Helen begins a passionate affair with a man who has no idea what her secret identity is. In the spotlight when her lover falls victim to London's dangerous underworld, Helena's employers call on Sam to protect her. Bingo, the owner of the guitar shop where Sam gets his guns, is played by Rat Scabies, a. member of The Damned.. Appeared on The Graham Norton Show: Cher/Keira Knightley/Michael Fassbender/Josh Brolin/Jalen Ngonda (2024). A Tale of New York Written by Jem Finer, Shane MacGowan Performed by The Pogues & amp; Kirsty MacColl. STAR RATING: ***** Excellent **** Very Good *** Good ** Poor * Terrible 'Helen Webb' (Keira Knightley) lives with her husband Wallace (Andrew Buchan), the Defense Secretary, and their two children. Everything seems idyllic until her former commander Reed (Sarah Lancashire) comes back into her life and informs her that her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) has been killed along with two other people, so she has resurrected her former life. as a secret spy, out for revenge. Together with Sam (Ben Whishaw), an assassin and her former trainer, Reed navigates a complex web of political espionage and assassination. The spy thriller has fallen out of favor over the years, but one that still has the potential to work in new and different formats. Black Doves came out of nowhere with a huge advertising campaign and became the latest major Netflix production to top the charts in a bid to revive the genre in modern times. The result is a truly mixed bag that keeps your attention throughout its pleasantly concise eight episodes, but can't really hide the script's unevenness. All in all, it's a pretty standard spy story with some pretty standard ones. cloak-and-dagger clichés that anyone familiar with vintage spy capers will recognize and even happily embrace. The big problem is uneven tone. The script bounces unevenly between tongue-in-cheek action-comedy and dark, hard-hitting spy thriller, leaving you thinking too much to really get into it. But it makes up for it with some stylish, punchy action sequences with Whishaw. and Knightley make a compelling pair of mismatched professionals, strongly supported by Lancashire as the icy, detached M-type commander. The spy thriller remains one with limitless possibilities, and Black Doves, despite its flaws, is a strong addition to the staple, with an interesting mystery at its heart, with some strong performances and action. ***