A Thousand Blows

Stephen Graham just keeps knocking out these dark, gritty roles that he pulls off really well. Binge watched this series tonight after watching the trailer on tiktok over the last week or so.

The main characters are engaging, you find yourself cheering for the "bad guys" more often than not to get out of situations and scenarios they have found themselves embroiled within.

Glad to see its been renewed for a season 2 and look forward to seeing what other stories are in the pipeline. It has a peaky blinders feel to it that i didnt realise how much i'd missed. I'd definitly recommend giving it a watch.

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.

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.

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.