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The Full Monty Cast: Then And Now

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The 1997 comedy about unemployed steel workers who become male strippers was a sleeper smash – nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and raking in £164 million worldwide.

But what happened to the hilarious British cast?

Hugo Speer – Guy

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Speer burst into the mainstream as Guy, the troupe member with a notoriously large appendage.

While never becoming a true leading man, the now-45-year-old has worked constantly since the movie came out both on big screen and small.

1999’s musical-themed ‘Swing’ with Lisa Stansfield didn’t fly, but he returned to the genital theme in Volume 1 of Lars Von Trier’s ‘Nymphomaniac’ in 2013.

On television, he is hated by devotees of ‘Skins’ for the playing the evil psychiatrist who killed Freddie and more recently played a copper in vicar detective series ‘Father Brown’, as well as commander of the titular gang in the BBC’s version of ‘The Musketeers’.

Robert Carlyle – Gaz

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The Glaswegian was by far the biggest name in the film, having appeared the previous year in ‘Trainspotting’.

His big-screen career post-‘Monty’ has been mixed. He played baddie Renard in Bond pic ‘The World Is Not Enough’ and was great in ‘28 Weeks Later’, but there have also been stinkers like ‘Eragon’ and ‘Formula 51’.

In fact, he’s been much more successful on telly, where he started his acting life to great acclaim in ‘Hamish Macbeth’ and ‘Cracker’. Since 2009, he’s been a fixture on US television, first as the star of spin-off ‘SGU Stargate Universe’ and then as a modern-day Rumplestiltskin in fairytale series ‘Once Upon A Time’.

He’s currently in post-production on his cinematic directorial debut ‘The Legend Of Barney Thomson, a crime comedy about a Glasgow barber.

Mark Addy – Dave

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‘Game of Thrones’ fans will recognise the 51-year-old actor as Robert Baratheon, the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms who died in the first season.

In fact, Addy’s career was made by ‘The Full Monty’, playing Fred Flintstone in a big screen sequel to the classic cartoon, as well as appearing as Friar Tuck in Ridley Scott’s ‘Robin Hood’ and opposite Heath Ledger in ‘A Knight’s Tale’.

He’s been just as winning on the small screen, starring in US sitcom ‘Still Standing’ for 88 episodes in the early Noughties, as well as British dramas like 2013’s ‘The Syndicate’ and ‘Remember Me’.

He currently plays Hercules in ‘Atlantis’.

Paul Barber – Horse

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Best known for playing Denzil in ‘Only Fools And Horses’, the 64-year-old Liverpudlian has had a 30-year career on television, in everything from ‘Casualty’ to ‘Coronation Street’.

He also appeared in several British indie movies, including last year’s ‘One Night In Istanbul’.

Life away from the screen has been interesting too. In 2007, he wrote a book about the trauma he dealt with growing up as an orphan in the Liverpool care system.

You should also call him Dr. Barber – in 2011, he was given an honorary doctorate by Liverpool John Moores University for his contribution to the performing arts.

Steve Huison – Lomper

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The Leeds-born actor has thrived in TV since ‘The Full Monty’, most famously as petty scammer Eddie Windass in ‘Coronation Street’, which he was in between 2008 and 2011.

Now 51, he also played hospital porter Norman in 49 episodes of ‘The Royal Today’. Away from the screen, he is a co-founder of the Shoestring Forum Theatre Company, as well as an artist-in-residence at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Bradford.

William Snape – Nathan

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One of the big surprises of the movie was the revelatory performance of then-10-year-old Snape, who played Gaz’s worldly son.

Still an actor, Snape – who now goes by the name Wim – was lucky to walk again after suffering serious leg injuries in a 1999 car crash, which required two operations and 18 steel pins.

He did go to Hollywood when the film came out, but despite a couple of auditions, nothing came of it. In fact, he told an interviewer in 2013 that the only reason he tried out for ‘Monty’ in the first place was because he got six weeks off school.

Having appeared in ‘Emmerdale’ and more recently in E4 comedy ‘Drifters’, his latest job, a sci-fi project called ‘Genesis’ co-starring Paul Nicholls and Ed Stoppard, is currently in post-production.

Tom Wilkinson – Gerald

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Sixty-seven-year-old Wilkinson has been nominated for two Oscars, as Leading Actor for ‘In The Bedroom’ and Best Supporting in ‘Michael Clayton’.

In fact, he’s now one of the most respected ensemble players around, equally adept at comedy (‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’) or drama (‘Belle’, ‘Selma’, ‘Batman Begins’, etc.)

He’s also got an uncanny knack for getting cast as famous American politicians. It was Lyndon B. Johnson in ‘Selma’, but he’s portrayed Benjamin Franklin in award-winning miniseries ‘John Adams’ and JFK’s dad Joe in ‘The Kennedys’.

But if you want to dig out two brilliant performances which aren’t so well-known, try tracking down TV plays ‘Interview Day’ from 1996 and ‘Cold Enough For Snow’ which came a year later. Written by Jack Rosenthal, Wilkinson stars as a bossy father whose daughter leaves for university. The actor (and the films) are magnificent.

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Photos: Everett/Rex_Shutterstock/Moviestore/PA/IMDB/Gavin Rodgers