Netflix’sBlack Dovescreator explains the real-life inspiration behind the series. Set for release on December 5,Black Dovesis a Netflix series about a woman named Helen who engages in a passionate love affair. The only catch is Helen has a secret identity that leaves her new lover in some serious danger.Black Dovesfeatures a leading castincluding Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, Andrew Koji, Tracey Ullman, Sarah Lancashire, and Andrew Buchan. It was created by Joe Barton, and will have six episodes in its premiere season.
Speaking withRadioTimes, creator Barton explains the real-life inspiration behindBlack Doves. The creator mentions thathe was “reading as well about those spy cops” that “infiltrated that environmental group.“He took inspiration from that to write a story about “that duplicitousness of having a pretend marriage lasting years and years and years and then it’s disappeared.” It was these real-life events that went on to become the inspiration forBlack Doves. Check out the full quote from Barton below:
I had been reading as well about those spy cops, those guys, and they infiltrated that environmental group and had ended up having children with it. I mean, a really horrific story, much darker than this.
But I was like, OK, that idea, that duplicitousness of having a pretend marriage lasting years and years and years and then it’s disappeared. That was really part of, I think, the inspiration for it as well.
What This Inspiration Means For Black Doves
Black Doves Is Grounded In Reality
In this interview, Barton makes reference to the “spy cops” scandal. This real-life event involved members ofundercover British police officers starting intimate relationships with targeted protest groups. These scandals took place largely in 2010 and 2011, and resulted in legal action taken against these officers, some of whom began marriages or fathered children with the people they were aiming to fool. The main target groups of this spy cops scandal were advocacy groups for social and environmental justice.
This real-world connection may helpBlack Dovesto feel even more grounded to British people or others who are aware of this “spy cops” history. In the series, protagonist Helen is a literal spy, as she works with a super spy organization called the Black Doves. It will be fascinating to see what Helen goes through in her fictionalizedstory inBlack Doves, and how that may or may not mirror real-life events.
Our Take On The Black Doves Inspiration
The Real-Life Connection May Have Helped Black Doves' Reviews
I think that this inspiration is likely to be a positive thing for the Knightley series.Black Dovesis getting strong reviewsthus far, holding a perfect100% among the 12 criticswho have rated it.Screen Rant’s Greg MacArthur praised the series for “how seamlessly it blends together genres and avoids abrupt shifts that would otherwise throw off the narrative’s pace and tone.” It seems this sense of narrative groundedness has elevatedBlack Doves, allowing it to succeed in reviews thus far as it prepares for its Netflix premiere.
Black Doves
Cast
Black Doves is a suspenseful thriller released in December 2024. It follows a spy masquerading as a politician’s wife who, after discovering her lover’s murder, joins forces with an old assassin associate to uncover the truth and seek revenge.
