Victoria boxing drama 'A Thousand Blows' makes its long awaited premiere on Disney+ today, Friday 21st February.
The 6-part series sees Darci Shaw starring as "young but powerfully confident" Alice Diamond, a leading member of the notorious real-life female gang 'The Forty Elephants', who first gained notoriety in the mid-1800s.
In a recent interview with Stylist Darci talks about researching the real-life Alice Diamond, "I read a lot about Alice with my mum, and we found reports of Alice in and out of the legal system from the age of 14 and she ended up becoming the gang’s leader at around 19 years old". She also talked about getting into character and developing Alice's terrifying stare, "Because I’m usually so smiley, I wanted to try to differentiate Alice from myself, and the stare was me getting into her cutthroat and steely mindset".
Tom Andrews also appears later in the series as another real-life Victorian, Lord Queensberry, a nobleman and boxing enthusiast, known for lending his name to the generally accepted rules of boxing to this day, The Queensberry Rules.
A Thousand Blows is set in London's East End in the 1800s and follows the fortunes of The Forty Elephants who clash with the dangerous, self-declared leader of the East End's illegal bare-knuckle boxing world, Henry 'Sugar' Goodson, played by Stephen Graham. We also meet Hezekiah Moscow, recently arrived from Jamaica, who finds fame and fortune in the boxing ring and attracts the attention of Mary Carr, leader of The Forty Elephants, who sets about exploiting his talents for her own gain.
The show comes from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
The first reviews of the series have been outstanding -
"A Thousand Blows is already the best show I’ll see this year" - Stylist
"a ripping yarn full of audacious dialogue" - The Guardian ★★★★★
"A Thousand Blows certainly packs a punch – courtesy of excellent lead performances, a gripping plot, and a fascinating historical setting." - Empire ★★★★
Available to stream in full on Disney+ from today. Watch the trailer and see Darci being interviewed (from 2'21") alongside Hannah Walters and Morgan Hilaire who also star as members of The Forty Elephants.
Darci Shaw and Tom Andrews are available for voiceovers from Anthea Represents. Click their images for their profile pages and voiceover showreels.
