Keira Knightley plays a spy in London at Christmas in Black Doves, which would have been plenty to get us to press play. Then along come Williams and Eleanor, two assassins who can get on each other’s nerves and still make you want them in every scene together. If you’ve ever started a show for the lead and ended up texting your friends about two women further down the cast list, you know how this goes.
Season 2 is out now on Netflix. If you missed the first season, go back to episode one. Part of the fun is getting to know these two when they’re just getting to know each other.
What’s Black Doves about?
Knightley plays Helen Webb, who uses her marriage to a British politician to pass along government secrets. Ben Whishaw plays Sam, her old friend and a professional hitman. The show has the things you want from a spy thriller, like people having perfectly polite conversations while keeping enormous secrets from each other. It’s also funny in the way a show about people with objectively terrible jobs can be funny. Everybody still has to deal with their coworkers.
That brings us to Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) and Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy). The two nearly didn’t exist as a pair. Series creator Joe Barton had Creevy in mind for Williams. Hyland landed the part, and Barton wrote Eleanor for Creevy. If you’re the kind of person who starts paying more attention the minute two women with good banter share a scene, that casting decision worked out very well for you.
Start with Season 1
There’s a particular pleasure in watching two people who are good at their jobs and openly irritated by each other’s habits. Williams and Eleanor have that kind of chemistry. A little back-and-forth between them can be as much fun as whatever the spies are doing across town. And if you’re watching with a friend, there’s always the question of whether you’re both reading the same thing into the banter.
This is a good one to send to the friend who always asks if there’s anything sapphic in the show you’re recommending. Tell them it’s a British spy thriller with Keira Knightley and two assassins they’ll want to keep an eye on. Let them find out the rest for themselves.
Both seasons of Black Doves are streaming on Netflix.
