One of the most popular and successful British movies of the 1990s was The Full Monty, which followed a group of unemployed Sheffield steelworkers who become strippers. The characters' future is revealed in a brand-new streaming series.
The Full Monty movie began with a scene of a shuttered Sheffield factory and ended with a collection of former workers rescuing themselves from the trash heap to perform a strip show in a working men's club.
A shot of the same working men's club opens the new Disney+ series, which takes place 26 years later. It is now also abandoned.
Even though a quarter of a century has passed, not much has changed.
The majority of the six friends only just avoided dereliction themselves, despite the 1997 movie's hopeful conclusion.
Robert Carlyle's charming rogue Gaz, who leads them, is in charge. According to the actor, New Labour, Cool Britannia, and Britpop contributed to the optimism that existed in the UK at the time the movie was released, which followed years of industrial decline. There was a sense that things could only get better. ".
But, says Carlyle, that didn't last long. "People have had a really hard time over the last 25 years. These characters' lives have apparently been seriously impacted by 25 years of austerity.
"It has also weakened the nation's infrastructure. I believe the show does the same. ".
While Gaz's best friend Dave (played by Mark Addy) is now a porter on a psychiatric ward, his wife Jean (Lesley Sharp), the school's headteacher, is a caretaker. Both locations lend themselves well to plots about a failing state.
While Lomper (Steve Huison) runs a café with his husband with the name Big Baps, which is soon changed, Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) and Horse (Paul Barber) have been left behind by modern life.
Guy (Hugo Speer), the privately-funded pantomime villain, is the only one who appears to have prospered.
He vanishes, though, halfway through the show because the actor was fired after Disney looked into "allegations of inappropriate conduct" on the set. That was refuted by the actor, who claimed he "didn't believe I'd done anything wrong.".
William Snape, who portrayed Gaz's son Nathan in the movie, and Talitha Wing, who has been cast as Gaz's daughter Destiny, join the gang.
The age of the movie and Wing are both 26. She watched it with her grandparents to become familiar with it. I assumed different parts would be funny to us, she says.
"But the truth is that we all laughed at the same parts. So I guess the humor and people coming together in difficult times is something that crosses time and generations and is a tale that everyone can relate to.
"I feel like you can take the message and apply it to whatever is going on [today], even though I may not have been around when it was happening. Unfortunately, not all that much has changed in some cases. ".
The eight-part series was co-written by Simon Beaufoy and Alice Nutter, who were both nominated for Oscars for the original.
Many different issues have been "packaged and still made funny" by them. says Carlyle. "Simon's writing is brilliant in that regard. Without laughter, you'll cry. ".
The comedy-drama with a South Yorkshire setting is similar to what would result if Ken Loach directed Last of the Summer Wine, with the main characters now in their mid-50s to mid-70s.
The new version "firmly wears its politics on its sleeve - with mixed success," The Telegraph's Michael Hogan wrote in a three-star review.
The problems "will be all too recognizable," he wrote, "especially to those in neglected communities.".
If the original's optimism is present. This serves as a sobering reminder of how far we still have to go, and that is the point. ".
The series, according to Collider's Chase Hutchinson, is "a slightly baggy series elevated by the charm of flawed characters just trying to find their way in the world.".
The overall experience, he said, "is a mirthful yet melancholy one worth riding along with.".
Eight episodes may make the show "slightly baggy" (there are major plots about a Britain's Got Talent-winning dog, a misplaced racing pigeon, and a Job Center siege), but they give characters like Jean more time to develop.
According to Sharp, "in the 90 minutes that made up the film, the story had to naturally and rightly be about that group of men, who were all trying to live with being made redundant.".
The great thing about revisiting it is that you have eight hours to explore in depth what has happened to each character since then, as opposed to just 90 minutes. And yes, that includes both young and older women who are extremely intelligent and vibrant.
Consequently, I think it's fantastic that the original movie, which was primarily focused on men, is now being improved by the presence of some really interesting older and younger women. ".
Although reviving a well-liked movie is a surefire way to draw viewers, it also comes with expectations.
Sharp acknowledges that revisiting anything can be complicated. However, Simon obviously wanted to continue telling the story of those characters because the movie had garnered such acclaim, so it felt like a huge opportunity. ".
Stripping is one storyline that doesn't get much screen time. Addy grins, "Well, nobody really needs to see that. "So much more is involved.
It's fascinating to see where these characters have gone since that point because that was our starting point. ".
Thoughtful use of the act of stripping as a clever way to give the men a liberating and cheeky opportunity to shed society's restrictions and reclaim control of their lives was a large part of the film's appeal.
Aside from inspiring amateur fundraisers, the movie's feel-good appeal led to the creation of a number of celebrity charity spin-offs, such as The Real Full Monty on Ice.
The Full Monty is still performed by men for charitable purposes, according to Carlyle. "And I think that's incredible. Even if The Full Monty accomplished nothing else, it was still worthwhile. ".
Because it was such a difficult shoot, the actor initially thought the movie would fail. He explains, "You'd go home at night wondering, What is this? Is this funny? Is this anything?".
"I reasoned that this was never going to succeed. Naturally, the final product disproved my claims. ".
He claims that filming was "relatively easy" this time. "It was really nice to see the guys again because when you look in each other's eyes, you can see life in the wrinkles in their faces. That was also lovely.
The Full Monty has followed me throughout my entire career, kind of like a huge, warm shadow. Only four or five other people in the entire world have that understanding. It's those guys, too. It was wonderful to be doing all of that once more. ".
Disney+ will start airing The Full Monty on June 14th.
