Netflix’s Black Doves: Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire lift otherwise generic spy thriller

Any streaming series with just one of Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw or Sarah Lancashire would be generating buzz. A show with all of them? That’s a guaranteed curiosity.

Black Doves is lucky enough to have cast the three British thespians and packaged them in a slick spy thriller that has a touch of the festive spirit.

The London-set show starts with the murders of three people, connected by their panicked calls to each other as they’re picked off, one by one. The last to die is Jason (Andrew Koji), a public servant that leaves a message for an unknown person.

That person is Helen (Knightley), the wife of the UK defence minister (Andrew Buchan) and seemingly little more than that. She is, of course, much, much more. Helen, which is not her real name, is keeping a bigger secret than the clandestine affair she was having with Jason.

She is an operative for a shady outfit called the Black Doves, a black ops business that sells its expertise and muscle whoever is paying the highest price. Her handler is Mrs Reed (Lancashire), who calls trigger man Sam (Whishaw) in from the cold to help Helen discover who is behind Jason’s death.

Rather inconveniently, Helen had fallen in love with Jason, so his killing is a personal affront she must avenge. There is also the question of is he really was who he claimed to be, or if he knew who Helen really was.

Black Doves is twisty and compulsive as it peels back the layers of the conspiracy that signed the death warrants in the series opener. Screen culture is up to its ears in secret schemes, because that’s just the world we live in now.

In the past six weeks alone, there have been The Diplomat, The Day of the Jackal, The Agency and The Madness.

Black Doves’ plot is not particularly distinct, but that’s not really the point of the show. It’s about these three core characters and the interplay between them.

Helen is crazy smart with sharp instincts and an unassuming presence that belies how steely she really is. She also has a lot to lose beyond the dead lover — her cover has long come to be more than that, especially with her twin kids.

She has a history with Sam that is revealed throughout successive flashbacks, and Knightley and Whishaw have this bedded dynamic that feels years old even though the two have, surprisingly, never before worked together.

Sam is an increasingly interesting character as you discover his vulnerabilities and backstory, including the circumstances under which he left London several years ago.

Lancashire’s Mrs Reed brings the bone-dry humour. She gets the best zingers in a show that is frequently very funny thanks the rhythms and droll tone of its scripting and direction.

In the hands of three skilled performers, the characters are more intriguing than the story, which in the well-worn espionage genre is a necessary draw card.

It’s all set against the backdrop of Christmas, which keeps it light with a slight “caper” vibe.

Plus, there are some creative uses of its seasonal spirit and an urgency where they’re not just racing against the clock to stay alive but to also make it home for Santa.

Whether that makes Black Doves a Christmas show depends on whether you believe Die Hard is a Christmas movie – a topic as divisive as any political battleground.

Black Doves is an entertaining if not somewhat generic spy thriller that is elevated by the charisma of its three superstar leads.

Black Doves is streaming on Netflix