WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Black Doves episode 1.

Keira Knightley's Helen Webb is a secret agent in the covert spy organization known as the Black Doves in Netflix's espionage series the cast of Black Doves along with Ben Whishaw, who is best known for playing Q in Daniel Craig's final three James Bond movies. Black Doves also features a stellar ing cast, including Sarah Lancashire's Reed, Kathryn Hunter's Lenny, Ella Lily Hyland's Williams, and Omari Douglas's Michael.

Black Doves follows Knightley's Helen Webb, the loving and ive wife of Andrew Buchan's Wallace Webb, a prominent British politician. Webb is also a secret agent working for the mysterious covert spy organization known as the Black Doves, which Mrs. Reed is the head of. Reed confronts Helen over an affair she was having with a civil servant named Jason (Andrew Koji), who was shockingly shot and killed in a park from long range. Suspecting that Helen could be in hot water with a powerful criminal conspiracy, Reed enlists a trusted triggerman named Sam Young (Whishaw) to help Helen avert threats to her life and family.

All 6 episodes of Black Doves season 1 are streaming now on Netflix.

Who The Black Doves' Spies Are & Why They're Recruited

They are spies who extract information and sell it for maximum profit

The Black Doves are a seemingly female-exclusive agency of undercover operatives in the United Kingdom. Helen Webb is introduced as one of the top Black Dove agents who has one of the biggest responsibilities as the wife of a prominent British politician. Helen Webb was formerly Helen Dawson before she met and married the ideological Conservative minister of state for defense, Wallace Webb. Before she ed the Black Doves, she went by Daisy Bradshaw, although the leader of the Black Doves, Mrs. Reed, suspected that Daisy was not her real name the first time the two characters met.

It's unclear how long the Black Doves have been established and who founded them, an area which Black Doves season 2 would do well to explore. Helen becomes aware of at least one other Black Dove agent during the six-part first season who goes by Dani. Dani's cover job is working as an assistant to Wallace in the British government. Helen spots her from a mile away and Dani eventually reveals that she is a fellow Black Dove instructed by Reed to monitor Helen's movements. Helen's babysitter is also revealed to be a Black Dove recruit at the end of Black Doves season 1.

Who The Black Doves Work For

The highest bidder

The Black Doves are a capitalistic agency, meaning that they do not have any particular nationalistic ties and are not a part of any government branch. This allows them to be hired by any national or ideological interest groups or persons and removes any devout loyalty to Great Britain even though they are based in London. Like pay-for-hire assassins, the Black Doves offer their resources to the highest bidder and maintain no loyalty to any country. As Reed explains to Daisy/Helen during their introductory conversation, the Black Doves are spies who extract information and sell it for maximum profit.

Mrs. Reed's Role In The Black Doves Organization Explained

She is the Black Doves' main point of in London

Helen is the primary Black Dove agent in season 1 of the series along with Mrs. Reed, whose background is not discussed whatsoever. Reed is one of the heads of the Black Doves and is the main point of for the organization. While there could be authoritative figures who work behind the scenes to arrange deals and logistics, they are not revealed or hinted at in Black Doves season 1. It appears that most of the London-based contracts and recruitments require the stamp of approval of Mrs. Reed before they go into effect. The specific Black Doves payment structure is also not discussed but Mrs. Reed likely takes a sizable percentage of every job.

Based on Netflix's depiction of Mrs. Reed, she appears to be a high-ranking member of the Black Doves who watches over Helen but certainly is not the only one. "High up in the Black Doves, the enigmatic Reed is the puppet master and always several steps ahead of everyone else. Like Helen, her moral com is skewed, and she’s ultimately looking to make the most money possible by selling secrets to the highest bidder, good or bad" (via Netflix). There is a clear maternal quality to Mrs. Reed, which works well for Helen, who has no known family in the series besides an imprisoned stepsister who murdered her stepfather.

Why The Spies Are Called "Black Doves"

They are secret "black ops" female agents

There doesn't appear to be any clear symbolism or direct inspiration for the name of the Black Doves organization. The term "Black" likely refers to the "Black Ops" purpose and function of the agency, where their existence is a total secret that is only known in the highest of political and crime circles. The primary function of a black ops agency is to extract information in secret so that checks out in the case of the Black Doves. Doves have various forms of symbolism in many different contexts. "Turtle doves" referenced in the song "Twelve Days of Christmas" fit in with the Christmas theme of season 1. Doves also have spiritual and feminine-specific connotations.

Are The Black Doves Based On A Real Spy Organization?

No, but the creator was inspired by a true spy story

The Black Doves are not directly based on any real-life spy group. However, creator Joe Barton recently discussed his inspiration for the series with RadioTimes. "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."

Barton was inspired by a true story concept when he created Black Doves but none of the characters in the series are based on specific people. Part of the real-life scandal was based on the unethical nature of the real-life spies who got married and had children with their targets to enhance their covers. This is precisely what Helen Webb does with Wallace in Black Doves and what she discovers Jason did with her as an undercover MI5 agent. Since these real-life spy scandals occurred in England less than fifteen years ago, some viewers may see the foundational and conceptual connections in Black Doves.