[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for A Thousand Blows.]

Summary

The drama series ‘A Thousand Blows’ follows the lives of boxer Sugar, newcomer Hezekiah, and gang leader Mary in brutal 1880s London.

Stephen Graham’s wife knew it had to be Steven Knight that wrote the script for the series, tailoring Sugar Goodson specifically for him.

The characters in ‘A Thousand Blows’ are fighters who have struggled to survive and find a better life.

The drama series A Thousand Blows tells the stories of bare-knuckle boxer Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham), Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby) who’s newly arrived from Jamaica and in need of a means of survival, and Mary Carr (Erin Doherty), Queen of the Forty Elephants and a leader of London’s criminal underbelly. Living in the brutal East End of London in the 1880s is a daily battle, and when Sugar and Hezekiah find themselves locked in a rivalry, pitting them against each other in a world that’s already against them both.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Graham talked about why his wife knew Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) had to be the one to write A Thousand Blows, how Sugar was written just for him, how he wanted to physically transform himself for the role, and what it was like to see what Doherty and Kirby brought to their characters. He also discussed how excited he was to be a part of Peaky Blinders, coming to the show as a huge fan, and the memorable experience of working with Cillian Murphy.
Stephen Graham’s Wife Knew Steven Knight Needed To Be the One To Write ‘A Thousand Blows’

“What happened to this man, for him to get to this particular point in London?”

Image via Hulu

Collider: When Steven Knight has a project with a role for you to play, is it always just an automatic yes for you? What do you personally enjoy about his work, and the world and characters that he creates?
STEPHEN GRAHAM: He’s a unique writer. He’s a fantastic writer and he creates these wonderful worlds. But to be completely honest with you, how this whole thing came about was that me and Hannah [Walters] have got a little production company called Matriarch Productions, and we were sent this by a friend of mine who was also part of the production team, Tom Miller, from Water & Power Productions, one of the production companies involved. Tom sent a photograph of a man called Hezekiah Moscow, and a little paragraph about this man and two little, tiny sentences about Sugar Goodson and Treacle Goodson. It was literally this photograph of a strong, proud Black man in the 1800s, full of grace and dignity and humanity, in this boxing pose. I just thought, “Wow, what a photograph. What happened to this man, for him to get to this particular point in London?” That’s the thing with a photograph, you know it was something of the time. It happened. It was real. It exists. It’s there. Your eyes cannot lie. Irrespective of what other things can lie, when you see that image, you know it has to be true.
So, Hannah said to me, “I know who’s gonna write this.” I said, “Who?” And she said, “Steve Knight.” I said, “Oh, don’t be stupid, love. There’s no chance.” And Hannah said, “Look, I’ve been talking to his assistant, Julie, about you doing Peaky Blinders, and I think he’d be great at writing this, on account of the stuff he likes to do.” And I was like, “Yeah, whatever.” Lo and behold, literally three or four days later, she called me in from the kitchen. I’ll never forget it. She said, “Have a look at that.” And I was like, “What is it?” And there was an email from Steve saying, “I really love this idea. I’d really love to set up a Zoom. Let’s create something.” And then, he went away and wrote the first episode.

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What was it like to read that script?
What was great about it was that we had this Hezekiah character, which we knew a tiny little bit about, and we had the character of Sugar, which we knew a tiny little bit about, and he’d been wanting to create something for Mary Carr and the Elephants because it’s something he’d done a lot of research about. So, he basically picked these three people, which were from a specific time, not based on a true story or anything like that, and created this wonderful world. And Disney were so behind the project from the get-go. As soon as they read the first episode, they fell in love with the script, and they fell in love with the whole project. That’s the joy and the beauty. In this particular case, it was talking to Steve, and then Steve wrote Sugar for me personally, so that was really nice as well.
Stephen Graham’s Bare-Knuckle Boxer Sugar Goodson is Fighting for Survival in ‘A Thousand Blows’

“He’s fought for everything he has.”

