The Full Monty: Where is the real Sheffield Spires Academy school featured in new Disney+ TV series?

There’s no school of that name in Sheffield, with the most similar sounding being Sheffield Springs Academy, on Hurlfield Road, in Arbouthorne, which looks very different.

But the location of the school where scenes for the fictional Sheffield Spires Academy were shot can now be revealed, and it’s not in Sheffield but in Manchester, where much of the filming for the eight-part comedy drama set in the Steel City took place.

Where is the school in The Full Monty TV series?

It’s understood that the school in question is Co-op Academy North Manchester, a secondary school in Blackley, North Manchester, with its distinctive glass facade and cladding in shades of rusty-looking pink and brown.

In The Full Monty TV series, Sheffield Spires Academy is the school attended by Gaz’s (Robert Carlyle) teenage daughter Destiny Schofield, played by Talitha Wing, and fellow students including Twiglet (Aiden Cook) and Tabani (Natalie Davis). Jean (Lesley Sharp) is the headteacher there, and her husband Dave (Mark Addy) works at the school as a caretaker.

In the show, Sheffield Spires Academy is falling apart at the seams, as Jean desperately struggles to balance the books. But it’s understood that Co-op North Manchester Academy is thankfully not beset by the same plumbing problems!

The Star has contacted the Co-op Academies Trust to ask how the school was chosen and when filming took place. It is believed that scenes were shot there during the 2022 summer holidays, with the rear of the actual school standing in as the main entrance of the fictional one. The trust has yet to respond.

Where is the Big Baps Cafe in The Full Monty TV series?

The location of the Big Baps Cafe run in The Full Monty TV series by Lomper and his partner Dennis remains unclear, though it is understood to be somewhere in or around Manchester rather than in Sheffield. There is a genuine Big Baps Sandwich Shop on Sheffield’s Attercliffe Road, which has been running since 1985.

Although some filming did take place outside Sheffield, most of the exterior shots at least were shot in the city, with Gleadless Valley, Parkwood Springs, Sheffield city centre and Meadowhall among the locations used.