A Thousand Blows

Actors, storyline, sets, just riveting! Every character drags you into their baggage and you don't want to leave. The parallel stories of the East and West Ends of London - a stark contrast that is jarring. I really hope the series will continue. Its characters and the story are among the best I've seen this year. Don't miss it! If you love the grit and grime of rough characters in London - it's brutal and gory but you'll be unable to stop watching despite the difficulty of the story. I can't wait for the next set of stories - please bring it back!! It's one of those stories that you hate to see the last episode because you don't want to let go of the characters.

A Thousand Blows is a Hulu original series based off the real life stories of a group of people battling for survival in the most brutal part of East London in the 1880's. Two best friends, Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby) and Alec Munroe (Francis Lovehall) on the rum from Jamaica find themselves thrown into the criminal world of London's bare-knuckle fighting scene. As Hezekiah continues to win and find fame and fortune, he attracts the attention of the Queen of the Forty Elephants, Mary Carr (Erin Doherty), who then works with Hezekiah to further her criminal empire. Then there's the boss of the East End boxing world, Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham), who is determined to destroy Hezekiah because he's threatening everything Sugar has built. What happens next is a battle between the two of them. This is one of the early surprises of 2025 so far.

When the theme started playing along with the visuals I immediately thought this was a Guy Ritchie masterpiece, absolutely fabulous series that not only gets all the costumes spot on but the dirt and grime of the Victorian streets as well. Attention to detail is amazing.

Then of course we have the fantastic Stephen Graham and an equally talented Erin Doherty in the mix, and to be fair, every other individual is a stand out in this sensational series.

Bring on season 2, I hope it manages to be no less than what's gone before, never looked forward to a series as I have with this one. My only regret is I wish it had more episodes.

The sets, scenery and costumes are fantastic even the actors who are some of my favourites especially Erin Doherty and Stephen Graham, however something felt off with this series? Not because I'm expecting it to be peaky blinders, absolutely not it's, it's own show, but it felt far too disney if that makes sense? The writing/directing mainly and this doesn't reflect the actors. I guess this is meant to be the part characters are simply introduced to build upon the storyline they've given us as the preview they've shown at the end looks more gripping! I just hope that's the case as I really want to like this more. I just found myself slightly underwhelmed at present.

Great program gets you reeled in . Definitely one of best at the moment. Lots of great performances with twists and turns throughout the whole series . Short and sweet with only 6 to watch so doesn't feel like it's been dragged out to the death . The characters could do a tweak here and there but sure that's down to getting to know them and been introduced to each of their roles . Hope a second series comes up . Would like to see more of The pub characters eg the brother , punch and the Tom Davies part . Plenty to like and more to love about this showcase of London in a different time of Victorian England.