Disney+ has greenlit an eight-episode limited television series order for the hit British comedy movie, The Full Monty, which received worldwide critical acclaim when it was released during the summer of 1997. Production on the show began today in the UK cities of Sheffield and Manchester, Deadline is reporting.
The Fully Monty‘s television adaptation is reuniting the film’s Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and producer, Uberto Pasolini (Nowhere Special). Alma’s Not Normal director Andrew Chaplin and No Offence helmer Catherine Morshead will helm the series, after Peter Cattaneo directed the film.
Disney+ will air the comedy-drama around the world. Star+ has taken on the show’s Latin American rights, while Hulu has secured the project’s American rights.
The television adaptation of The Full Monty is set after the movie’s story, which follows a group of unemployed men in post-industrial Sheffield who begin stripping in order to make money.
The limited series will follow the original characters as they currently navigate Sheffield and its crumbling healthcare, education and employment sectors. They’ll also explore the community’s more humane and modern approaches to life, including how a communal effort triumphs over adversity.
The show will also introduce new characters to the franchise, including children and grandchildren of the film’s returning characters. The series will feature the return of the original cast from the Oscar-nominated film, including Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Addy and Lesley Sharp.
The Full Monty‘s television adapation was created, written and executive produced by Beaufoy, who also scribed the script for the film. While discussing the new show, he 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.”
The series was developed by Searchlight Television and FX, produced by Little Island Productions and executive produced by Lee Mason, Director of Scripted Content for Disney+. Alice Nutter is serving as the show’s co-writer, and Simon Lewis is serving as the project’s producer.
“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,” said Mason. “We’re therefore delighted to reunite the original cast for this brand-new series on Disney+, to catch up with these iconic characters.”
The Full Monty movie, which was made for $3.5 million, became a phenomenon after it grossed more than $250 million worldwide. It later beat Titanic to win the BAFTA Award for Best Film.