The Untold

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The Untold: Unlikely Strippers

Unlikely Strippers

BBC Radio 4 - The Untold, Unlikely Strippers

A group of northern men are preparing to bare all in a bid to help a local disabled boy.

The full Monty isn't an easy act to pull off, particularly in front of a huge live audience. Rob Lawrie records with the 6 unlikely strippers as they prepare for their stage debut.

Rob Lawrie follows the unlikely strippers as they prepare to do a full Monty in front of a huge live audience. They are nervous, but not half as nervous as their wives, who’ve had to live with the preparations for weeks now. The event is being staged to raise money for a local disabled boy who has a better chance of life if his family can relocate to a warmer climate.

Hudson Binks is four years old and has brittle bone disease. His parents, Claire and Ben, fear that their new six-month-old baby, Benny-Ivar, might also have the same condition. Their doctor has told them that a warmed climate might help as Hudson prepares for school and they want the money to help them move from Wakefield. Their friends have rallied round in a fund raising effort and that's how the idea of performing a strip show was born.

Preparations for the full Monty have been going on for weeks, coordinated by Phil Hoban, who also heads a Leeds based online predator hunter group. Rob Lawrie met him a couple of years ago when he recorded an Untold on the group’s activities. With the strip act in go mode, Rob joins ‘Big Phil’ and the others taking to the stage, ‘Little Phil,’ ‘Karl,’ ‘Barman Matty, and Hudson’s Dad, Ben.

Their act is being choregraphed by 53 year old Portia, who says the men are going to need a lot more practise if they’ve any hope of succeeding: “They look like a bunch of street alley cats fighting when we first started and controlling their egos has been the hardest part of my job so far!”

Presented by Rob Lawrie
Produced by Sue Mitchell

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Factual: Life Stories

A series documenting the untold dramas of 21st-century Britain.

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