''A Thousand Blows'' is a British

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

series created by

Steven Knight Steven Knight (born 5 August 1959) is a British screenwriter, producer, and director for film and television. He wrote the screenplays for the films ''Closed Circuit (2013 film), Closed Circuit'', ''Dirty Pretty Things (film), Dirty Pretty Thi ...

about the Forty Elephants, an all-female

crime syndicate The Crime Syndicate or Crime Syndicate of America (CSA, with America sometimes spelled Amerika) is a team of supervillains featured in DC Comics. The team is composed of evil Multiverse (DC Comics), parallel-universe counterparts of the Justice Le ...

clashing with the world of illegal

bare-knuckle boxing Bare-knuckle boxing (also known as bare-knuckle or bare-knuckle fighting) is a full-contact combat sport based on punching without any form of padding on the hands. The sport as it is known today originated in 17th-century England and, although ...

in 1880s London. The first season premiered on 21 February 2025 on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

internationally and on

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

in the United States.

Premise

Set in the East End of London in the 1880s, the series follows the Forty Elephants, an all-female crime syndicate led by Mary Carr, who specialize in

shoplifting Shoplifting (also known as shop theft, shop fraud, retail theft, or retail fraud) is the theft of goods from a retail establishment during business hours. The terms ''shoplifting'' and ''shoplifter'' are not usually defined in law, and genera ...

and

confidence tricks A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irrespons ...

, and who clash with Henry "Sugar" Goodson, the self-declared emperor of the East End's illegal bare-knuckle boxing world. Additionally, Hezekiah Moscow, a newly immigrated man from

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

with ambitions to become a lion tamer, and his best friend Alec Munroe, fight for survival as they come into contact with both groups.

Cast and characters

Main

* Malachi Kirby as Hezekiah Moscow ** Jair Ellis as young Hezekiah *

Erin Doherty Erin Rachael Doherty (; born 16 July 1992) is a British actress who played the young Princess Anne in the third and fourth seasons of the Netflix drama ''The Crown (TV series), The Crown'' (2019–2020). She has also featured in Chloe (TV series ...

as Mary Carr * Francis Lovehall as Alec Munroe * James Nelson-Joyce as Edward "Treacle" Goodson *

Jason Tobin Jason Tobin (born 12 July 1975), credited in Chinese as To Jun Wai ( zh, 杜俊緯) is a Hong Kong-British film and television actor. He is known for his role as Young Jun in the HBO MAX series ''Warrior'' and as Mr. Lao in the Disney+ series ...

as Lao Lam * Darci Shaw as Alice Diamond * Hannah Walters as Eliza Moody * Morgan Hilaire as Esme Long * Caoilfhionn Dunne as Anne Glover * Nadia Albina as Verity Ross * Jemma Carlton as Belle Downer * Tom Davis as Charlie Mitchell *

Daniel Mays Daniel Mays (born 31 March 1978) is an English actor having had television roles in ''EastEnders'' (2000), ''Rehab'' (2005), '' Red Riding'' (2008), '' Ashes to Ashes'' (2010), '' Outcasts'' (2011), '' Mrs Biggs'', ''Line of Duty'', '' Des'' ...

as William "Punch" Lewis *

Stephen Graham Stephen Graham (born 3 August 1973) is an English actor and film producer. He began his career in 1990, with early notable roles in '' Snatch'' (2000) and ''Gangs of New York'' (2002), before his breakthrough role as Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne ...

as Henry "Sugar" Goodson *

Susan Lynch Susan Lynch (born 1971) is an actress from Northern Ireland. She is known for her role in the 2003 film '' 16 Years of Alcohol''. Her other film appearances include '' Waking Ned Devine'' (1998), '' Nora'' (2000), '' Beautiful Creatures'' (200 ...

as Jane Carr * Gary Lewis as Jack Mac * Robert Glenister as Indigo Jeremy

Supporting

* Elliot Warren as Sharkey Devenish *

Maeve Dermody Maeve Dermody ( ; born 2 November 1988) is a UK-based Australian actress. After a film appearance at 5 years old, her adult acting career has included work in Australian and British television, theatre, short films and movies. Early life She ...

as Lady Grace *

Ella Lily Hyland Ella Lily Hyland is an Irish actress. Early life From Carlow, Ireland, her grandfather Dinny Hyland was a record-breaking Irish pole vaulter. Her cousin Jamie Hyland is an All-Ireland schools champion in athletics. She trained in pole vaulting ...

as Marianne Goodson * Will Bagnall as Thomas Goodson * Elsie Evans as Rose Goodson * Eddie Toll as Saul Woolfe *

Ziggy Heath Zygmunt Lawrence Giedroyc Heath (born March 1991) is a British-Polish actor and writer for theatre, television and film. Early life and education Heath was born in west London to what he has described as a traditional Polish Catholic family. H ...

as Peggy Bettinson * Aliyah Odoffin as Victoria Davies * Adam Nagaitis as the

Earl of Lonsdale Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 (becoming extinct in 1802), and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowth ...

* Kwong Loke as Li Hongzhang * Chike Chan as Lo Feng Lu * Angus Castle-Doughty as Moreton Frewen * Tom Andrews as the

Marquess of Queensberry Marquess of Queensberry is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The title has been held since its creation in 1682 by a member of the Douglas family. The Marquesses also held the title of Duke of Queensberry from 1684 to 1810, when it was i ...

* Tim Steed as Vance Murtagh * Christian Contreras as Jerry Knox * Nathan Hubble as Buster Williams *

Ruaridh Mollica Ruaridh Silvio James MacGillivray-Mollica (born 14 October 1999; pronounced Rur-ee Mall-ika) is a Scottish actor, writer, and director. For his performance in the film ''Sebastian (2024 film), Sebastian'' (2024), he was nominated for a British In ...

as Nicholas Graften * Stanley Morgan as

Prince Albert Victor Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (Albert Victor Christian Edward; 8 January 1864 – 14 January 1892) was the eldest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). From the time of his ...

Production

The concept for the series was the brainchild of actress Hannah Walters, who pitched her idea to

In August 2022, it was revealed that a twelve episode boxing drama was in development, with Knight set as showrunner with Tinge Krishnan as lead director and an executive producer alongside Knight. Malachi Kirby stars in the lead role, alongside

, Francis Lovehall,

, James Nelson-Joyce, Nadia Albina, Morgan Hilaire, Jemma Carlton, Caoilfhionn Dunne, and

. There are also roles for Darci Shaw,

and Robert Glenister.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in March 2023, with filming taking place in London. In February 2025, ahead of the series premiere, it was confirmed that a second season had been filmed.

Episodes

Release

''A Thousand Blows'' was first shown at

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

on 11 October 2024. It premiered on 21 February 2025 on

internationally and on

in the United States.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 90% of 40 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Punching up an intriguing era of British history with creator Steven Knight's flare for genre grit, ''A Thousand Blows'' is riveting entertainment that leaves a bruise."

Lucy Mangan Lucy Mangan (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian'' and an opinion writer for '' i'' news. Early life and education Mangan was born in 1974 and grew up in Catford, ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' awarded the first series five stars out of five, praising the depth of storytelling and themes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thousand Blows, A 2025 British television series debuts 2020s British drama television series Disney+ original programming British English-language television shows British historical television series Television series based on actual events Television shows shot in London Television series created by Steven Knight