# The Full Monty (2023 TV series)
**The Full Monty** is a 2023 British comedy-drama television series, an eight-episode sequel to the 1997 film of the same name that reunites the original cast as the same [Sheffield](https://www.edgepedia.org/sheffield) characters, 25 years after the events of the film.[1](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/full-monty) It was created by the film's Oscar-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy with co-writer Alice Nutter, and it follows Gaz, Dave, and the rest of the gang as they navigate a post-industrial city with crumbling healthcare, education, and employment sectors.[2](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-full-monty/) The series premiered on June 14, 2023, on FX on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ in the United Kingdom and internationally.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_full_monty/s01) • [4](https://www.andrewchaplin.co.uk/portfolio/the-full-monty)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Eight-part comedy-drama, one season; episodes run 48 minutes; rated TV-MA[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_full_monty/s01) • [5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-full-monty) |
| Premiere | June 14, 2023, on FX on Hulu (US) and Disney+ (UK and international)[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_full_monty/s01) • [4](https://www.andrewchaplin.co.uk/portfolio/the-full-monty) |
| Creators | Simon Beaufoy and Alice Nutter; executive producers include Beaufoy, Nutter, and Uberto Pasolini[2](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-full-monty/) |
| Returning cast | Robert Carlyle (Gaz), Mark Addy (Dave), Lesley Sharp (Jean), Hugo Speer (Guy), Paul Barber (Horse), Steve Huison (Lomper), Tom Wilkinson (Gerald)[2](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-full-monty/) |
| Setting | Present-day Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 25 years after the 1997 film[6](https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2023/6/13/23757094/full-monty-review-hulu-fx-series) |
| Reception | 67% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (36 reviews) and 73% on the Popcornmeter; a Metascore of 58 on Metacritic[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_full_monty/s01) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-full-monty/critic-reviews/) |
| Status | Cancelled/ended after its single season[8](https://www.epguides.com/FullMonty/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and storylines
The series picks up a quarter-century after the 1997 film, in which six unemployed men, some of them former steelworkers in Sheffield, staged a striptease act to improve their lot. The opening caption places the action "seven prime ministers and eight northern regeneration policies later," and the gang is still in Sheffield, in an even more post-industrial landscape.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/14/the-full-monty-tv-review-boring-and-badly-written) Stripping itself is largely absent: a few flashbacks aside, the series simply revisits the characters in late middle age, each still struggling with problems that drive a person to desperate ends.[10](https://time.com/6286821/full-monty-review-fx-hulu/)
**The characters, 25 years on.** Gaz ([Robert Carlyle](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-carlyle)) is now a grandfather, living in a caravan and working as a hospital porter, still prone to madcap schemes, chiefly to buy his disabled grandson the electric wheelchair he needs.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/14/the-full-monty-tv-review-boring-and-badly-written) • [11](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/full-monty) His teenage daughter Destiny (Talitha Wing), a music savant who ditches school and gets her friends into trouble, takes after her father; his grown son Nathan (Wim Snape) is a police officer who cannot afford the wheelchair for his own son, Ben.[10](https://time.com/6286821/full-monty-review-fx-hulu/) Dave ([Mark Addy](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-addy)) and Jean ([Lesley Sharp](https://www.edgepedia.org/lesley-sharp)) are now the caretaker and headteacher of the local comprehensive school, stuck in a rut deepened by their inability to grieve together for a loss long ago.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/14/the-full-monty-tv-review-boring-and-badly-written) Lomper (Steve Huison) is married to Dennis (Paul Clayton), and the couple run the local cafe, which becomes the gang's unofficial meeting place.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/14/the-full-monty-tv-review-boring-and-badly-written) Horse (Paul Barber) is physically frail, unable to work and on disability benefits, and the withdrawal of those benefits after a brutal assessment forms one of the series' overarching narrative threads.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/14/the-full-monty-tv-review-boring-and-badly-written)
The plots range widely in tone, from Lomper's foray into pigeon smuggling as broad crime comedy to Horse's melodrama, and the season ends on a tragedy that pulls the gang back together to honor an old friend.[10](https://time.com/6286821/full-monty-review-fx-hulu/) • [12](https://www.hulu.com/series/the-full-monty-8def075f-d6b8-4c39-8440-55342e3dc0f2) Hulu's synopsis describes the show as exploring "the brighter, sillier and more humane way forward where communal effort can still triumph over adversity."[5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-full-monty)
## Themes
Beaufoy, whose later credits include socially conscious dramas such as *Slumdog Millionaire*, intended the sequel to continue the original film's critique of class in post-industrial Britain.[10](https://time.com/6286821/full-monty-review-fx-hulu/) He said that after the film's success he could never find a story that would better the original, his only criterion for writing a sequel, but that a TV series would be "a great vehicle to not only see what's still going wrong with the country, but also how things are changing in a good way."[13](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/19/full-monty-disney-plus-simon-beaufoy-alice-nutter) Reviewers noted the result leans harder into politics than the film: the *Daily Mirror*'s Ian Hyland wrote that where the movie was a warm-hearted caper with a side order of politics, the series "ladles on the politics and despair from the very beginning."[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_full_monty/s01) Recurring subjects include educational inequality, xenophobia toward a Kurdish refugee family, the failing [National Health Service](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-health-service), and the shrinking welfare state.[10](https://time.com/6286821/full-monty-review-fx-hulu/)
