'A Thousand Blows' to Punch Up Hulu in February

The new Steven Knight series, A Thousand Blows, was initially billed as a "historical period drama that revolves around 19th-century era boxing," a subject that's a bit niche but also was, at the time of the announcement, having a moment, as Bridgerton had recently featured it in its first season. However, as the show has grown closer to its 2025 premiere, it seems that the boxing aspect is a bit of a "Trojan Horse," as it were, drawing in viewers with its promise of violence and bare-knuckle brawling successes of Victorian-era Jamaican immigrants. 

However, the more recent trailer and synopsis have revealed a show about one of the most notorious, least-covered London gangs in history, known as "The Forty Elephants." British crime syndicates are Knight's specialty, especially once that last generations. His biggest hit to date has been Peaky Blinders, based on the 1880s-era Birmingham Gang of the same name, a historical alternate fiction that posited what would have happened had the gang survived the Great War. 

The Forty Elephants (sometimes called The Forty Thieves) were an all-female crime syndicate that lasted for over a century in London before it ended in the 1950s. (Though the first official reference to them is in the 1870s, some date the gang's formation as far back as early as the 1780s.) The women in the gang specialized in shoplifting but had their hands in multiple illegal activities, including the bare-knuckle boxing circuit, making this series even more intriguing the closer it gets to arrival. 

Here's the series synopsis. 

A Thousand Blows is inspired by the true-life stories of a group of characters battling for survival in the brutal East End of London in the 1880’s. Hezekiah and Alec, two friends from Jamaica, find themselves thrust into the criminal underbelly of London's East End. It's there they meet Mary Carr, Queen of an all-female criminal gang known as The Forty Elephants, and run afoul of Sugar Goodson, criminal kingpin and notorious boxer. What ensues is a battle of the old world against the new. 

Alongside Graham, Kirby, and Doherty, the series’ ensemble features Francis Lovehall (Criminal Record), James Nelson-Joyce (The Gold), Hannah Walters (Time), Darci Shaw (The Irregulars), Nadia Albina (Doctor Who), Jemma Carlton (The Cleaner), Caoilfhionn Dunne (How to Get to Heaven from Belfast), Jason Tobin (Warrior), and newcomer Morgan Hilaire.

Knight is the lead writer for the series, with episodes also written by a group of new voices, including Ameir Brown, Insook Chappell, Harlan Davies, and Yasmin Joseph. The show’s six episodes were helmed by Tinge Krishnan (Industry), Nick Murphy (A Spy Among Friends), Coky Giedroyc (Harlots), Katrin Gebbe (The Empress), Dionne Edwards (Everything Now), and Ashley Walters (Top Boy) in his behind-the-camera debut. Tom Miller is the series producer, and Barrington Robinson and Jo Johnson are the producers. 

Knight is also an executive producer alongside historian David Olusoga, Graham and Hannah Waters for Matriarch Productions, Damian Keogh & Kate Lewis for The Story Collective, Tom Miller & Sam Myer for Water & Power Productions, and Lee Mason for Disney+. 

A Thousand Blows will premiere with all episodes on Friday, February 21, 2025, on Hulu (and under the Hulu Tile on Disney+) in the U.S.