Twenty years ago, a film about a group of unemployed Sheffield steel workers became an international pop culture phenomenon.

The Full Monty took off at cinemas around the world, garnered critical acclaim, and was a dark horse come red carpet season.But it very nearly didn’t end up that way.“It was a tough shoot,” recalled lead actor Robert Carlyle, speaking earlier this year. “When Fox Searchlight saw the first cut they went: ‘straight-to-video’.”

According to Carlyle, after producer Uberto Pasolini begged for the film to be given a chance, a new editor was brought in to cut the final version.It was a good thing Fox gave it another shot.The Full Monty went on to make more than $250 million at the global box office and was nominated for four Oscars. It was one of the ten highest-grossing films of 1997 [ . . .  ] More: The Full Monty at 20: how a ‘straight-to-video’ Sheffield stripping film became a global hit