Disney+'s gritty new Victoriana drama A Thousand Blows has finally landed for audiences to binge, and it captures the people and places of the East End in the 1880s with all the grace and grit of a boxing match. Created by Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight, the show pulls back the curtain on the guts of the East End bare-knuckle boxing scene of the 1880s, with lines like “the city makes only one promise – that it will kill you the first chance it gets”. Based on real stories (with a little creative license), the story follows the bloody rivalry between Hezekiah Moscow (played by Malachi Kirby), a Jamaican boxer who made a name for himself in London, and London criminal boss Henry "Sugar" Goodson (Stephen Graham). Then there's the formidable gang leader Mary Carr (Erin O'Doherty), who governs a gang of female thieves known as the Forty Elephants and whose sights are set on something bigger than petty crime. The three characters (and a sprawling supporting cast made up of recognisable British rising stars) guide us through the backstreets of London and into an epic tale of revenge, pain and love.
Steven had a big focus on capturing the frenetic atmosphere of the city in the 1880s. “What I love about Victorian London is the energy,” he says. “People ran everywhere. There would be stores that sold buns. People would throw the money, grab the bun and run because everybody was in such a hurry. I love that energy.” Like Peaky Blinders, the set design and locations are vital to this energy too, with locations and characters dressed with such boldness they instantly capture your attention, from the raunchy corset dresses of the female gang, to the awning-lit boxing ring.
As gritty and vivid as the on-screen brawls, the locations of the show are beautifully crafted to capture the swirling underbelly of London. Many programmes have attempted to do this, but none with quite the extravagance of A Thousand Blows.
Watch the A Thousand Blows trailer
All the A Thousand Blows filming locations
The success of the settings is largely thanks to The Story Works, a newly developed nine-hectare film and TV studio complex in Mortlake, south west London, where the majority of filming took place for A Thousand Blows, which shot from March to December 2023. The set, built on the historic site of the 22-acre riverside Mortlake Brewery (also called Stag Brewery), is the largest purpose-built studio in London, and was dressed to perfection by production designer Tom Burton. “The scale is amazing,” explained Steven of the vast complex, “You can walk down streets, turn corners and go down an alley, and you're still in Victorian London. For a writer, it’s such a gift. It should be there permanently.”
The Story Collective (the production company that made the show) selected the previously abandoned brewery site in south west London due to its convenient location, scale and external architectural details. The company signed a lease ‘for the foreseeable future,’ and went about creating two sound stages for the interiors and exteriors of A Thousand Blows series one. The team created sets of several Victorian buildings ideal for exterior scenes as well as a vast exterior set of East End streets and docklands.
A second series has now been announced, so the location will presumably be used again. Though it was built initially for the Disney+ period drama, press reports pointed to another ‘major film sequel’ that would start filming there in the summer of 2024, and Screen Daily has now revealed this to be Downton Abbey 3 (which will be released in September 2025).
Kwame Kwei-Armah, a new director at The Story Works and outgoing artistic director of The Young Vic, said, “The vision of turning a historic, derelict brewery into such a vibrant creative space, right in the heart of London, is thrilling and important. Apart from the brilliant stories that will be crafted here, this will inspire our next generation of storytellers to have a sense of ownership, to think and dream at their multi-disciplinary optimum, despite the messages often to the contrary.”
As well as the scenes shot inside The Story Works, the team were able to use The Mortlake Brewery as a convincing exterior filming location to stand in for 1880s east London. During the 19th century, the current Stag site was one of London’s biggest breweries. It is a striking structure, built in recognisably Victorian vernacular with smoky brickwork and leaded windows.
All six episodes of A Thousand Blows premiered on Disney+ on Friday, February 21, but there's no date for a season two release yet and filming is not believed to have begun.
A Thousand Blows is available to watch on Disney+
