Critics say Black Doves season 2 is the best spy show on TV right now

The whole streaming spy series trend seems to be in permanent overdrive, doesn’t it? Apple has been waving Slow Horses about, Paramount+ did The Agency, and even Peacock tried their hand with Ponies last year for reasons known only to them. Yet Netflix has tended to zig where the others zag. Less grey raincoats, more splashes of violence and actual humour, especially with Black Doves, which landed in December 2024 and found itself a surprise hit pretty much overnight.

Black Doves series two lands on Netflix today, all six episodes dropping in one go.

The Second Lap

The two-year wait since Knightley & Whishaw last lurked around moody London in Black Doves was always going to be risky. But with the second season finally here (and streaming in its entirety from today), creator Joe Barton seems to have pulled it off again if you go by the first batch of critics. Early reviews are trending strongly positive on Rotten Tomatoes—a rare enough feat for a show that juggles knife fights, political intrigue, and several very emotive midlife crises.

Nick Schager’s review in The Daily Beast is the most glowing so far, calling Black Doves:

A rare TV affair that wholly avoids lulls, its writing as brisk and cutting as its performances are nuanced and compelling.

Amelia Harvey over at Nerdspin isn’t far behind, slapping an A- on it and calling the episodes 'immensely bingeable' and 'as sharp-witted as Netflix gets'. She also openly pleads for a nice, plump 10 more seasons, though I suspect even Netflix isn’t that generous with renewals these days.

Not All Roses (But Nearly)

Collider’s Carly Lane awarded a 9/10, especially impressed with how the show made its universe feel bigger without drowning the characters in unnecessary backstory or spectacle. The gist from critics is that the show has grown in scale and ambition without losing what made it watchable in the first place: the mix of action and the unhealthily dark comedy beating underneath.

• Sean Morrison at Screen Rant dials it down to a still positive 7/10, likening this run to Spectre (his way of saying it’s good, but maybe a touch less special than that first outing).
• Meanwhile, NME’s Matt Maytum (4 stars out of 5) does mention that disbelief will need to be parked at the door, but says the chaos is a pretty enjoyable ride overall.

What’s New and Who’s Back?

Plot-wise, it all picks up with Whishaw’s assassin, Wallace, inching dangerously close to 10 Downing Street (as one does), while Helen finds herself chasing down her missing handler Reed (Sarah Lancashire, still as frostily intimidating as ever). The new season also throws in Ambika Mod, Neve Campbell, Sam Riley, and Sylvia Hoeks for good measure, making the world of Black Doves properly crowded with morally questionable types.

And yes, Keira Knightley’s Helen Webb remains the anxious heart of the series, caught as always between professional loyalty and whatever shambles her home life has become this time around. The show’s always been less about tradecraft than what it costs to keep secrets beneath your own roof, and that tension still drives the best scenes in series two.