The Full Monty

Robert Carlyle’s ex-steelworker comes up with a bright idea to make some money - form a male strip group who’ll go ‘the full monty’

Robert Carlyle’s ex-steelworker comes up with a bright idea to make some money - form a male strip group who’ll go ‘the full monty’.

This surprise box-office smash hit works really well both as a feisty feelgood movie and as a gritty, meaningful look at the effects of redundancy.

Carlyle and his desperate, out-of-work Sheffield friends come up with their risqué plan after seeing male strippers coining in money.

Carlyle ropes in pal Mark Addy as well as Tom Wilkinson, adding some marvellously bittersweet depth to his role as Carlyle’s one-time foreman, while Paul Barber, Hugo Speer and Steve Huison also make the most of the film's cheery, cheeky and daring moments.

It's easy to see why this film became one of the most successful British movies in history - and it's an inspired touch to start the film with a real documentary about the booming Sheffield of the early 1970s.