This time, the women are in charge.
“Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight has a new historical drama, “A Thousand Blows,” that focuses on a real-life female-led gang called the Forty Elephants.
Knight told The Post that he learned about it while he was doing “research” for his most famous show, “Peaky Blinders,” which follows Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) running a gang in post-World War I era Birmingham, England.
“I was reading about all the different gangs around the turn of the century,” said Knight, “and there was this gang of female robbers and con artists who called themselves the Forty Elephants.”
Knight continued, “Partly because where they came from is called the Elephant and Castle, but also mainly when they went to Harrods or Selfridges and stole loads of clothes and coats and hats, by the time they left, they looked like elephants because they had so many clothes.”
He added, “I just thought it’s irresistible, and I always wanted to do it.”
Now streaming on Hulu and renewed for a Season 2, “A Thousand Blows” is set in 1880s London, following a cast of characters inspired by real historical figures.
The story centers on Jamaican immigrants Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby) and Alec Munroe (Francis Lovehall), who end up getting involved in London’s underground bare-knuckle boxing scene, the major player in that scene who feels threatened by Hezekiah, Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham), and Mary Carr (Erin Doherty), the leader of The Forty Elephants. The all-female crime syndicate was active in London between the 1870s and 1950s.
Knight said that he originally considered including the Forty Elephants in a plot line on “Peaky Blinders,” but the latter show is set in Birmingham.
“I did think about that, but the problem was, they were very London…and I wanted to save this for its own world.”
In addition to “Peaky Blinders” and “A Thousand Blows,” Knight also wrote the 2007 Viggo Mortensen movie “Eastern Promises,” so he’s well-versed in gangster fare.
“I think audiences are fascinated by people who break the rules but also are free of the constraints that most of us have.”
He added, “Hezekiah and Sugar Goodson and all of the gangsters that we meet are certainly there. And similarly with the Forty Elephants, they not only break the law, they break the rules of what it is to be a woman at the time, which is almost a bigger transgression in terms of society.”
“Peaky Blinders” lasted six seasons and has an upcoming movie.
About how long “A Thousand Blows” could last, Knight said, “The strange truth is that there was still a Forty Elephants gang in London in the 1950s. That’s just extraordinary that they lasted that long. So, the story will keep going, and I will keep doing it as long as there is an audience to follow it.”
When asked if that meant Mary Carr could cross paths onscreen with Tommy Shelby, he responded, “Well, who knows?”
Knight added, “‘Peaky’ began in 1919. It’s not a million miles away.”
