Christmas came early this year because Netflix has given us the gift of the new spy thriller Black Doves, starring Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire. Created by Joe Barton, the six-episode show is set in London at Christmas holiday time.
Helen Webb (Knightley) is a mother and married to a politician, but she actually works as a spy for the secret Black Doves organization, under Reed (Lancashire), collecting government secrets to be sold to the highest bidder. Helen’s been having an affair with a man named Jason (Andrew Koji) and when he’s assassinated, Reed is concerned about any possible threat to Helen.
That’s when she’s reunited with her old friend Sam (Whishaw), the assassin assigned by Reed to keep Helen safe.
All happening during a geopolitical crisis, Helen and Sam start down the path to find out who killed Jason. While Helen is grieving the loss of a man she loved, Sam has his own issues in love, coming back to London and being faced with his ex Michael (Omari Douglas).
An absolute highlight of the show is how Barton’s writing really leans into humour. One of the best examples comes near the beginning of the series, where Helen and Sam reunite during a fight scene, having their first conversation while Helen has blood dripping down her face from Sam shooting someone trying to kill her.
“That was a really fun one to write, because, I mean, the thing that really excited me about the project is the idea of these two characters, and obviously getting these amazing actors to play them, but I always sort of pitched it as the show about friendship, really,” Barton told Yahoo Canada. “Two really old friends who sort of love each other, but they’ve been away for years, and that sort of amazing reconnection and bond that they have.”
“So always, the moment where they were reunited, … that’s an important moment. What’s going to be the most effective way of doing that? And in the middle of a fight with two assassins, and someone’s head exploding and all of that stuff, just seemed a good way of doing it.”
While this is certainly an action-packed and thrilling series, there’s also this intimate exploration of love, both romantic love and the love between friends. For Knightley and Whishaw, the friendship between Helen and Sam was a particular draw for them to the project.
“What I loved about the whole thing is that the series is very much spy thriller, murder, mayhem, but you’ve got this sort of platonic friendship at the centre between these two characters who can’t be their true selves with anyone else in the world apart from each other,” Knightley said. “They are suddenly allowed to be, warts and all, their pithy, kind of funny, ridiculous selves where they bicker with each other, but they also have this deep love and knowledge of each other.”
“I felt that depiction of friendship was a really lovely one that I hadn’t played before, and was great to kind of put at the centre of this sort of strange, chaotic world.”
“It was the thing that really leapt out at me when I first read the script,” Whishaw added. “They have such sort of sassiness with each other and classy humour, and also not classy. .. Despite the kind of moral map being all over the place, they are loyal to one another, as far as Season 1.”
‘It’s a difficult balance’
Several actors in Black Doves praised Barton’s writing, specifically how he’s able to balance different elements of the story, from the political element to the action and the love stories, to the point where you feel particularly invested in the relationships between the characters.
“When I read the script, all the characters were so beautifully etched and 3D and complex and refreshing and unexpected,” Joe Buchan, who plays Helen’s husband Wallace said. “It felt like every turn of the page offered a new surprise.”
“[Joe Barton has] written a very high-octane, unmissable thriller, with this very unexpected thread of humour running through it.”
Adeel Akhtar, who plays Conservative UK Prime Minister Richard Eaves, also stressed how Black Doves presents the show’s critical geopolitical conflict in a particularly entertaining way for the audience.
“It’s such a difficult thing to do when we’re living in such a precarious world, and a writer probably wants people to be sort of informed by that,” Akhtar said. “But it’s a difficult balance, because if you push it too much one way you’re being a bit didactic and a little bit teacher-y.”
“What he’s done with this is just sort of Trojan Horse a lot of stuff in it through the entertainment. We’re really with these characters and in their story enough to allow that to affect us, the sort of political backdrop of the story. But it works alongside all the other stuff that we’re watching as well, which is these characters going through this world together, trying to work out how to get through this sort of really precarious situation they’re in.”
For Barton, that “Trojan Horse” concept is something that’s particularly important for him in his work.
“It’s not just about the frills and the car chases and all that, you actually really care about the character, which I think is the most important thing,” he said. “I’m just interested in people and interested in their inner lives.”
“So I always want to know what makes them tick. What is their trauma? Like in James Bond they’ll occasionally throw you a little bit of like, his wife died on their wedding day, or something, and I … want more of that.”
What we know about ‘Black Doves’ Season 2
We do know that Black Doves will be returning for a Season 2, and we can’t wait to see what comes next. Barton shared that he’s very much still in the idea development stage of putting that second season together.
“I’m thinking about everything at the moment,” Barton shared. “My days are spent texting my script editor … story ideas to each other, like, ‘What about this? What about that?'”
“Actually narrowing it down is the challenge and I was walking around, we were in the centre of London here … around all these old government buildings, like MI5, MI6, [that’s all interesting], all that sort of world and that sort of espionage stuff. I’m still like very much just in the idea generation stage.”