Naked Ambition

Alexander Armstrong and co on their nervousness about baring all to raise awareness of male cancers

- Caren Clark & Rebecca Mahoney

TV Times is sitting in the stalls at the London Palladium, as the familiar opening bars of You Can Leave Your Hat On blast out and eight famous faces emerge from clouds of dry ice and get into position.

We’re here to watch the ever so slightly nervous octet – Alexander Armstrong, Danny John-Jules, Elliott Wright, Wayne Sleep, Matthew Wolfenden, Mark Foster, Dom Littlewood and Harry Judd – as they perfect their gyrations and rehearse a special routine choreographed by Diversity’s Ashley Banjo.

Their big performance, to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer, sees the stars strip off in front of a live audience at the West End theatre for a ‘revealing’ one-off ITV documentary The Real Full Monty, marking the 20th anniversary of the Sheffield-set film, in which six unemployed men, four of them former steel workers, form a male striptease act.

‘It is the Full Monty so, pardon the pun, it takes balls to do it and I have massive respect for them,’ says Ashley, 28, who co-hosts the documentary with Alexander.

After rehearsals, TV Times sits down with the now fully-clothed boys to find out more…

Why did you want to take part, it’s very brave?