Widely acknowledged as Sheffield’s most famed cinematic export, The Full Monty quickly became a British cult classic after its release in 1997. Following a group of unemployed steelworkers from Sheffield, who, in a desperate bid to earn some cash, decided to form a male stripping troupe, the film touched the hearts of millions and sparked important conversations about masculinity, class and the legacy of Thatcherite politics.
Now, a quarter of a century later, Robert Carlyle, who won a BAFTA for his role in the original instalment, will be reprising his role as loveable rogue Gaz in an eight-part series launching on Disney+.
Also returning to the cast is Wim Snape, the Sheffield-born actor who first auditioned for the role of Gaz’s son, Nathan, while attending Dobcroft Primary School at the age of 11.
Representing a fresh influx of younger characters entering the storyline is Nathan’s half-sister, Destiny (played by Talitha Wing), a troubled teen navigating a tricky home life and getting into the types of tricky situations her dad would often have to deal with.
Ahead of the series premiere at Showroom Cinema earlier this month, Exposed spoke to the trio about reprising their roles, their characters’ respective storylines and the grim similarities between the political contexts of both the film and series.
Let’s start with the newest member of the team, Talitha. How’s the experience been in joining a pretty iconic cast and story?
TW: I think it was equal parts nerve-racking and really, really exciting. I think it’s a unique experience to come on to something that has such a legacy and had such a big impact. Whenever I’ve told anyone I’m doing The Full Monty, they’ve been able to tell me when they saw it, what cinema and who with. So, it was quite daunting at first, but as soon as I got to the read-through stage and witnessed everyone seeing each other again, we just kind of fitted into the ‘Monty family’.
RC: You’re a young Monty.
TW: Exactly. We’re bringing the perspective of the younger generation into it, which I think is really exciting and important.
Your character, Destiny, brings a fresh dynamic into proceedings and it’s almost a bit like the baton has been passed down from Gaz and now it’s his daughter getting into these crazy scrapes?
TW: Yeah, we meet Destiny at a time when everything in her life is kind of quite chaotic. She’s at that age where you’re leaving school and having to decide what it is that you’re going to do with your life. She has this love for music, but at the same time she’s not very confident, and I don’t think she properly believes that she could make that into a career. There’s a difficult home life with her mum and her mum’s boyfriend, Brian, who she doesn’t get on with at all. And she has two little twin sisters who she looks after; that’s when you first begin to see the softer side of her.
“We meet Destiny at a time when everything in her life is kind of quite chaotic” – Talitha Wing on playing the series’ newest lead character.
In the first episode, you see her beginning to reconnect with her dad who she hasn’t seen much of growing up. How does that relationship affect the story?
TW: Yeah, Gaz kind of comes back into her life at the beginning of the series, and we begin to see the relationship blossom. I think she sees quite a lot of Gaz in herself, so it’s interesting seeing them learn how to communicate with each other. They’re two characters with tough exteriors, but they both have a softer side and a shared sense of humour. She does get herself into lots of trouble, but I think one of Gaz’s children was always going to turn out that way. It’s a bit like Nathan’s become a copper and gone one way, and Destiny’s gone the other.
Probably a good point to bring you in now, Wim. You last played Nathan when you were 11 years old. How did it feel when you got the call to return?
WS: It was just a dream for me. You know, like a literal dream. When I got the phone call saying that we’re getting the band back together, it just blew my mind that this was actually going to happen. That said, it’s such an incredible story and one that needs to be told. When we first met back up and sat down with each other, it was like no time had passed at all. Me and Bobby [Carlyle] hadn’t seen each other for 20 years or something – he didn’t recognise me at first! But once we started rolling on the scenes it was like being transported to being 11 again. It was madness.
RC: It’s a beautiful thing. I mean, who often gets that opportunity to revisit characters after 25 years? It was a fantastic thing to get together with the gang again. I’d had a similar experience with the second Trainspotting film. So, I suppose it was familiar territory for me in that sense. However, I think the second Trainspotting film was probably always going to happen, but this was never really in the ether. I know that Simon Beaufoy had been asked a few times through the years to write a Full Monty sequel, but he was never interested because the film itself is so complete, you know? Where do you go from that last moment when the hats come off?
“It was just a dream for me” – Sheffield-born actor Wim Snape returns as Nathan.
If you’re going to bring something back as iconic as The Full Monty, it needs to say something. What do you hope this series will say?
RC: One of the things about Simon Beaufoy’s writing is that he manages to address many issues and the politics are all around The Full Monty; it drives the whole thing. But Simon is great at writing in a way that means you’re not battered over the head with it. The issues that get brought up in the series are hugely important: the state of our schools, the state of our mental health services and the impact of austerity. You see how god knows how many years of austerity have chipped away at the country, its infrastructure and the people.
There’s a full-circle aspect to it: so much has changed since we last met these characters, but also some fundamentals have remained the same?
RC: Yeah. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Going back to 1997, it was the end of a Conservative government and things had been really, really tough up until then. I remember it well, and I hope – I really hope – that history might be repeating itself here in terms of the timing of things. Maybe there’s going to be a change? I can see people want it.
“You see how god knows how many years of austerity have chipped away at the country, its infrastructure and the people” – Robert Carlyle on returning to The Full Monty.
What for you is it about The Full Monty that saw it become such a cult classic? What buttons were hit by this story and these characters?
WS: In terms of Sheffield, it’s an industrial city and obviously the Thatcher reign affected a lot of people, a lot of jobs and infrastructure in this region. I think the original film showed people finding a way to survive, and, I’m definitely biased since I’m from here, but the people of Sheffield are some of the funniest, nicest, kindest people you’ll ever come across. They come together when they need each other, and I think that’s why it resonates so well here in particular.
RC: I think from a male perspective, what the original film did – and what this series kind of follows up on – is asking what a man’s place is in society. These guys were used to being breadwinners as steelworkers. Suddenly, that’s not the case anymore, and you see them floundering when you first join the film. I think all the characters in the show are still trying to figure out where they fit into the world. I think that’s something that resonates: where do we belong? I think that is balanced beautifully with the younger characters, and how the baton of struggle is passed on.
TW: Destiny is also asking, “What am I doing? Where do I go next?” She initially sees herself as a bit of a rebel or outsider, but when someone does make an effort to help her, be that her dad or a teacher, you see how that exterior falls away a bit. The stories and characters all kind of link and there’s still a sense of community amongst them all, even though it’s a bit disjointed.
The Full Monty is out now on Disney+
