Steven Knight writes threats and family quarrels that give actors plenty to work with. We rate him most when he trusts the performances; too often, another speech explains what we have already understood.
Fi1m perspective
Tom Hardy listens to another telephone call in Locke (2014), trying to keep his voice calm as work and family demand more of him. Knight, who wrote and directed, gives us little to watch beyond a man driving at night. We were gripped by Hardy's effort to sound reasonable as his composure became harder to sustain. The calls fit together too neatly, but the close attention to Hardy makes this our first recommendation.
Knight's breakthrough in features came with the screenplay for Dirty Pretty Things (2002). In David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (2007), he brings a midwife into London's Russian underworld, giving us a route into an otherwise guarded company. The criminal types are familiar and the plotting sometimes convenient. Cronenberg allows the men's wary dealings and attraction to one another enough time to become more interesting than the mechanics of the story.
Television gives those struggles for control more room in Peaky Blinders (2013), Knight's Birmingham gangster saga. The first two series give Cillian Murphy's Tommy and Sam Neill's Campbell sharply written confrontations; later, the drama grows slower and starts repeating its tricks. Murphy and Helen McCrory remain reasons to stay. In Taboo (2017), co-created with Tom Hardy and Chips Hardy, the reliance on an imposing central man becomes a problem. Supporting characters get too little room, and withholding motives makes us wait for a story that ought to be moving.
His dialogue becomes more of an obstacle in Pablo Larraín's Maria (2024). Callas has an interviewer named Mandrax, also the name on her pill bottles, and Knight makes sure we notice the connection. Angelina Jolie's exact, composed performance cannot make the repeated rehearsals, interviews and walks sufficiently involving. We wanted fewer explanations and more time to watch her listen.
There is more pleasure in A Thousand Blows (2025), where Erin Doherty, Malachi Kirby and Stephen Graham make the threats worth hearing. The crowded stories and explanatory dialogue occasionally leave them waiting. House of Guinness (2025) similarly benefits from James Norton's charm and threat, though Knight spreads the attention too widely for one character to become indispensable. Start with Locke, then try A Thousand Blows if a larger cast and a period setting appeal.
Biography
Steven Knight CBE (born 5 August 1959) is an English screenwriter, producer and director for film and television.
He wrote the screenplay for the film Maria (2024) and created and wrote the series A Thousand Blows (2025). Knight is the creator of the BBC series Peaky Blinders (2013–) and co-creator of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. His other screenplays include Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Eastern Promises (2007), Spencer (2021) and See (2019).
Knight studied at University College London. He has also written and directed the films Locke (2013) and Serenity (2019). He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to drama, entertainment and the community in Birmingham.
