I have tasted death - life is much sweeter.

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 TV shows of 2025

#19 :  A Thousand Blows

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s one-man mission to construct a potted history of working class Britain continued apace this year in this true-story-inspired Victorian boxing drama. Set amid the cobbled streets of London’s East End, Knight’s series thrillingly imagines a world in which the lives of Jamaican immigrant Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby), bare-knuckle boxer Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham), and Forty Elephants crime syndicate leader Mary Carr (Erin Doherty) — each fascinating, real historical figures of whom we truly know vanishingly little — all intersect with explosive consequences. Brilliantly acted, astonishingly well designed, and perfectly written just within the margins of historical plausibility, it’s a total knockout. Bring on Round 2!

This was advertised a lot and got very good write-ups, but I had absolutely no interest in watching it - it falls into the Peaky Blinders/Boardwalk Empire retro style bracket that I don't mind, but don't care enough about to watch. 

And I'm afraid two episodes didn't do enough to change my mind - but there was still plenty here to impress. If anything, the sets are the most impressive aspect of all - I don't know where it was filmed but it felt (to my uneducated eye) to be very authentic indeed and they must have put a helluva lot of work into it. 

And if it's got Stephen Graham (our SIXTH visit with the lad - and he's really been to the gym for this one) and Erin Doherty (only our second visit) in it then it's obviously going to be class - there's a slight chance we're going to be seeing both of them later on this year. I wasn't previously aware of Malachi Kirby, but he played Kunte Kinte in the Roots remake, so he can't be a slouch (amusingly, his first four roles were in Casualty, Silent Witness, The Bill and Doctors so he's done a good British TV apprenticeship). And they all do a great job in this, with additional shout-outs for Francis Lovehall, James Nelson-Joyce and Jason Tobin for fine supporting roles - I was also completely unsurprised to see Danial Mays pop up. 

What I haven't discussed at all yet is the story, which suggests I'm going to lay into it, but I actually think it did a decent enough job over the first two episodes to suggest there's enough content in there to satisfy those who are more predisposed to this sort of thing than I am. The first one is very much a scene setter, but the characters are interesting and we have definite elements of story popping up in the second one which feels like they'll easily fill the remaining four episodes (and there's a second season coming very soon as well). 

So, all in all, if you liked Peaky Blinders, then I can't see any reason why you wouldn't find this diverting - I'm sure I'd find it enjoyable enough if I was forced to watch it. But I've got an awful lot of stuff on various lists to get through and it's just not enough of my sort of thing for me to be drawn into it. It's been pretty heavily advertised but I'd have to say I didn't really know what it was all about (there's a lot less boxing than I feared) and it's on Disney+ which doesn't feel like an obvious home for it, so I suspect some people that will like this might have missed it. So if that sounds like you, give it a go. 

#20 - Bonkers