Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw’s Black Doves adds Fool Me Once, The Crown stars to cast

The Netflix spy series is in production now.

By James Hibbs

Published: Friday, 22 March 2024 at 11:00 AM

New Netflix spy thriller Black Doves already had a stellar cast, led by Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw and Happy Valley‘s Sarah Lancashire.

Now, that cast is expanding, with the streamer having announced a host of big name actors joining the show as part of its Next on Netflix UK event.

Joining the six-part series are Adeel Akhtar (Fool Me Once), Tracey Ullman (The Tracey Ullman Show), Finn Bennett (True Detective: Night Country) and Luther Ford (The Crown).

Meanwhile, cast members who had previously been announced alongside Knightley, Whishaw and Lancashire include Andrew Buchan (Passenger), Andrew Koji (Bullet Train), Kathryn Hunter (Andor), Sam Troughton (Litvinenko), Ella Lily Hyland (Fifteen Love), Adam Silver (Masters of the Air), Ken Nwosu (The Winter King), Gabrielle Creevy (The Pact) and Omari Douglas (It’s a Sin).

A grid with the title Black Doves above headshot photos of Adeel Akhtar, Finn Bennett, Luther Ford, Tracey Ullman, K
The cast of Black Doves.
Netflix

The series comes from The Lazarus Project creator Joe Barton, and is set in London at Christmas-time – perhaps giving a hint as to when we can expect it to debut on Netflix.

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Across the six episodes, viewers will follow Knightley’s Helen Webb, a quick-witted, down to earth, dedicated wife and mother, who is also a professional spy.

For 10 years she’s been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the Black Doves – the shadowy organisation she works for – but when her secret lover Jason (Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster Reed (Lancashire) calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Whishaw) to keep her safe. The duo then set off on a mission to investigate who killed Jason and why.

When the show was first announced, Barton said: “I started writing the scripts for this show over last year’s Christmas holidays, fuelled by turkey sandwiches and discarded bottles of cream liquor.

“To be now going into production with a cast and crew full of people whose work I admire so much is unbelievably exciting, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to get to see this show come to life.”