hotel in Brook Hill, Sheffield, hitting the bar after shooting, getting about four hours sleep a night. All six of us had one trailer to change in,” said Hugo Speer in 2019. “We’d be hopping up and down on one leg trying to put a pair of socks on, crashing into each other. The makeup team did all our intimate waxing and shaving. The camaraderie on screen was genuine.”

Beaufort has previously revisited the Full Monty, having turned it into a play which ran at the Noël Coward theatre before touring.

Other adaptations include a Broadway musical that also ran in the West End, a novelisation by Wendy Holden and a franchise of ITV celebrity specials, which featured stars including Ashley Banjo and Alexander Armstrong recreating routines to raise money for charity.

The drama begins shooting in Sheffield and Manchester today.