# A Thousand Blows (2025)

> Two Jamaican friends are drawn into the brutal criminal underworld of Victorian London's East End, where a female gang queen and a boxing kingpin hold the power.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/130735

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 54 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, history
- Created by: Steven Knight
- Network: Disney+
- Cast: Malachi Kirby, Erin Doherty, Stephen Graham, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Morgan Hilaire, Jemma Carlton, James Nelson-Joyce, Hannah Walters
- TMDB rating: 7.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21874900/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: gritty, brooding, tense, visceral

## What critics say

Audience reception is positive overall at 7.3/10, though the second season was rated markedly lower than the first.

## Synopsis

A Thousand Blows is a British period crime drama created by Steven Knight for Disney+. Two friends from Jamaica, Hezekiah and Alec, find themselves thrust into the criminal underworld of Victorian London's East End, where they run afoul of Sugar Goodson, a feared kingpin and notorious boxer, and meet Mary Carr, queen of the all-female Forty Elephants gang. Their struggle is a scramble for survival, loyalty and a foothold in a city ruled by ambition and violence, with each episode built from turf rivalries, bare-knuckle fights and shifting alliances between the women and men who run the streets. The two-season run spans twelve hour-long episodes that unfold as one continuous story with a gritty, brooding texture: smoky taverns, rain-slicked cobbles and a heavy atmosphere of dread. Fans of Peaky Blinders, Taboo and Gangs of London will find resonance in its grimy period style, its clan politics and its unflinching violence.

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