Tinge Krishnan and Nick Murphy’s directorial vision is a dingy but Disneyfied labyrinth of intimidating backstreets and ropey pubs, while script writer and creator Steven Knight's script is confident but often sparse; a look speaks a thousand words, but when men like Goodson talk, you listen.
Alongside Doherty, Stephen Graham – one of Britain’s most reliable on-screen hard men from Snatch and Gangs of New York – is terrifying as Sugar Goodson, the boxer past his prime but still holding onto a fearsome reputation.
There are shades of Frankenstein’s Monster to his hulking presence; the mechanical way he moves when out of the ring, like he was only ever born to fight within it, and the way his eyes seem more like weapons than anything vaguely leaning towards vehicles for compassion.
Erin Doherty wins chameleon of the year for A Thousand Blows, the compelling new Disney+ drama ruminating on the macabre underground world of illegal boxing in London in the 1800s.
She was memorably steely in The Crown, playing the reserved Princess Anne, but now one of the UK’s most immensely watchable talents performs a complete shape shift to play a working class gang leader: the permanently unphased Mary Carr.
