Erin Doherty Talks Disney Plus’ A Thousand Blows

Criminal Endeavour

A Thousand Blows is a new Disney Plus series set in Victorian London and here’s one of its cast Erin Doherty who plays Mary Carr talking about her role…

How would you describe your character of Mary Carr? What sort of person is she?

ERIN DOHERTY: I love playing people like Mary because you’re towing the line of good and bad, which is true to life. I just don’t believe that anyone is all good or all bad. We’re a blend and Mary is the epitome of that. There are some scenes when it’s really clearly Mary fighting for someone else and she’s got completely pure intentions. But there are some scenes where I get to do things that will only benefit her. She’s always got her mind on people’s feelings. What I loved most about playing Mary is that she’s completely armoured

and ready to fight. But beneath all that there is someone who’s been really hurt in the past.

It’s knowing when you can turn the dial up on how vulnerable you get to be. But just for me as an actor, knowing that she does have a heart in there, I pray that shines through when she makes questionable decisions.

Mary Carr is the leader off the all-female gang called the Forty Elephants. Was it fun to create the camaraderie between these women with the rest of the cast?

ED: The Forty Elephants, I love them. They are a tight-knit group, sure with a few disagreements along the way, but they all genuinely love each other. As a cast we’ve become a family. It’s so beautiful to see our relationships growing with every scene, both as characters and as friends off camera. Whenever I saw on the call sheet that we’re in for a Forty Elephants scene, I just knew I was in for a good day on set. We’re like sisters. We really, really are. And it was a beautiful thing to be a part of. There were lots of laughs and jokes in-between takes – it’s been a real joy to work with these ladies.

Mary Carr was the Queen of the Forty Elephants gang who really existed in the 1880s. Was there much research available?

ED: I’ve dipped my toe into playing a historical person before, but I didn’t even know Mary and the Forty Elephants existed before this job. How do we not know about these women?! I read a book about their exploits. There is a certain pressure in playing someone who you know has existed. I just had to take what I had read but allow myself some wiggle room. I had to allow myself some license in how I played Mary, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do Mary justice. You have to strike that balance. What’s amazing about these women is their anonymity. That you don’t really know who they are. In a way, I wanted to explore that fact and I looked at the history of what these women did and then explored how I could make this work within the context of our script.

Was there a scene where the Forty Elephants really came to life and the audience get to see them in action?

ED: The Forty Elephants do get into some interesting, shall we say, shenanigans along the way. There was one key scene where we had to get into disguises and raid Harrods department store, which was quite a fun moment for the Elephants.
The whole scene was a big two-day shoot for us with lots of moving parts, filming out on location in central London. Funnily enough this was also a day where the Jonas Brothers were in town near our location, so there were big crowds outside and we were wondering for most of the day what’s going on? Are people here to watch us raid Harrods? But no, they were just there to see the Jonas Brothers. But it was great energy to help us get into the scene. It was a day of action where we all got to have our moment of smashing stuff up. It was fun for us all and I still can’t quite believe I get to do this sort of thing for my job.

What was it like to walk out onto the backlot for the very first time, taking in the scale of the sets?

ED: When they first brought me to the studio I thought it was just for a costume fitting and that was it. But then they beckoned me through to the backlot and I realised that I was looking at what the team had been working on throughout the summer. Creating our world. Even now when I think back, it was such a surreal moment for me.
When we started filming on the backlot, particularly the Green Dolphin boarding house, it was like stepping onto a real 19th Century location. So there’s no acting required on my part. It was one of those “pinch yourself” moments. Every day we stepped out on to that set it was mind blowing to think that someone’s created that, and I cannot believe that I get to be a part of something this big.

Who is Sugar Goodson to Mary Carr?

ED:  Mary and Sugar’s relationship is an interesting one and by no means straight forward. Both Stephen and I sat down early on to discuss it. We needed to understand where the characters had come from, and we laid it all out on the table. We have a private back story that we kept between just us. There is something beautiful about just the two of us knowing just how these two people met. What exactly went down between them, and what they mean to each other. It all comes down to the fact that they both brutally love each other. And at the crux of it, they’ll do anything to make sure that the other one is okay. For me, it really helped with our story and created a really special bond between Stephen and me. I’ve never discussed the back story with anyone other than Stephen, not even the directors.

How does the arrival of Hezekiah Moscow into London impact Mary and Sugar’s relationship?

ED: When Hezekiah comes on the scene, I think Mary initially sees an opportunity to be exploited. In her defence, that is the way she operates. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there. With Mary’s past experience, if you’re not on the front foot, ready to seize an opportunity when it is presented to you, you could die. Mary sees something in Hezekiah that she has never seen on these streets before. There’s something really magnetic about that. She understands that there is something she can work with in this new arrival. However, as our story develops, you understand that Mary does have a beating heart and perhaps there is more in the relationship than initially realised. They are kindred spirits and their relationship develops to a point where she can let her guard down around him, which she is nervous about accepting.

What is Mary’s ambition for the Forty Elephants?

ED: I don’t want to spoil anything, but the crux of who Mary is revolves around her relationship with her mother, Jane (played by Susan Lynch). All I can say is that Mary effectively created the Forty Elephants to split away from the male members of the gang, making a better situation for herself and the other women. Mary ultimately will do everything within her power to prove herself to her mum. That is just who she is. It is what is beating through her veins every single day. She’s just trying to prove herself.

What would you like the audience to enjoy when they see A Thousand Blows?

ED: When the audience sits down to watch A Thousand Blows, I hope they are swept up in the lives of these intricate characters. That they will enjoy the fact that these people lived and breathed in our past. I think they enjoy watching their life choices and their raw love that they have for one another. I hope the audience will find the characters as gripping as we did.

Describe A Thousand Blows in three words.

ED:  Raw. Ruthless. Heartbreaking.