The first time we meet her, she’s conning London’s upper-class out of their money by conducting a pregnancy scam – but it’s soon clear that she’s got her fingers in a lot of pies, including the boxing scene, and is planning an audacious scheme to rip off the aristocracy.
Set during the 1880s, it tells the story of Hezekiah, an immigrant from Jamaica (Malachi Kirby) who heads to London with the dream of starting a new life -- only to find himself sucked into the orbit of retired boxer Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham).
Like the men, the Forty Elephants usually pickpocketed and shoplifted their way around London, especially the high-end areas (and therefore pop up a lot in newspaper clippings and court documents).
“Boxing was a place in which people from the underclass – whether that was a racial underclass or a financial underclass – could could seek their fortunes,” Olusoga says.
By 1882, he was a celebrity in East London, balancing boxing with stints as a music hall singer and a lion tamer – though his career with animals wasn’t without controversy.
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