30/29
Helen embarks on a passionate affair with a man who has no idea what her secret identity is. Caught in the crosshairs when her lover falls victim to the dangerous London underworld, Helen’s employers call in Sam to protect her member of the band The Damned.. Featured in The Graham Norton Show: Cher/Keira Knightley/Michael Fassbender/ Josh Brolin/Jalen Ngonda (2024). Fairytale of New YorkWritten by Jem Finer, Shane MacGowanPerformed by The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl. STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful 'Helen Webb' (Keira Knightley) lives with her husband, Wallace (Andrew Buchan), the Secretary of Defence. All seems idyllic, until her former Commander Reed (Sarah Lancashire) arrives back in her life and informs her that her secret lover, Jason (Andrew Koji), has been killed, along with two other people, causing her to resurrect her former life as a secret spy, on a course for revenge. Reed sets her back up with Sam (Ben Whishaw), a hitman and her former trainer, and together they navigate a complex web of political espionage and murder which still has the potential to work in new and different formats. Black Doves arrived out of nowhere, with a massive publicity campaign, and has become the latest big Netflix production to top the charts, that aims to revive the genre in the modern day. The result is a truly mixed bag that keeps your attention through its pleasingly succinct eight episodes, but can’t really cover up the bumps in the script cloak and dagger cliches, that anyone familiar with spy capers of old will recognize and even fondly embrace. The big problem is the uneven tone. The script bounces unevenly between wry, tongue in cheek action comedy and dark, heavy spy thriller, that leaves you thrown about too much to really take it in. It makes up for it, however, with some stylish, flashy action sequences, with Whishaw and Knightley creating a convincing pair of mismatched professionals, with strong support from Lancashire as the icy, detached M type commander, and Black Doves, despite its flaws, is a strong addition to the staple, with an interesting mystery at its core heart, with some strong performances and action to match. ***