Stephen Graham is in the best shape of his life - thanks to the gruelling training regime he took on to play a Victorian bare-knuckle boxing champ. The actor, 51, had to practise long and hard for the role of Sugar Goodson, the self-declared emperor of the East End boxing world and star of the new Disney+ series A Thousand Blows. And it wasn’t only punching he had to get to grips with, but also biting.
Stephen, best known for his starring roles in This is England, Line of Duty and Boiling Point, says: “It was a really enjoyable experience to get into shape - the best shape I’ve ever been in - and working to create the physical aspects of this bare-knuckle street fighter. “Sugar is known to bite sometimes, which for me is great to play as it is so visceral. He also adopts a flurry of punches and body shots. Because I’m small, you use what you’ve got. I don’t have a long reach so it’s about going for the body and taking them down that way, and protecting my head. It wasn’t all about having a six-pack, it was about trying to create a street brawler. I put some weight on and then worked on the cutting process.
“We packed me up in the shoulders and back first - I really wanted that authenticity in my physique. I learnt the fundamental basics and then built on that to create Sugar’s unique style and way of fighting.” To help make sure he looked like he knew what he was doing, Stephen signed up the services of his real-life pal Graham Ridge, a boxing expert. He said they worked out a very precise style for his character. “For Sugar, you’re not going to want to dance around a ring for twenty minutes each fight. Your basic aim and objective is to get in, smash them, and then get out. Each punch could finish the opponent so Sugar is economical - there is a lot of power behind his punches. If Sugar is having multiple fights a night, he wants to get them over as quick as possible. He doesn’t want many to go past round one.”.
The series, written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, is set in the 1880s and is inspired by the true life stories of a group of characters who battled for survival in the brutal East End of London at that time. One such character is Hezekiah Moscow, played by Malachi Kirby, who is newly arrived from Jamaica along with his pal Alex Munroe (Frances Lovehall) and find themselves thrust into the criminal underbelly of the city’s thriving boxing scene.
Hezekiah’s fighting prowess quickly draws attention, earning him fame and fortune in the process, and those drawn to him include the infamous queen of The Forty Elephants, Mary Carr - played by The Crown’s Erin Doherty - who sets about exploiting his talents to further her female-led criminal enterprise. But Sugar decides he must be destroyed, because his aim of glamorising the sport and taking it to the West End threatens to destroy everything he’s built.
Stephen says that while Sugar is a complex character, he is very proud of his roots in Wapping and dedicated to ensuring that bare-knuckle fighting is retained for working men. Sugar owns and runs the Blue Coat Boy pub, home to the East End’s last remaining bare-knuckle boxing ring. “Sugar’s complexities stem from overcoming a mass trauma as a child,” the actor explains. “He’s had to overcome adversity in order to carve his world out and he doesn’t want to lose it. He’s fearful of the gentrification of the sport that he knows and loves. To him, bare-knuckle boxing is a working man's sport - for it to be honourable you fight with fists, you don't wear gloves.”.
In contrast, Sugar’s brother Treacle (James Nelson-Joyce) is very much drawn to the fancy lights of the West End boxing scene, believing that they are missing out on big opportunities by not getting involved. “Ultimately Sugar is frightened of change, and change comes in a few different forms,” Stephen reasons. “The arrival of Hezekiah into his patch of London represents that wind of change that Sugar is concerned about.”.
Malachi, 35, plays the charismatic Jamaican who is said to have “a thirst for adventure and a streak of recklessness”. The Small Axe star says he trained for four months ahead of filming, to look like an authentic boxer. "I started off running in the winter in my tracksuit like I was in a Rocky movie, “ he laughs, “then I got into the boxing sessions.” He says during this period Stephen, also an executive producer on the series, would send him clips showing how well his boxing progress was going. “He would send me videos of him training, saying ‘You better get on it, I’m coming for you.’”.
In the story Hezekiah has dreams of coming to London to become a lion tamer. “That still just blows my mind,” Malachi says. "He had a lot of hope, and he had a lot of positivity.” The Bafta-winner says that filming the first fight made him feel like a real boxer. “You have the whole room shouting and cheering, the atmosphere was electric, I didn't have to do much acting. For a moment it was like we’d been transported back in time. All of a sudden, I had Stephen Graham as Sugar Goodson coming toward me in the ring and I had to fight for my life.”.
