The stars of an upcoming TV series about the East End say their characters offer a “different narrative” of Jamaicans in Victorian London that neither of them have seen before.
The Disney+ period drama A Thousand Blows follows notorious boxer Sugar Goodson making his way in the dangerous world of illegal boxing in the 1880s.
Malachi Kirby and Francis Lovehall play Hezekiah Moscow and Alec Munroe, who leave their lives in the Caribbean behind for the capital’s bare-knuckle boxing scene.
Speaking to Eddie Nestor on BBC Radio London, the pair explained why the portrayal of their Jamaican characters in that era is so unusual and important.
“It’s a story about a working class community who go through life’s travails and they get knocked down and get back up,” Kirby said.
“It’s what it looks like to not just survive but thrive in society and fight for your dreams, essentially.”
Lovehall said: “In this time and especially in that place it feels harder to do that, and I think these men are people that prevail, these men are people that are always trying to step over their obstacles.”
Speaking about his character Alec Munroe, Lovehall added: “I think he exudes love and I think he is someone that is unapologetically going after his dreams and… puts everyone first before himself at time, maybe to his detriment sometimes.”
The pair, who previously starred in the BBC’s Small Axe series created and directed by Steve McQueen, explained that while the story itself is not true, both Hezekiah and Alec are based on real people.
“Hezekiah Moscow really existed, he really came here from Jamaica to become a lion tamer and ended up becoming a boxer and did pretty well. Alec Munroe really existed, his graveyard is in east London,” Kirby said.
Both Kirby and Lovehall’s characters have a complex backstory, with the young men travelling across the world to find a new life after their parents died in the 1865 Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica.
“This is a time before reggae music, this is a time of Jamaica as, I guess, a lot of people haven’t really seen it,” Kirby said.
“It’s a Jamaica that we haven’t really seen depicted before.”
Created by Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight with historian David Olusoga as executive producer, production on the second series of the show has already finished.
Kirby added this approach to showing a different side to historical portrayals of this period has also been reflected in Hezekiah and Alec’s stories, saying: “Everyone wanted to bring the truth to this from across the board.
“It’s been a pleasure and an honour to explore that world where there’s a kind of limitlessness in terms of how they think and how they see themselves in the world. They’re not bound by the way that they look or the place that they’ve come from.”
Lovehall added: “It centres a different narrative – I’ve never watched something that follows two Jamaican men with dreams that aren’t enslaved, are free men, and are coming here with a different tempo, a different truth, and they carry that truth with integrity.”
Credit: BBC
