A Thousand Blows

Matt Roush says...

Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight again demonstrates his mastery of the violent period piece in a bare-knuckled six-part drama set in the underworld of Victorian London’s squalid East End. That’s where two idealistic Jamaican chums, Hezekiah (Malachi Kirby) and Alec (Francis Lovehall), arrive to start new lives, only to be swept up in the bloody brawl of behind-closed-doors boxing matches. When fast-on-his-feet Ezekiel makes a mortal enemy of brutal champ Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham), he forms a fateful alliance with Mary Carr (The Crown’s sensational Erin Doherty), “Queen of the Forty Elephants,” leader of a gang of female criminals who put Oliver Twist’s Fagin gang to shame.

What's Worth Watching (Feb 21)