They're calling it the female Full Monty: it's the Dales, Disney-style.

The wraps have come off the eagerly-awaited movie based on the saucy Women's Institute calendar that put a tiny Dales village on the media map.

Touchstone Pictures, the distribution arm of Disney, plans to release the Hollywood-backed film, Calendar Girls, on September 5, to kick off the autumn cinema season.

The company says it "has all the elements to potentially become a feminine version of The Full Monty".

The first studio photo shows stars Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie and Penelope Wilton sporting the sunflower badges that became the calendar's emblem.

The publicity bandwagon will begin rolling in the summer and it is expected that a preview screening in Skipton will be arranged for locals who became filming extras.

It was 1999 when the 45-to-66-year-old ladies of the Rylstone and District WI - an organisation more usually associated with knitting patterns and cake stalls - caused a sensation by baring all for a charity calendar.

The idea was to raise funds for leukaemia research. John Baker, husband of WI member Angela, had been diagnosed with the disease shortly before the idea was hatched.

Sadly, John, a former Yorkshire Dales National Park officer, never saw his wife become Miss February - he died before the calendar was produced. An estimated £650,000 was eventually raised from its sale here and in the USA.

For the big screen, the events have been fictionalised and the characters' names changed.

Lynda Logan (Miss July) whose husband, Terry, took the original, tasteful and none-too-revealing calendar photographs, said the screen stories had been detailed beautifully.

"We just hope it will be a box office hit and continue to raise money for leukaemia research," she said.

But only six of the original calendar girls are represented on the screen. The others declined to become involved after publicly supporting a rival film bid by comedienne Victoria Wood.

Ironically, the Disney version stars two of Miss Wood's regular cast: Julie Walters and Celia Imrie.

The film co-stars John Alderton and includes a cameo by US talk show host Jay Leno. The director is British-based Nigel Cole, best known for the TV series Cold Feet.

Location filming took place last summer in Kettlewell, Linton, Coniston, Skipton, Ingleton, Settle - and Los Angeles, where the Rylstone ladies have become celebrity figures. The film was completed at Shepperton Studios near London.

Locals Dales folk were involved following a casting session for extras at Skipton's Hanover Hotel.