A Thousand Blows

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.

We yearn for a shot that can captivate an audience. A show that is riveting and knows how to build characters. Ever since Peaky Blinders I've missed just that. This show, although I've only seen the first and second episode have shown all the above. It has everything I need in a show and more. The backdrop is beautiful, the acting stellar, characters on point. I love the direction it's going and I think this show shows great potential as the subject is one of masculinity and possibly femininity ;). Deep dark gritty and violent, perfect score to suit home and watch all day. Accents are a bit rough for some, be ready for subtitles lol.

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.

Set in London in the 1880's it is apt that this Historical drama that includes Jamaican immigrants, one of which is fluent in Chinese, who become boxers, both bare knuckle and the gloved noble art variety, the forty elephant all female gang of robbers, they really existed too, and small time hoodlums, one played superbly as always, by Stephen Graham, as it is without any doubt on a par totally with Taylor Sheridan's 1883. Stephen Knight's story and characters are also on a par with his characters in SAS Rogue. But whether they will become as iconic as his Peaky Blinders characters, only time will tell.

I ended up enjoying A Thousand Blows much more than I expected to. I've been looking forward to it ever since I first saw the trailers. I'm a fan of this genre so I was going to give it a chance no matter what. It ended up not only meeting my expectations but exceed them. This series is created by Stephen Knight, the same guy who created great shows like Peaky Blinders, See, Rogue Heroes, All the Light We Cannot See, etc. The writing is very good but what makes this series work so well is the acting. The three leads, Malachi Kirby, Erin Doherty and especially the ridiculously underrated Stephen Graham are what makes this series a must watch. Graham is such a good actor, you might know him from Boardwalk Empire, Peaky Blinders, Gangs of New York, The Irishman, Band of Brothers, Taboo, Pirates of the Caribbean, Bodies, Venom and so many other great movies/shows. He was great in all of those. I can't say enough about what an underrated actor Graham is. If you're a fan Stephen Knight's other work then give this a chance... I promise you won't be disappointed.