'A Thousand Blows' New Images Introduce The Forty Elephants

When it was initially announced that Steven Knight's newest series, A Thousand Blows (at Disney+ and Hulu, though not via FX), was about Victorian-era boxing, it seemed an odd turn for the hitmaker. Sports dramas are their own particular niche fandom that rarely overlaps with historical fiction; while there have been a few "period sports dramas" like Netflix's The English Game, most sports stories set in the era pre World War II are usually relegated to side plots in shows like Bridgerton or Downton Abbey. However, the "boxing" aspect of A Thousand Blows seems merely an entry portal to a broader story set within a fictionalized deep dive into a real-life London organized gang that operated from the 1800s to the 1950s.

Known as The Forty Elephants, London's first all-women organized crime ring first gained notoriety in the mid-1800s; the gang primarily were shoplifters and rarely used violence. Historians don't have a fixed date for the gang's founding, but some argue reports of "waves of shoplifting" that date back to the late 1700s should be treated as possible early activity.

Until now, the only member of the Elephants the series has featured is their leader, Mary Carr, played by The Crown's Erin Doherty. But with this new wave of images, Hulu has revealed additional cast for the series, including all the women who co-star with Doherty and the gang members they portray.