The Full Monty Disney+ series starts UK shoot

Hit UK comedy The Full Monty is to return as a limited series on Disney+ with the original cast, nearly 25 years after the original broke box office records.

The eight-part series was developed by Searchlight Television and FX and will premiere on streaming platform Disney+ globally, Star+ in Latin American and Hulu in the US.

It has been created and written by the original film’s screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, and Uberto Pasolini returns as producer. Also reprising their roles are lead cast members Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, Lesley Sharp, Hugo Speer, Paul Barber, Steve Huison, Wim Snape and Tom Wilkinson. The show will also introduce a new cast of children and grandchildren of the returning characters.

The 1997 film followed six unemployed steel workers who form a male striptease act to revive both their finances and pride. Directed by Peter Cattaneo on a budget of $3.5m, it went on to take nearly $258m at the global box office and won the Bafta for best film as well as the Oscar for best music, original musical or comedy score.

The upcoming series will revisit the original band of brothers as they navigate the post-industrial city of Sheffield and society’s crumbling healthcare, education and employment sectors. Although it sounds bleak, Disney+ said the series will explore “the brighter, sillier and more humane way forward where communal effort can still triumph over adversity”.

Production has begun filming today (March 28) in Sheffield and Manchester. Directors are Andrew Chaplin and Catherine Morshead, both known for directing TV series such as Alma’s Not Normal and No Offence, respectively. The series has been co-written by Alice Nutter with Simon Lewis as series producer.

The Full Monty will be produced by Little Island Productions and executive produced by Lee Mason, director of scripted content for Disney+.

It forms part of ambitions by Disney+ ambitions to greenlight 60 local productions by 2024 as part of the company’s commitment to source, develop and produce original productions in Europe.