The Full Monty review: newcomers Talitha Wing and Aidan Cook shine in fun, politically loaded Disney+ series

We last saw the group of down on their luck misfit friends strutting their stuff in the buff to an adoring Sheffield crowd in classic 1997 hit comedy The Full Monty. It looked like everything was about to come good for South Yorkshire’s answer to the Chippendales as they whipped off their leather underwear and the credits rolled.

But, the hopeful ending of the film wasn’t to last, and revisiting the gang we see that very little has changed in the pals’ lives over the decades. They’re still skint, working dead end jobs, and their community is still suffering from underinvestment, undervalue, and underachievement.

The political commentary has been turned up to 11 for the series - the first episode is called Levelling Up - we see young children forced to rely on food banks, schools falling apart as budgets are stretched beyond belief, and the grim reality of the failure of countless northern regeneration policies.

It might be a bit grittier than the original film, and the characters even more jaded having lived through New Labour and the 13-year Tory clusterf***, but they still inject plenty of humour.

TV show sequels to acclaimed films often fail to live up to the hype, especially when they come after a decades-long break. Taken, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and more recently Dead Ringers, were all huge disappointments for fans.

Sometimes, however, a show bottles the spirit that made the film it was based on such a hit, and knocks it out of the park with a reprisal. Just like Fargo, and Kobra Kai, The Full Monty is a shining example of a TV sequel that gets what audiences want and follows through.

Seeing Gaz, Dave, Lomper, Horse, Gerald, and Guy back together is a real nostalgia trip, and the cast obviously have great chemistry - it’s like they’ve never been away. They’re all on top form, and despite some cast members having gone on to bigger things since 1997, from Once Upon a Time to Game of Thrones, they all look chuffed to be back in Sheffield.  

But the new kids on the block, Talitha Wing who plays Gaz’s daughter Destiny, and Aiden Cook who stars as troubled schoolboy Twiglet, almost steal the show. Both are incredibly mature actors despite their limited experience. Cook, who was just 11-years-old when he took on the role is fantastically funny and tragic in equal measure, and Wing is entirely believable as a rebellious teen struggling with a difficult homelife.

The increased role of women in the series was an antidote to one of the original film’s weaknesses. Jean has far more agency in the series, rather than as merely an emotional support system to Dave, and Destiny is very much the captain of her own soul, often completely ignorant as to what her deadbeat dad is up to. 

What made the film, and what now makes the series, such a joy to watch is its cast of down to Earth characters who, in spite of their own very real frailties, are still loveable underdogs who are just doing their best in a world that is tilted against them. The Full Monty was a film about some working class guys searching for a purpose, and some ready cash. 26 years down the line, very little has changed - and it would have been disingenuous if the show’s creators had pretended otherwise.

All eight episodes of The Full Monty will land on Disney+ on Wednesday 14 June.