Disney Plus won’t continue the series “for the sake of bringing it back”.
Twenty-five years after it wowed critics and took the UK box office by storm, The Full Monty has finally scored a sequel.
An eight-part series reuniting the original cast – including Robert Carlyle as Gaz, Mark Addy as Dave and Lesley Sharp as Jean – is streaming now on Disney Plus, picking up two decades after the Monty gang strutted their stuff on the stage of a Sheffield nightclub.
But is this new follow-up – from the original film’s writer Simon Beaufoy – intended as a one-off?
“Never say never,” said Carlyle, when quizzed about the possibility of more Monty at a BFI screening of the new series.
“I love these characters, I love this whole thing… this world. I feel at home in this world – I come from that world. So yeah, I’d welcome it.”
Echoing her co-star’s comments, Sharp insisted that there’s still “lots to say” in the world of The Full Monty, though executive producer Lee Mason – director of scripted content (EMEA) at The Walt Disney Company – cautioned that a second season is not a sure thing.
“It isn’t just about bringing something back for the sake of bringing it back – that’s why it took 25 years between the film and the series,” said Mason.
!["Dave]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2023/06/mark-addy-full-monty-8aa7ade.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"The")
“It’s got to be about the scripts being right. It’s also got to be about Simon feeling he’s ready to tell the next chapter… and it’s also about getting [the cast] together, because their schedules are insane. So there’s a lot of things that have to play out.”
The 1997 film followed the exploits of six unemployed men who put on a male striptease act to raise some cash.
While the new Full Monty series eschews the stripping storyline of the original, it deals with many of the same topics that made the Sheffield-based film a standout success; themes like unemployment, fatherhood, mental health and more.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com about the new series, Carlyle insisted the new spin-off doesn’t shy away from similar sentiments and expands on them for the present day.
“Twenty-five years has passed by since then, since the hats get thrown in the air. And it’s been tough, it’s been 25 years of Conservative rule, 25 years of austerity, it seems like. That has definitely chipped away at these characters’ lives and it’s chipped away some of the very infrastructure of the country.
“That’s examined in the show, looking at the the NHS, looking at mental health, the state of the schools, food banks, stuff like that. Stuff that wasn’t originally there 25 years ago, it shows you that things have definitely got worse since then for many people.”
Read more:
- Robert Carlyle admits “hesitation” about revisiting The Full Monty
- The Full Monty reveals first trailer for Disney Plus reboot
The Full Monty is coming to Disney Plus on Wednesday, 14th June – sign up to Disney Plus now for £7.99 per month or £79.90 for a full year.
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