Hulu’s Gripping Historical Crime Drama

Hulu and Disney+ managed a major coup in securing the streaming rights to Steven Knight’s two-season Peaky Blinders successor. Historical crime thriller A Thousand Blows features Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, and Malachi Kirby as part of a stellar ensemble cast, and brings London’s 19th century East End to life like no other show before it.

Telling the story of two actual boxers and a real-life gang leader fighting for survival in Britain’s capital during the 1880s, the series comes out swinging from the opening round. A Thousand Blows had already established itself among Hulu’s best TV shows by the time its second season arrived in 2026. Yet, it somehow gets even better in season 2.

It’s now up there with Stephen Graham’s top TV shows, and helped bring together some of the key elements in his most celebrated work. For fans of period crime dramas with atmospheric periods and tragic antihero protagonists, A Thousand Blows is an absolute must-watch.

A Thousand Blows Is One Of Hulu’s Best Crime Dramas

Fully immersing viewers in the world of its characters, A Thousand Blows bases itself on the real history of bare-knuckle boxing in London’s East End. Its central characters Hezekiah Moscow, Henry “Sugar” Goodson, and Mary Carr all existed, although the series has embellished their true stories for dramatic purposes.

While a pseudo-historical tale of disparate figures in the criminal underbelly of one of Britain’s biggest cities may feel like familiar territory for the show’s creator Steven Knight, Mary Carr and Hez Moscow, in particular, make for groundbreaking characterizations. Erin Doherty and Malachi Kirby portray these figures with hard-hitting authenticity.

Hez is a migrant from Jamaica who faces racial discrimination alongside his friend Alec Munroe, and charismatic gangster Carr heads the all-female Forty Elephants outfit, which was a real criminal gang in the London of the show’s time period. As a result, the historical aspects of A Thousand Blows pack as much of a punch as its impressive action sequences.

Serving up a nuanced and many-sided take on life in the East End during the height of its notoriety, this series is an inimitably brilliant crime drama. Not much else on Hulu or any other streaming platform can match it.

The Show Gets Even Better In Season 2

Following the shocking twist at the end of its first series, A Thousand Blows raises the stakes again for season 2. Although Stephen Graham’s Sugar Goodson gets less of the limelight, the overall story of the show develops in even more exciting directions.

Hezekiah Moscow grapples with personal tragedy and an exciting opportunity to launch his boxing career in the United States. Meanwhile, Mary Carr comes into her own as she faces down rival criminals in a bid for local supremacy, incorporates famed American criminal Sophie Lyons into her operation, and reckons with threats from police detective Vance Murtagh.

A Thousand Blows season 2 is fully deserving of its exceptional Rotten Tomatoes score, which underscores the overwhelmingly positive response it’s received from viewers. We can only hope that this response encourages Steven Knight and the show’s star-studded cast to return for more episodes in the near future.

A Thousand Blows Brought Three Stars Of Netflix’s Adolescence Together

As well as earning considerable success in its own right, A Thousand Blows played a pivotal role in bringing together the cast of Netflix’s award-winning crime drama Adolescence. It was Stephen Graham’s work with Erin Doherty and Ashley Walters on the show that inspired him to rehire them for this landmark 2025 miniseries.

Graham had worked with Walters before, but A Thousand Blows was his first chance to see Doherty’s work at close quarters. What’s more, Walters was about to give up acting altogether before he got the call from Graham about starring in Adolescence, following their collaboration on Steven Knight’s crime series.