Black Doves is a British spy action thriller television series created by Joe Barton. The series, starring Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, and Sarah Lancashire, is developed by Sister and Barton's production company Noisy Bear for Netflix. The series is about a spies-for-hire organisation that obtains secrets for the highest bidder. Ahead of its premiere on 5 December 2024, it was renewed for a second series.
The series was well received by critics, and Knightley was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her performance.
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Synopsis
Helen, the wife of the Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom, learns that her secret identity as a spy is in danger after her lover is killed by London's underworld. Her employers, "the Black Doves", a 'Spies-for-hire' organisation – that retrieves industrial, political or diplomatic secrets for the highest bidder – send Sam, an old friend, to protect her.
Cast
Main
Keira Knightley as Helen Webb (née Dawson)
Ben Whishaw as Sam Young
Sarah Lancashire as Reed
Recurring
Andrew Buchan as Wallace Webb, Secretary of State for Defence and Conservative MP for Skipton and Ripon.
Andrew Koji as Jason Davies, a Ministry of Justice civil servant.
Omari Douglas as Michael, Sam's ex-boyfriend
Sam Troughton as Police Commissioner Stephen Yarrick
Ella Lily Hyland as Williams
Isabella Wei as Kai-Ming Chen
Adam Silver as Arnie
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Zack
Agnes O'Casey as Dani, Wallace's new assistant
Tai Yin Chan as Wu Lin
Charlotte Rice-Foley as Jacqueline Webb, Wallace and Helen's daughter
Taylor Sullivan as Oliver "Oli" Webb, Wallace and Helen's son
Molly Chesworth as Marie, the Webb family's nanny
Ken Nwosu as Bill
Andy Cheung as Ambassador Jun Chen, Kai-Ming Chen's father
Kathryn Hunter as Lenny Lines
Gabrielle Creevy as Eleanor
Luther Ford as Hector Newman
Finn Bennett as Cole Atwood, a CIA agent and Kai-Ming Chen's associate
Guest
Hannah Khalique-Brown as Maggie Jones, an assistant in a jewellery shop
Thomas Coombes as Phillip Bray, a tabloid reporter
Lizzie Hopley as Beth
Antonia Campbell-Hughes as Georgina "George"
Julian Wadham as Andy
Jennifer Armour as Vanessa Robinson, the diplomatic secretary at the Embassy of the United States, London
Timothy Harker as Les Mullery, Director General of MI5
Paapa Essiedu as Elmore Fitch
Adam Best as Jim Perryman
Steve Wall as Frank
Tracey Ullman as Alex Clark
Angus Cooper as Trent Clark, Kai-Ming Chen's boyfriend
Production
The project was announced by Netflix in April 2023. Barton also produces through Noisy Bear, alongside production company Sister.
Filming began in London in October 2023. That month, Sarah Lancashire and Ben Whishaw were added to the cast, along with Andrew Buchan, Omari Douglas, Andrew Koji, Kathryn Hunter, Sam Troughton, Ella Lily Hyland, Adam Silver, Ken Nwosu and Gabrielle Creevy. In March 2024, Adeel Akhtar, Tracey Ullman, Finn Bennett and Luther Ford were added to the cast. In August 2024, ahead of its première, Netflix renewed the show for a second series.
Barton derived the series name from the Black Dove, his local pub in Brighton.
Filming for Season 2 started in London by November 2025, with announcements that Neve Campbell, Ambika Mod, Babou Ceesay and Sam Riley had been added to the cast.
Release
The series premiered on Netflix on 5 December 2024.
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 70 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Blending multiple genres into a truly unique action-thriller, Black Doves hits its target dead on." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Writing in The Guardian, Rebecca Nicholson described the series as "gleefully pulpy" and was mildly critical of Knightley and Whishaw's portrayals, but praised cameo appearances by numerous well-known actors in supporting roles. In Digital Spy, David Opie singled out the on-screen depiction of Sam having gay sex in the first episode, stating that the series "ventures where James Bond would never dare go".