Little Island Productions is bringing the original team from hit film The Full Monty back together again for a  limited series. Co-commissioned by Disney + and FX, production starts this week in Manchester and Sheffield.

The eight, one-hour comedy drama series reunites the original film’s Oscar-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and producer Uberto Pasolini (Nowhere Special).

Almost twenty-five years on from the BAFTA-winning film, the limited series will follow the original band of brothers as they navigate the post-industrial city of Sheffield and society’s crumbling healthcare, education and employment sectors. The series will explore the brighter, sillier and more humane way forward where communal effort can still triumph over adversity.

“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 twenty-five years on,” says Simon Beaufoy, creator, writer and executive producer.

The series will see the original lead cast reprise their fan-favourite roles including Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting, Once Upon A Time) as Gaz, Mark Addy (Game of Thrones, A Knight’s Tale) as Dave, Lesley Sharp (Before We Die, Scott and Bailey) as Jean, Hugo Speer (Britannia, Shadow and Bone) as Guy, Paul Barber (The Dumping Ground, Gloves Off) as Horse, Steve Huison (The Royle Family, The Navigators) as Lomper, Wim Snape (The Beaker Girls, Gentleman Jack) as Nathan and Tom Wilkinson (Batman Begins, Michael Clayton) as Gerald in this heartfelt and fiercely funny world of working-class heroes in the North of England. The series will also introduce a whole new cast of children and grandchildren of the returning characters.

The UK Original series will premiere on Disney+ globally, Star+ in Latin America and Hulu in the U.S.

Lee Mason, Director of Scripted Content EMEA, Disney says: “We’re delighted to reunite the original cast for this brand-new series on Disney+ to catch up with these iconic characters and what they’ve been up to since we last saw them on stage in all their glory, and we can’t wait to introduce a host of exciting new faces and characters.”

Production has commenced filming today in Sheffield and Manchester. The series is created, written and executive produced by Simon Beaufoy, executive produced by Uberto Pasolini, directed by Andrew Chaplin (Alma’s Not Normal) and Catherine Morshead (No Offence), co-written by Alice Nutter with Simon Lewis as Series Producer.

The series was developed by Searchlight Television and FX. It will be produced by Little Island Productions and executive produced by Lee Mason, Director of Scripted Content for Disney+.

The original 1997 film The Full Monty is available to stream on Disney+ in the UK.

The series is one of Disney+ 60 local productions to be commissioned by 2024 across Europe.

 

Pippa Considine

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