A Thousand Blows season two highlights Erin Doherty's performance

The second series of A Thousand Blows takes a darker turn and centres on Erin Doherty's Mary Carr, whose performance dominates the episodes.

Season two of Steven Knight's late‑Victorian thriller A Thousand Blows follows the aftermath of its first run and leans into darker storylines. Erin Doherty returns as Mary Carr and is a central presence across most scenes. The series continues to engage with boxing, crime and the Forty Elephants, the real all‑female syndicate that figures in the plot. Several principal characters begin the new series in markedly worse circumstances. Key details: - Erin Doherty's Mary Carr is the dominant presence in most scenes and carries much of the emotional weight. - The season shifts to a darker, more melancholic tone, with characters facing decline and disillusionment. - Hezekiah Moscow was made a pariah after killing New York champion Buster Williams and now fights in underground barge matches in front of openly racist crowds. - Henry "Sugar" Goodson is shown as a drunken down‑and‑out, and his brother Edward "Treacle" Goodson is markedly changed following a head injury. - Mary is shown under the control of her mother Jane (Susan Lynch) and of Indigo Jeremy (Robert Glenister), and a central plot thread is her plan, with mesmerist Sophie Lyons, to steal a Caravaggio. Summary: Erin Doherty's performance anchors a season that emphasises loss, disillusionment and organised crime plotting. The narrative focus is on Mary's planned art robbery and the declining fortunes of Sugar and Hezekiah. Undetermined at this time.