Interview by Madeleine Rigner
While Liverpudlian actress, Darci Shaw, is sweet as sugar, her on-screen character in A Thousand Blows, is fierce and unstoppable in her cunning.
You may know the 23-year-old actress from BBC One’s This City is Ours, the crime drama The Bay, or the slightly lighter Brassic, but this time, we see Shaw take on Stephen Knight’s new, period drama. Truly perfecting herself as an actress for the crime genre, Shaw plays the notorious crime “queen” of the Forty Elephants, an all-female gang infamous for their heists, riots, and extravagance, and brings heart and fire to the new Hulu series.
Your latest project, A Thousand Blows, has received widespread acclaim and we’re all eagerly awaiting season two. In three words, how would you describe the new season?
Raw, eventful, and gripping from start to finish!
Your character, Alice Diamond, grows to be one of the most infamous “queens” of the Forty Elephants; what has been the biggest challenge in playing such a powerful and feared young woman?
The challenge was portraying a woman so undeterred by authority; her desire to be a highly successful criminal outweighed any fear she might’ve held - the real Alice Diamond was ferocious. I absolutely loved playing her, embodying her confidence and fearlessness was the most exciting bit.
The Forty Elephants were like a family - has playing these characters together bonded you and the cast?
I had an amazing time working with all the women, they’re very talented and completely hilarious. Genuinely, they could all be stand up comedians - I’d laugh ‘til my stomach hurt everyday on set.
How has your time in A Thousand Blows shaped your understanding and preference in female roles?
It was quite eye opening for me, to be honest. I loved playing a young woman so sure of herself, unwavering and bold. It’s unconventional in Victorian-era pieces to have women being written into a man’s world, and it’s something Stephen Knight does so well.
