FISTS of fury

Stephen Graham packs a punch in a gritty period drama set in Victorian London

- SEAN MARLAND, ALISON SLADE

As TV&Satellite Week meets up with Stephen Graham at a fancy London hotel, the Liverpudlian actor is keen to share the origins of his new Disney+ drama, A Thousand Blows, which transports viewers into the brutal world of bare-knuckle boxing in Victorian London.

The 51-year-old actor recalls how he was working on Peaky Blinders when his wife – actor and producer Hannah Walters – suggested that the show’s creator, Steven Knight, might like to be involved in the new project.

‘I thought there was no chance, but she sent Steven the idea anyway,’ smiles Graham. ‘And four days later he told us he’d love to write it.’

Packed with crime and violence, the story of real-life fighter Henry ‘Sugar’ Goodson proved too tempting for Knight to resist and he quickly penned a six-part drama drenched in blood, sweat and tears.

FIGHTING CHANCE