For a series that features "three murders including a slashed throat within the first four minutes", Netflix's "Black Doves" is surprisingly jolly, said Carol Midgley in The Times. A comic spy series, it stars Keira Knightley as Helen Webb, "a seemingly perfect, fragrant political wife" who is actually a spy, passing the secrets she learns from her defence secretary husband (Andrew Buchan) to the shadowy espionage company she works for, which then sells them to the highest bidder.
The "starry cast" also includes Sarah Lancashire as the company's spymaster, and Ben Whishaw as a hired killer. Is it any good? "Well, if you fancy something that feels like a mating experiment between 'Gangs of London' (for the body count and violence), 'Love Actually' (for the glossy Christmassy backdrop and festive songs) with a dash of 'Slow Horses' (for the dry wit and espionage)", then you will probably be entertained – and it certainly looks very nice.
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