## Production
The sequel was announced in March 2022, when production began in Sheffield and Manchester, with the original cast reuniting for Disney+.[14](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/28/the-full-monty-to-return-as-tv-series-after-25-years) The production companies were FX Productions, Searchlight Television, and Little Island Productions, with Andrew Chaplin as lead director and Simon Lewis as series producer.[4](https://www.andrewchaplin.co.uk/portfolio/the-full-monty) • [2](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-full-monty/) Catherine Morshead also directed episodes.[5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-full-monty)
[Hugo Speer](https://www.edgepedia.org/hugo-speer), who played Guy, was taken off the production early in filming after on-set allegations of inappropriate behavior, despite his claim of innocence; his storyline disappears early in the season as a result.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/14/the-full-monty-tv-review-boring-and-badly-written)
## Reception
Critical response was mixed. The season holds 67% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 36 reviews, with a critics consensus that the transition to television "yields mostly diminishing returns, although there's still pleasure to be had in the company of these hardscrabble chums," and 73% on the audience Popcornmeter.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_full_monty/s01) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 58, indicating mixed or average reviews, with 7 positive, 12 mixed, and 1 negative review among the 20 counted.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-full-monty/critic-reviews/)
**Supporting reviews.** Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall (80/100) found it "charming and at times poignant to see all the ways that Gaz's world has and hasn't changed," and Variety's Alison Herman (80) called it "far from a dutiful retread... a far more effective tribute to a feel-good touchstone than simply running back the same beats."[7](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-full-monty/critic-reviews/) The Los Angeles Times' Robert Lloyd wrote that the show is faithful to its predecessor's spirit and that familiarity with the film makes it a richer experience.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_full_monty/s01) The Guardian's Lucy Mangan, by contrast, called it "boring and badly written," finding the characters irritating and noting a distinct lack of stripping.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/14/the-full-monty-tv-review-boring-and-badly-written) Judy Berman of TIME praised the warmth of the performances and the authenticity of the banter but judged the whole "an incoherent jumble of people and ideas."[10](https://time.com/6286821/full-monty-review-fx-hulu/)
## Context of the original film
The 1997 film on which the series is based was a cultural phenomenon, grossing some $260 million internationally on a $3.5 million budget and collecting numerous awards nominations and wins, including an Oscar for Beaufoy's screenplay and BAFTAs.[6](https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2023/6/13/23757094/full-monty-review-hulu-fx-series) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/14/the-full-monty-tv-review-boring-and-badly-written) The Guardian reported the film took £154 million ($258 million) at the box office and was the tenth biggest film of its year.[14](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/28/the-full-monty-to-return-as-tv-series-after-25-years) That commercial weight is part of why a sequel was pursued: TIME's review argued the series exists largely because the property "made a ton of money on a miniscule budget the first time around."[10](https://time.com/6286821/full-monty-review-fx-hulu/)
## References
1. [The Full Monty, FX Networks](https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/full-monty)
2. [The Full Monty, Hulu Press](https://press.hulu.com/shows/the-full-monty/)
3. [The Full Monty: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_full_monty/s01)
4. [The Full Monty, Andrew Chaplin portfolio](https://www.andrewchaplin.co.uk/portfolio/the-full-monty)
5. [The Full Monty (2023), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/the-full-monty)
6. ['The Full Monty' review: Update on Hulu mostly strips away the fun, Chicago Sun-Times](https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2023/6/13/23757094/full-monty-review-hulu-fx-series)
7. [The Full Monty critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-full-monty/critic-reviews/)
8. [The Full Monty, epguides](https://www.epguides.com/FullMonty/)
9. [The Full Monty TV review – boring and badly written, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/14/the-full-monty-tv-review-boring-and-badly-written)
10. [FX's The Full Monty Is a Deeply Weird Sequel to a Comedy Classic, TIME](https://time.com/6286821/full-monty-review-fx-hulu/)
11. [Watch The Full Monty Streaming Online, Hulu](https://www.hulu.com/series/the-full-monty-8def075f-d6b8-4c39-8440-55342e3dc0f2)
12. [The Full Monty, Hulu series page](https://www.hulu.com/series/the-full-monty-8def075f-d6b8-4c39-8440-55342e3dc0f2)
13. ['Taking their clothes off was a metaphor': The Full Monty creators on the return of their Sheffield strippers, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/may/19/full-monty-disney-plus-simon-beaufoy-alice-nutter)
14. [Hot stuff: The Full Monty to return as TV series after 25 years, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/28/the-full-monty-to-return-as-tv-series-after-25-years)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Adapted and franchise screen series › Television series based on films › Live-action series based on films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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