This Gritty 12-Episode Historical Thriller Is Surging up the Disney+ Streaming Charts

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Published Jan 24, 2026, 1:55 PM EST

Giovana Gelhoren is a High-Trending Topics Writer at Collider, covering the most-talked-about stars, movies, and TV shows. Before joining Collider, she was a Digital News Writer at People Magazine and served as Associate Editor at SheKnows, where she honed her expertise in celebrity coverage and entertainment journalism.

A proud Latina from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Giovana graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Journalism and International Studies. She has interviewed countless celebrities, including Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry, Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Brenda Song, and is known for her encyclopedic knowledge of film, TV, and pop culture.

In the groundbreaking Netflix one-shot series Adolescence, Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty put themselves on the map with their powerful performances. The pair went on to win Golden Globes for their roles, and even move the audience at home with their speeches. But while their success means that Adolescence is certainly a must-watch miniseries, so is the second project the two of them co-starred in: Hulu's A Thousand Blows.

In the series, Graham and Doherty play polar opposites to their Adolescence characters, giving life to a famous boxer (Graham) and a gang leader (Doherty). The series, which first released back on February 21, 2025, is a non-stop historical thriller, and it's recently reaching a whole new wave of fans with Season 2. According to FlixPatrol, A Thousand Blows rose all the way to the #6 spot on the Hulu and Disney+ streaming charts worldwide.

What Is 'A Thousand Blows' About?

Set in London in the 1870s, A Thousand Blows follows three key figures in London’s underground: Henry “Sugar” Goodson (Graham), a bare-knuckle boxer who rules the underworld with a bloody fist, Mary Carr (Doherty), the leader of the Forty Elephants, an all-female gang that operated in London from the 1870s to the 1950s, and Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby), a young man fresh off the boat from Jamaica with his friend Alec (Francis Lovehall). Throughout the series, which is based on a true story, their intertwined journeys take them from the dankest of places to the prestigious West End of London, as each character searches for fortune, fame, and revenge in equal measure.

Created by Peaky Blinders' very own Steven Knight, the series sees them as they go deeper and deeper in the underground world, both in Hezekiah's boxing pursuits, and as the Forty Elephants continues to shoplift and pull off cons across London. By doing so, the series also shines a light on how race, class, and masculinity shape who gets power—and who gets crushed—in Victorian society.

Erin Doherty and Stephen Graham in A Thousand Blows

Stephen Graham’s Punchy ‘Peaky Blinders’ Replacement Returns With a Must-Watch Season 2 Trailer

Season 2 of Steven Knight's series reunites Graham with his Emmy-winning 'Adolescence' co-star.

'A Thousand Blows' Got Even Better With Season 2

Stephen Graham as Sugar Goodson in extreme close-up in A Thousand Blows

As a general rule, the first season of most TV shows is their best one. Where the characters are first introduced, where the plot really develops, etc. But with A Thousand Blows, however, it seems Season 2 is where the series has hit its stride. Earning an impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, the sophomore series, which premiered on January 9, 2026, has received rave reviews, ones that highlight the series' cleaner, more streamlined storyline but equally exciting and gripping narrative.

Another highlight is Graham and Doherty's performances. While Graham shined in Season 1, Doherty and her fearless gang leader persona has seemingly taken over. "Doherty continues to be thrillingly good," wrote one reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes. "I’m personally of the opinion that Stephen Graham is the most underrated actor in the world," wrote another review. "So the fact that it’s Erin Doherty who stands out in A Thousand Blows Season 2, despite him doing great work of his own in it, is quite a feat."

With that said, A Thousand Blows, led by the now-Golden Globe winning actors Graham and Doherty, is a true knockout of a TV series. Two seasons in, the series has continued to blend punchy storylines, complicated characters and social commentary in a way that makes for great TV, as well as a brilliant Peaky Blinders replacement.