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Black Doves opens with a number of people being followed and bumped off, including Jason (Andrew Koji – Boy Kills World), the bit on the side for Helen Webb (Keira Knightley – Everest IMAX 3D), who works for a covert organisation where she’s here to take out the trash.
It also quickly introduces handler Reed (Sarah Lancashire – The Accident) who wants Sam Young (Ben Whishaw – This Is Going To Hurt) to hunt any assassins that might be after her, and when he blows someone away with a shotgun, with blood spurting everywhere, Mr Whishaw still has his usual calm demeanour, leading me to expect him to order Marmalade sandwiches!
However, the writing is such that when cops turn up at one person’s door, they instantly look fake. That said, maybe this is meant to be deliberately cheesy, given that Helen’s a family mum by day, but covert assassin by night?
I’ve seen both of the first two episodes, the second of which goes back to show how Helen and Wallace (Andrew Buchan, who was also in the awful Better, which followed a similar path of a family mum who was up to no good in the evenings) first clocked eyes on each other – which would make for an interesting alternative to the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother“, as well as sher job interview where she’s asked a number of intrusive questions, and thus, becomes a ‘black dove’.
In fact, when the role is described to her, the clandestine organisation feels very similar to Paramount+’s The Agency, so when she’s running around with a gun, I keep expecting her to pass Michael Fassbender running the other way! Plus, when I saw Paapa Essiedu from The Lazarus Project, I kept wondering if they were all also going to go back and forth in time!
It also fleshes out more of Sam’s story, and the increase of hair on his head makes Whishaw look like he should portray Kevin Godley from 10cc!
All told, it’s entertaining stuff, though, and I will check out more of this.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Black Doves is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from Thursday December 5th.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 55-60 minutes per episode (6 episodes)
Release date: December 5th 2024
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Alex Gabassi, Lisa Gunning
Producer: Harry Munday
Writer/Creator: Joe Barton
Cast:
Helen Webb: Keira Knightley
Sam Young: Ben Whishaw
Reed: Sarah Lancashire
Wallace Webb: Andrew Buchan
Bingo: Rat Scabies
George: Antonia Campbell-Hughes
Michael: Omari Douglas
Stephen Yarrick: Sam Troughton
Jason: Andrew Koji
Williams: Ella Lily Hyland
Kai-Ming: Isabella Wei
Alex: Tracey Ullman
Arnie: Adam Silver
Zack: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
Ruby: Ebony Francis-Peddie
Maggie: Hannah Khalique-Brown
Phillip: Thomas Coombes
Beth: Lizzie Hopley
Dani: Agnes O’Casey
Marie: Molly Chesworth
Bill: Ken Nwosu
Ambassador Chen: Andy Cheung
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.