Sugar Goodson is particularly interesting because he’s not a professional boxer. He’s a brawler who’s doing what he has to do to survive. Did that help you figure out how you wanted that to look and how you wanted to carry yourself? Did that make it feel like it was something that was really in his bones?
GRAHAM: Yeah, that’s a great observation. Physically, I wanted to transform myself to the best of my ability to look like somebody who could be a bare-knuckle fighter. And then, with the context of the emotional and spiritual elements of the character, and his whole moral compass, it was the life that was created that you don’t see on screen. He is somebody who has fought for what he’s got, from the very beginning. As a young kid, he was placed into the poor house with his brother, and he’s always been trying to give his brother the best opportunities that he possibly could. He’s been fighting from day one, and he’s fought for everything he has. Even to reach the age that he’s at now, it shows that he’s a survivor. That’s one of the beautiful things about all three of our central characters. They’re all fighters. They’ve all fought to survive, and they’re all fighting to live the best lives that they possibly can.

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Don’t mess with the Forty Elephants.

What was it like to see what your co-stars brought to their characters?
Erin Doherty, as Mary Carr, is fantastic. She’s unbelievably brilliant. She’s a wonderful actor. Mary is such a great character, who’s so colorful, so strong and so passionate. She’s full of tenacity and she will do anything at all to achieve what she wants to achieve. She’s always the smartest, cleverest person in the room. And Malachi [Kirby] is wonderful as Hezekiah. What a beautiful actor he is, as well. I love Hezekiah’s story. He comes to England full of hope and full of joy and full of wonder, and that is instantly squashed. He comes to be a lion tamer and when he goes to the zoo, his dreams are instantly quashed and crushed when he’s asked to put on the outfit to be the African Man of the Wild. He has to question his own moral compass and maintain his own integrity, and then he realizes that the only thing he has to be able to pay the lodgings or to put food in their mouths is his hands because he can fight. That’s not his chosen profession. He’s pushed into that through adversity because his dreams are quashed and crushed at the very beginning.
Stephen Graham Was a Fan First, Before Working in the World of ‘Peaky Blinders’

“I had a proper fangirl moment.”

Image via Netflix

You also did Peaky Blinders with Steven Knight. How was it to join that series after it was already so successful? What was it like to step into that world so deep into it, compared to building the world from the ground up with A Thousand Blows?
GRAHAM: With respect to Peaky Blinders, I was a huge fan. You have to imagine that when I was asked to be a part of it, it was a huge honor. And I am such a fan, so to get to go onto that set and meet Cillian [Murphy] – I’d never met Cillian before and I was a huge admirer of his work – for that first meeting, we had a fanboy moment. He was extremely complimentary about my work, and I was telling him how much I loved his work. And so, to be a part of that life which already existed and to walk onto something as a fan was an experience I’d never had before. I caught myself in rehearsals before we did it, being like, “Oh, wow, I’m here, and it’s Tommy Shelby. Oh, my God, look at him!” Cillian has the most beautiful eyes. His eyes are mesmeric, so I found myself staring into his eyes and getting lost for a moment. I had a proper fangirl moment. And then, it was like, “Okay, get yourself together. Come on, he’s gotta get ready. I’m in the scene with him. Let’s do it!”

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That was a completely different experience than anything I’ve ever had before. I’ve had the privilege and a pleasure to work with the likes of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, being huge fans, but that was a different set-up completely. I was a huge fan of the series Peaky Blinders. And then, to be a part of something like this, from its inception, is a huge honor, to watch it grow and watch it come alive, with respect to a whole set, and to watch it be a car park and then watch it transform into this beautiful, immersive world with the skill and the dedication from all of the crew. Every single member of the crew was outstanding, from the scaffolders through to the painters, to the electricians, to the company departments and sound department. Everyone was wonderful on that set and it was a beautiful experience. It’s one that I’ll hold in my heart for a long time because it was just a joy to be a part of.

A Thousand Blows

Release Date

February 21, 2025

Network

Disney+

Malachi Kirby

Hezekiah Moscow

A Thousand Blows is available to stream on Hulu. Check out the trailer: