Emmerdale star Matthew Wolfenden is among seven brave male celebs, including McFly's Harry Judd and dancer Wayne Sleep, preparing to bare all for a new ITV documentary
Thousands of viewers have watched Emmerdale's David Metcalfe battle testicular cancer and now the actor who plays him, Matthew Wolfenden, is preparing to go one step further to raise awareness of the killer disease.
Matthew, who has two young sons, Buster and Bowie, with his Emmerdale co-star Charley Webb, will bare all for a new ITV documentary The Real Full Monty.
The programme, which will feature six other male celebrities and will be hosted by Pointless presenter Alexander Armstrong and choreographer Ashley Banjo, will raise awareness of men's prostate and testicular cancer and will also mark the 20th anniversary of the blockbuster film which starred Hugo Speer, Robert Carlyle and Tom Wilkinson.
Matthew will be joined by six other celebrity strippers, McFly drummer and former winner of Strictly Come Dancing, Harry Judd, TOWIE star Elliot Wright, ballet dancer Wayne Sleep, former Olympic swimmer Mark Foster, TV presenter Dom Littlewood and Death in Paradise actor, Danny John Jules.
The hour long programme will follow presenters Alexander and Ashley as they embark on their mission to teach the celebrities how to strip in preparation for a final Full Monty performance in front of a 2,000 strong audience at the London Palladium.
The nervous celebrities have already been put through their paces this week at Shiregreen working men’s club in Sheffield, the same club featured in the original Full Monty film, where they had their first taste of baring their flesh in front of a live audience.
Alexander Armstrong said: “We are using this film to raise awareness of men's cancer prostate and testicular, encouraging guys to check themselves and look out for their friends and act on symptoms if they have them. If caught early enough, prostate cancer is nearly 100 per cent curable, but if men are not aware of the problem or ignore symptoms, as story is not such a good one, as prostate cancer kills one man an hour.
“I hope that by showing these men have the balls to strip off in front of thousands of people, it might encourage otherwise reluctant men to overcome their embarrassment and get themselves checked.”
Ashley Banjo said: “We’re going to have a ball making this show. I’ll make sure viewers are in for a treat by knocking a group of famous novices into shape and preparing them for the strip tease performance of their lives – viewers will see our celebs as they’ve never seen them before!"
The Real Full Monty will be shown on ITV later this year.
