Leeds actor Andrew Dunn will be baring all on the Alhambra stage next year, heading the cast of a stage adaptation of The Full Monty.

The play is written by Glusburn Oscar winner Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the screenplay for the hit 1997 movie which inspired it.

The tale of six out-of-work steel workers who turn to stripping to make ends meet was originally made into a musical, with the action transferred from Sheffield to Buffalo in America, but this version sees a return to Yorkshire.

Andrew, best known as Tony in Victoria Wood’s sitcom Dinnerladies, plays Gerald, the white-collar manager who loses his job but continues to dress for work each morning so his wife won’t find out.

The cast also includes former Hollyoaks and EastEnders actor Gary Lucy, Louis Emerick, who played Mick Johnson in Brookside and PC Walsh in Last of the Summer Wine, and Rupert Hill, who was Jamie Baldwin in Coronation Street.

The production, which features the songs from the film by Donna Summer, Hot Chocolate and Tom Jones, is Simon Beaufoy’s first work for the theatre. His other screen credits include Slumdog Millionaire, which won him an Oscar.

Bradford actor Simon Rouse, who played DCI Jack Meadows in ITV police drama The Bill for 20 years, starred as Gerald in The Full Monty at Leeds Grand last year. He told the Guide he wasn’t fazed by the prospect of taking off his clothes in front of screaming women. “The stripping isn’t gratuitous. It’s not like when I started acting in the 1970s and lots of plays I did had nudity just for the sake of it,” he said.

“The best nights are those when the audience goes with it, when they follow the moving bits and the funny bits. It builds up to a lovely party atmosphere.”

He added: “The original script is so funny, it lends itself to the stage. It’s a story of desperation and friendship. These men are used to working, their lives are defined by heavy-duty masculine work, then it’s taken away.”

Simon, who grew up in Heaton and started acting at the old Bradford Civic Theatre in Little Germany, said Gerald’s rather tragic story shows why the show is a leveller. “He’s aspiring to be something he’s not, then he finds something very true – friendship. Redundancy is a great leveller, as is stripping,” said Simon.

  • The Full Monty runs at the Alhambra from February 9-14, 2015. For tickets, ring (01274) 432000.