WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Black Doves season 1.
The Clarks and the Newmans are two feared and dangerous London-based crime family organizations in the Netflix espionage seriesBlack Doves. Created by Joe Barton (The Lazarus Project,Giri/Haji),Black Doveshas outstanding reviews, earning a98% Rotten Tomatoes critic scoreafter its August 05, 2025 release date. Knightley (Atonement,Pirates of the Caribbean) leadsthe cast ofBlack Dovesalong withBen Whishaw’s Sam Young, best known for playing Q in Daniel Craig’s James Bond films.Black Dovesfeatures a stellar supporting cast, including Sarah Lancashire’s Reed, Kathryn Hunter’s Lenny, and Ella Lily Hyland’s Williams.
Black Dovesfollows public figure Helen Webb, the loving and supportive wife of Andrew Buchan’s Wallace Webb, a prominent British politician.Webb is also a secret agentworking for the mysterious covertspy 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 namedJason (Andrew Koji), who was shockingly shot and killedin a park from long range. Suspecting thatHelen could be in hot water with a powerful criminal conspiracy headed by the notorious Clark family, Reed enlists a trusted triggerman named Sam Young for assistance.
All 6 episodes ofBlack Dovesseason 1 are now streaming on Netflix.
The Clarks & The Newmans Are Two Criminal Family Organizations
The Clarks are a much bigger and more dangerous crime conglomerate
InBlack Dovesseason 1, the Clarks and the Newmans are two separate organized crime families who operate out of London, England. The Newmans are the first of the two crime families to be introduced in the series through a flashback involving Sam several years before the main plot of the series takes place. As one of Sam’s early assignments after Lenny ordered him to take out his father, Frank, for his first hit,Sam kills three of the four Newman brothers who were starting to make a name for themselves as drug dealers.
The Clarks are a much bigger crime family conglomerate out of London. They haveinternational outreach and have established connections in several countries, including the United States. Alex Clark was the head of the Clark family mob before Sam killed her at the end ofBlack Dovesseason 1. Her son, Trent Clark, was not a prominent figure in the organization apart from being Alex’s son. He appears to be of little use to Alex in the series but is the main reason why several of the deaths take place, most significantly Ambassador Chen, who he accidentally killed, and Jason, who he hired another assassin named Elmore Fitch to murder.
Sam Was Hired To Take Out The Newmans But Spared Hector’s Life
Sam couldn’t kill Hector because it would break his code
Hector was the boy who Sam let live, which forced him to walk away from the assassin business and get out of London for seven years. When Sam returns to London, Lenny gets a hold of him and wants him to make good on the botched hit onHector Newman, who had grown up and expanded his own profitable drug ring. Lenny still found Hector to be a nuisance in London even after all those years and forced Sam to make good on his promise. Newman had gotten more powerful and disruptive after Sam let him off the hook.
Sam didn’t pull the trigger on Hector when he had the chance because he was just a kid and that would have violated his own moral code as a hitman.Apart from Hector,Black Dovesseason 1 doesn’t introduce any other prominent Newmans, indicating that Hector may be the last man standing in his crime family. Hector’s operation was weakened after the Clarks took out dozens of his men searching for Kai-Ming, Ambassador Chen’s daughter. This is why Hector doesn’t kill when he has the chance and why he shows up at Michale’s apartment asking to join forces at the end of the season.
Trent Clark Is The Son Of The Notorious Mob Boss Alex Clark
He is the reason for many of the deaths in the series
Trent Clark is the main reason why the entire plot unfolds inBlack Dovesand is whyAmbassador Chen, Jason, Maggie, Phillip, Stephen Yarrick, and even Elmore Fitch, were all killed. Despite his pleas for innocence and his admission of guilt in theBlack Dovesseason 1 finale, Trent had far too much blood on his hands. In the final moments of Black Doves season 1, Sam sensed that Helen was about to take revenge on Trent for killing Jason and taking more lives trying to cover it up. Sam takes out Trent, Alex, and their bodyguard so Helen doesn’t bring danger to her family.
There’s nothing really tragic about Trent’s death since he is by far the most irredeemable character in the series. The same can be said for Alex Clar, who was completely unaware that Trent was trying to cover himself by ordering hits on everyone who knew about Ambassador Chen’s death. While Alex and Trent are not featured much in Black Doves season 1, and won’t be included in the eventual season 2, their deaths could spell trouble for Helen and Sam in future episodes. Since the Clarks are intentionally known,there will likely be another prominent Clark who becomes a main villain in season 2.
Are The Newman & Clark Crime Families In Black Doves Connected?
The Newmans and the Clarks are rival gangs and don’t work together
If anything, the Clarks and the Newmans are rival crime families with very different levels of power and scale. The Clarks are internationally recognized, while the Newmans, or at least what’s left of them with Hector, are a more local clan operating in the United Kingdom. Hector Newman may have additional connections throughout Europe since his primary trade appears to be selling and distributing drugs.The Newmans could turn out to be a bigger conglomerate than they seem inBlack Dovesseason 2, especially because Newman feels like he will be a bigger character now that he’s teamed up with Sam.
One of the biggest mysteries inBlack Dovesseason 1 ishow Hector Newman came to find Kai-Ming in the first placeand why she was stuck in his warehouse. Since the Clarks were looking for Kai-Ming and shot up the Newmans' warehouse, it wouldn’t make sense if the two crime families were operating on the same team. It’s more than likely that the Newmans and the Clarks are rival gangs, although the Clarks are much more sophisticated than the Newmans in the first season. Since Alex Clark is dead, Hector Newman could try to gain power among the Clarks or enlist some of their henchmen and resources to expand his organization inBlack Dovesseason 2.
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.
