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A Thousand Blows is a historical drama series created by Steven Knight, which premiered on February 21, 2025, on Hulu. Set in 1880s London, the series follows the Forty Elephant criminal gang, led by Mary Carr, and the rivalry between Hezekiah Moscow, a Jamaican immigrant, and East End's bare-knuckle boxer, Sugar Goodson.
Blending fact with fiction, A Thousand Blows draws inspiration from real historical events and characters from the Victorian era but is told through fictionalized storylines for dramatic effect. The show's historical consultant, Sarah Elizabeth Cox, clarified this by saying:
"A Thousand Blows is not a documentary: the characters and storylines are the creation of a wonderful team of writers, and it is only in little snippets here and there that they cross paths with reality."
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The official synopsis of A Thousand Blows is as follows:
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"Hezekiah Moscow and Alec Munroe, best friends on the run from Jamaica, find themselves thrust into the criminal underbelly of London’s thriving bare-knuckle boxing scene. As Hezekiah finds fortune and fame through the art of pugilism, he attracts the attention of the infamous Queen of the Forty Elephants, Mary Carr, who sets about exploiting his talents to further her criminal enterprise."
It continues:
"Meanwhile the menacing and self-declared emperor of the East End boxing world, Sugar Goodson, determines to destroy Hezekiah whose ambitions to fight in the West End threatens everything he has built. What ensues is a battle of the old world against the new."
The main characters of A Thousand Blows are based on real people
Sarah Elizabeth Cox serves as the historical consultant for A Thousand Blows. She spent years researching the underground boxing scene and gathering information on Black boxers in 19th-century London. In 2019, she shared her findings on the blog, Grappling With History. It features pictures, newspaper clippings, posters, and census entries that offer a glimpse into the real people portrayed in the Hulu series.
Cox clarified that while the show is based on true historical events, it is not a "documentary" by any means. She added that the characters and storylines are highly dramatized for storytelling purposes and only slightly overlap "with reality."
As per her blog, the show's protagonist, Hezekiah Moscow, is inspired by a West-Indian immigrant who worked as a bear and lion tamer at the East London Aquarium before entering the world of boxing. Also named Hezekiah Moscow, he competed in underground boxing matches and found success as a bare-knuckle boxer.
His best friend in the series, Alec Munroe, is also based on the West-Indian trainer and corner man. Moreover, his rival, Sugar Goodson, was a real East-End fighter who, according to Cox, had only one eye. However, it's unlikely that the two fighters ever exchanged blows in the boxing ring in real life.
Additionally, Mary Carr was a real-life criminal who led Britain's first all-female crime syndicate, Forty Elephants. According to Brian McDonald's 2015 biography, Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants, Mary worked as a flower seller in London's Covent Garden and even modeled for Victorian painters like Frederic Leighton and Dorothy Tennant.
Mary became the Queen of the Forty Elephants in 1890, and her gang carried out petty thefts like pickpocketing and shoplifting all over London. She was eventually replaced by her fellow member, Alice Diamond.
A look at supporting characters of A Thousand Blows
Sugar's brother, Treacle Goodson, is based on his real-life brother, who was also a bare-knuckle fighter.
Another character taken from history is the exotic acrobat, Miss La La. In A Thousand Blows, she is seen performing at the West End music hall visited by Mary and Hezekiah. In reality, she was a Black Polish acrobat and aerialist who performed with the Parisian Cirque Fernando in the late 19th century. In 1879, she was painted by the French Impressionist Edgar Degas in his artwork, Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando.
Furthermore, Queen Victoria’s Black goddaughter, Victoria Davies, is based on the real West African-born princess, Sara 'Sally' Forbes Bonetta, aka Aina. After her kingdom was ransacked by King Ghezo of Dahomey, she was sold into slavery and later gifted to a British naval captain. Sara was finally adopted by Queen Victoria and lived till her late 30s, when she died from tuberculosis in 1880.
The characters of Chinese delegate Lo Feng Luh, played by Chike Chan, and William 'Punch' Lewis, played by Daniel Mays, are also inspired by real individuals from the late 19th century.
What historical events are covered in A Thousand Blows?
The show's creator told BBC on February 20, 2025, that Stephen Graham and his wife, Hannah Walters, approached him with the story of Hezekiah Moscow. He decided to combine it with the real-life story of the Forty Elephants, who were active in London at the same time. However, there is no historical record to prove their paths ever crossed.
"When I dug into it and found out about this person (Hezekiah) and his experiences, it was very compelling. Before then, for a long time, I’d wanted to tell the story of the Forty Elephants. Both of those true stories are amazing, and the fact is they were both happening at the same time and in the same place."
He continued:
"I thought it would be interesting to imagine what would have happened if Mary and Hezekiah had met – and that’s what this show is about."
The Chinese delegates' visit to London did take place in real life. However, the heist carried out by the Forty Elephants is purely fictionalized. Moreover, the meeting between the Chinese diplomats and the Earl of Lonsdale followed two Opium Wars fought between their countries, lasting from 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860.
In A Thousand Blows, Hezekiah laments his village's destruction in the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865, which killed his parents and left him in the care of his grandmother. The uprising was a historical event that marked the Jamaican people's resistance against British oppression.
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