The cast of the 1997 blockbuster film The Full Monty has returned to Sheffield for the premiere of a new Disney+ series that reunites the characters from the film.
Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, and Lesley Sharp attended Monday’s premiere in the film and TV program’s city.
The US writers’ strike prevented Simon Beaufoy and Alice Nutter from attending.
Instead, they protested the event by bearing signs outside of the theatre.
The Oscar-winning screenwriter Beaufoy held a sign that read, “The Full Monty – about people, for people, and by people. No AI.”
The message from Nutter referred to the premiere. “We adore this show, but were unable to attend – a fair deal for the writers,” it read.
The duo are both members of the Writers Guild of America, which has instructed its members not to work for American companies during the strike, citing studios’ alleged underpayment of writers in the streaming era.
Before the premiere, Beaufoy and Nutter issued the following statement: “We labored on The Full Monty for over three years.
“We poured our hearts and souls into this show and would love to attend the premiere, but as WGA writers, we cannot participate in promotion until the strike is over.
The ongoing strike and fight for a fair deal for writers are too important for us to ignore.
The eight-part series follows the Full Monty’s characters 26 years after the film, which depicted a group of unemployed males taking up stripping.
The Telegraph stated in a three-star review that the new rendition “wears its politics on its sleeve with mixed success.
Michael Hogan, the paper’s critic, wrote, “The issues are all too familiar, particularly to those in neglected communities.”
This is a sobering reminder of how much further we still need to go.
He stated that the striptease “makes a half-hearted return” but is “no longer the narrative driver.”
Hogan added, “Despite the kitchen-sink despair, its community spirit still crackles with warmth and offers glimmers of hope.”
Hugo Speer, who portrayed Guy but was dismissed during filming after Disney+ investigated “allegations of inappropriate conduct” on set, was completely absent from the premiere.
The actor told that a runner saw him getting changed in his caravan over the weekend and he “didn’t believe I’d done anything wrong”.
He stated, “After all these years in the business, I have no intention of becoming a flasher.” “I was astounded to hear that I had made crew members feel ‘uncomfortable’.
