Underground fights and female thieves: New series from the creator of ‘Peaky Blinders’ delves into London’s underworld

Steven Knight seems to have a special attraction to the British underworld and criminal gangs. In his most famous creation — the iconic Peaky Blinders — the 65-year-old screenwriter dramatized a gang of criminals that operated in Birmingham in the 1920s, endowing them with charisma and glamor. In his latest series, A Thousand Blows, streaming on Hulu in the U.S., the story is also based on reality and the underworld… but this time around, the criminals are women.

The 40 Elephants were a gang of thieves that operated in London from the 18th to the 20th century. The women were known for using intelligence and skill while conducting their crimes: some specialized in pickpocketing, while others stole from stores using distraction techniques. They even designed special dresses with extra-large pockets and hidden compartments to store their loot.

But the guiding thread for the new series was given to Knight by actor Stephen Graham, when he came across a photograph of boxer Hezekiah Moscow. They were fascinated by his story: he came to London from Jamaica with the intention of being a lion tamer, but ended up becoming a well-known participant in unsanctioned fights. “That starting point is very attractive, because it’s very rare. At the same time, I had always wanted to tell the story of the 40 Elephants — the true story of a female gang, always made up of 40 women, with a queen who was in charge of them — which had never been told. We had these two incredible stories with real characters. Mary Carr (one of the real leaders of the 40 Elephants) and Hezekiah were based in London at the same time, so I wanted to imagine that they met and what would have happened in such a scenario,” Knight explains during a video call with EL PAÍS.

A Thousand Blows follows the rise of Hezekiah Moscow (played by Malachi Kirby), starting from when he arrives in London with a friend. The need for money leads them to underground fights, where Hezekiah faces off against a legendary (fictional) boxer named Henry “Sugar” Goodson, who’s played by Stephen Graham. The Jamaican also crosses paths with Mary Carr (played Erin Doherty), who sees a potential criminal ally in the budding boxer.

For the series, the production team recreated Victorian London in the 1880s, using an abandoned brewery near the River Thames as the principal setting. Inevitably, the esthetics and subject matter echo Peaky Blinders. “There are a lot of similarities,” Knight acknowledges. “These are stories about working-class people who were born into a particular environment and who had their destinies written: they were born into poverty and would die in poverty. But these are stories about people who didn’t accept that, people who decided to escape. The Peaky Blinders and the 40 Elephants — Hezekiah and Sugar Goodson — are people who want more.”

Both stories are set in the past, like many of Knight’s creations, such as Taboo, or the more recent This Town. “If you limit yourself to contemporary things, you have a very narrow time frame. But if you look at the last 200 years and everything that has happened, it gives you a much greater scope for your stories,” he argues. In these glances into the past, he’s discovered that humanity is, in the end, very similar, regardless of the historical moment.

“If you went to ancient Rome and walked into a kitchen and met a family, they would probably do things that are very similar to what people do today, in terms of their conversations, their fights, falling in love, being jealous, being happy… human beings are human beings. Conventions about how people have to behave can change, language changes, the balance between men and women changes… but when the doors are closed and people are in their homes, we’re the same.”

Another thing that Peaky Blinders and A Thousand Blows share is that both feature strong female characters who lead their organizations, whether it be a family, or a gang of criminals. “My experience of a working-class man’s life is that women are actually the ones in charge. Women are the ones who look after the money and manage it, to prevent the money being spent on gambling and alcohol, which is what a lot of men did [and still do]. Women have had a lot of authority,” the screenwriter notes.

Knight has a special fondness for researching the underworld of society: “It would be difficult to write an interesting drama about someone who gets up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, has tea, goes to bed… you know what I mean. There has to be something going on. And I think audiences are attracted to people who don’t follow the rules, because it represents a kind of freedom that people like.”

Before wrapping up the interview, a couple of final, essential questions need to be asked: how far along is the Peaky Blinders Netflix film? And what can fans expect from it?

“We’ve finished filming and now we are in the editing phase,” he replies. “It’s fantastic. No one will be disappointed… I promise that it’s incredible. We have the best cast we could wish for. [The movie] will be ready by the end of this year, or early next year.”

Knight also confirms that this won’t be the end of the story. There’s still a long way to go for the Peaky Blinders.

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