Isobel Grieve
The following review contains spoilers for The Full Monty (2023), a sequel TV series from FX
Steeped and rooted in the same issues and politics as the original, The Full Monty sequel series delivers harsh societal critiques while simultaneously offering the same old humour and quirky misadventures from 25 years ago. Although… perhaps with less saucy half-naked hip thrusts. The original movie’s Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy returns with a co-writer, Alice Nutter (Accused), and together they bring a group of discarded Sheffield steel-workers into the 21st century.
In many ways, 1997 Sheffield and 2023 Sheffield have much in common after decades of empty promises from pompous politicians and financial devastation from recessions and inflation. Publicly funded systems are broken, and the government is failing its people. Amid all the chaos, working-class lads from all walks of life come together for what’s important. Original characters Gaz (Robert Carlyle) (Trainspotting, Once Upon A Time), Dave (Mark Addy) (Game of Thrones, A Knight’s Tale), Jean (Lesley Sharp) (Before We Die, Scott and Bailey), Guy (Hugo Speer) (Britannia, Shadow and Bone), Horse (Paul Barber) (The Dumping Ground, Gloves Off), Lomper (Steve Huison) (The Royle Family, The Navigators), Nathan (Wim Snape) (The Beaker Girls, Gentleman Jack) and Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) (Batman Begins, Michael Clayton) are all back for the victory dance. Still, it’s not all bliss after their last bow. Fit with music montages that match the aesthetic and vibes of the 1997 original, similar themes and settings in social service offices, abandoned buildings, and rolling hills. If you loved the cult classic, you’ll enjoy this epilogue series.
Gaz’s son Nathan is all grown up, a policeman of all things, and has a kid now. However, Gaz’s grandson is disabled and needs a new electric wheelchair, which their family can’t afford. But that’s not all you missed because Gaz has a second child, Destiny (Talitha Wing) (Wolfe, Alex Rider), a teenage girl who’s a chip off the old block full of bad ideas with a passion and talent for music. These two characters are the driving force through The Full Monty’s eight episodes. As always, Robert Carlyle is dynamite delivering a stellar performance echoing the original with a hint of extra hindsight wisdom, which makes for an emotional arc. Talitha Wing is impeccable also; she leads her crew of misfits with charisma and power, with a hint of softness pulling at the audience’s empathy.
Destiny’s tagalongs, Cal (Dominic Sharkey) and Tabani (Natalie Davies) are fun, heartwarming, and a perfect mirror to Gaz’s buddies. The clever inclusion of young characters brings a fresh and grounded element to the original cast’s storylines—bridging the gap between generations and answering the question of “who has it worse?”
Although Dave and Jean don’t have kids, they work with them at the local public school. Dave develops a particular bond with Dean/Twiglet (Aiden Cook), a small tween bullied and lonely with a sick mum at home. Dave takes him under his wing, and their odd pairing brings light to Dave’s life.
One of my favourite storylines was about Darren (Miles Jupp) (Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, The Durrells), a recent divorcee and housing officer who looks up to the Monty men for advice on navigating adult life. His eventual romance with asylum seeker Silvan (Halima Ilter) explores not only middle age second chances at love but the mistreatment and misunderstanding of refugees in Britain and around the globe.
The other adorable romance is sparked between Lomper and his husband Dennis (Paul Clayton) (The Crown, The Split). They own a café where the old gang is found most of the time. Their chemistry and dutiful eyes for one another could melt hearts. But while Dennis slaves away in the kitchen, Lomper gets lost in a lack of self-worth, drowning the couple’s savings in the pigeon industry. Although it may all appear to work out in the end, with plenty of laughs along the way, the full extent of Lompers debts isn’t ever quite put to bed and explained.
Those aren’t the only loose ends in The Full Monty. Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) does nothing but hang out in the corner of the café, offering one-liners here and there. He went from front and centre in the film to glorified extra in the television series. Then there’s Guy (Hugo Speer), who starts with a storyline not so subtly running a long con through insurance scams and rushed building renovations, disappears around Episode 6 when his pregnant fiancé, Yvonne (Emily Bevan), discovers he’s been lying to her about, well… everything. We see neither character again, not even in the finale. Bizarre. As for how they left the ending, it’s hard to say whether or not they intend for a follow-up season to tie off Gerald and Guy’s stories.
Aside from the official queer-ification of Lomper, the inclusion of far more BIPOC cast members and the exploration of issues outside the blue-collar white man’s thirst for anarchy, The Full Monty does its best to do right by its original character, Horse, who in the 1997 film was marginalised and stereotyped as the one and only labouring Black man, given no real backstory or characterisation outside his race. In the new sequel series, we spend a great deal of time with Horse and learn how he’s been beaten and ignored by Britain’s social programs. Paul Barber’s performance goes from a sideshow to a main stage performance as we watch him strive, struggle and eventually fall through the cracks. His heart, compassion and pride with him to the very end. But has screenwriter Simon Beaufoy really learned from his previous mistakes? As it happens, the last catastrophe of the series is Horse’s death. After all the character-building, inevitably, the Black man dies, bringing reason and perspective back to the group of white boomers stuck in their ways. Is that progress? Is that improvement?
The inclusion of Gaz’s mixed daughter, Destiny, her South Asian friend Tabani, the two asylum seekers, Hasan (Darin Nagada) and Silvan, who stay with Darren, Ant (Arnold Oceng), the schizophrenic graffiti artist Gaz tries to ‘help’ and Mr Sang Chol (Joshua Jo), the Korean billionaire who bails out Lomper’s pigeon investment, does broaden the diversity range of The Full Monty cast. Does that make up for the treatment of Horse in the original movie? Does it balance out his sacrificial death in the sequel series? As a bisexual white woman, I don’t think it’s my area of expertise to say. However, I do think it’s my place to praise the lesbian-ification of Gaz’s daughter Destiny and her friend Tabani—that I can get behind wholeheartedly.
Moving past the controversial treatment of Paul Barber’s character in the original film, 1997’s The Full Monty is a cult classic. It’s one of the only films to represent Sheffield in all its industrial/post-industrial glory. The film explores socio-economics, body image, love, parenting, and more with a dance break Magic Mike wishes they could emulate. The sequel series pulls much of what there is to love about the original into the present while accepting and making changes to fit the times. It has its issues with loose ends and all, but the heart is there, meaning and performances are there, and I think this is genuinely a magnificent extension of the original.
