00:06London, the lion's den
00:09I'm married if you were raised here
00:12Or you just got here
00:13In the beginning, what do you love most about Steve Knight's writing?
00:20It was like poetry, like even on the page, let alone when you get to say it, you find more
00:25beauty in it
00:26So every day, whatever scene you were doing with whatever character, it was poetry coming out of your mouth
00:33And it was an absolute gift to be able to say and express yourself in this way
00:38You just don't come across many scripts like it
00:42I'd never been able to say some of these sentences before
00:46And I'm not sure that I'll ever be given that opportunity again
00:49The way that he crafts his sentences and the words that he uses
00:54It's just, yeah, it's a dream
00:57And all of the characters have their own story, do you know what I mean?
01:00Like not just the lead characters, but all of them
01:02They all have their arc, they all have their backstory
01:04And a sense of they'll come from somewhere and want to go to somewhere
01:08And so to be able to have that
01:10To be able to be in a world of fully multidimensional people, human beings
01:15That for me, I really enjoyed the Baez writing
01:17The genius of Steve as well is, you know, he takes this world and he creates this world
01:23It's a world that we know already exists
01:25And one of the amazing things about this particular script and this particular project
01:29Was I'd say maybe 90% of our characters within the whole story
01:34Actually existed in this world
01:36They are real people
01:37If you look in the history books, you can trace and you can find that
01:40Sugar Goodson was a real man, do you know what I mean?
01:43Mary Carl was a real woman
01:44Hezekiah Moscow was a real man, they existed, they walked the earth at that particular time
01:50And what Steve does is he just brings these three stories together and creates this wonderful world
01:56And like, you know, Malachi said, each one of our other characters in the ensemble piece as well
02:01Are all wonderfully written and beautiful characters
02:04So I think you then become amazed in the story
02:07Because it has that kind of sense of reality about it
02:11Another thing that Steve has said, which I found really magnificent is
02:15He's also said there's no better fiction than fact
02:18So he takes a lot of things that actually happened
02:21Like, Mary and her crew actually robbed Ahrens
02:25Do you know what I mean?
02:26They actually smashed Ahrens up and stole a load of stuff from Ahrens
02:30They did it in real life, it happened
02:31Do you know what I mean?
02:32So it's great to see that on screen
02:36Although the city speaks to present in your opinion
02:40I think about the theme of immigration
02:43Yeah
02:44Yeah
02:44I mean, it's full of it
02:46And it looks like basically the London of today
02:51And also the London of, you know, that time period
02:54It looks, it's accurate to that
02:55You know, you have people
02:56You have Hezekiah that comes over from Jamaica
02:58You have Lao that's there from China
03:00You have people that have come over from France
03:03I don't know that it's making a conscious comment about immigration
03:08But I think it's just showing that London has been built
03:11And has been, you know, contributed by people
03:14That, you know, are from other places, you know
03:17I don't think the city itself is trying to make any kind of political statement
03:21I feel it's just saying, look, this is what happened
03:24And this is, again, not to, you know, overgild the lily
03:29But these are people who lived and existed and who led a life
03:33All Steve has done is created this life and told it from a different perspective
03:38But these people were here in England at this particular time
03:42And I think it's just shown, you know, the diversity and the multicultural aspect to Great Britain
03:50And let's not forget, you know, our favourite dish is
03:54The national dish is a curry
03:56Do you know what I mean?
03:57Let's be really honest about that right now
04:00Do you know what I mean?
04:01It's not your Sunday dinner
04:02Or your Yorkshire pudding
04:04Or, you know, your cottage pie
04:05It's a curry is our favourite culinary dish
04:08So, yeah, I think Britain is a very multicultural country
04:15And in my own personal opinion, long may that continue
04:20Why is sport and boxing always such an impactful element in a series or movies?
04:29I guess it's just exciting to watch
04:32It's the immediacy of it
04:34All I can speak from is
04:35I was lucky enough to sit there on the days when you were filming those scenes
04:38And genuinely, I was watching it for four days
04:42And I could not stop watching
04:44I knew exactly what you were going to do
04:46And as I say, it's something about the immediacy of two people
04:50And I suppose just the primal aspect of what it means to fight for your life
04:57And to witness that, I think you can't deny the level of drama that that brings
05:05I think that's why we tell so many stories that revolve around boxing
05:08I think also in many ways, you know, the boxing itself is the kind of fight of the underdog in
05:15many ways
05:16And if you look at boxers, no disrespect, and I'm not being disrespectful in any way, shape or form
05:20But I don't know many boxers that are born from aristocracy
05:24I think if you look at it properly, and let's really get serious about it
05:27Most boxers are from working class or really deprived areas
05:31You look at the likes of Roberto Duran or people like that, you know what I mean?
05:34And you look at where they come from, and you look at how they've fought
05:38And how they've had to really fight to get to the positions they're in
05:42And then using their pugilistic sport to ascend themselves in the trajectory of society
05:48If you want to look at it from that aspect, you know what I mean?
05:51And I think that's what Steve has subconsciously used in this context
05:55Whereas we have someone like Hezekiah, who is a skilled fighter
06:00But has no complete awareness of his ability at this particular early stage
06:04But we watch him progress, and we watch his trajectory
06:07As he becomes a seasoned, like, stylish boxer
06:11Through the laws and the rules that are changing, do you know what I mean?
06:15So I think that was one of the key elements that Steve wanted to bring in
06:18And we're actually in the building right now
06:20Where the Queensby rules were kind of organised and brought about
06:23So it's watching the gentrification as well of boxing
06:28Do you know what I mean?
06:29That's kind of, we take it from the streets and where it is
06:32And then it's gentrified, and it becomes a sport for gentlemen to observe
06:36And to watch the savages fight
06:38I think that's kind of one of the elements as well
06:40Within the process of what Steve's done
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