Who Are The Clarks & Newmans In Black Doves? Crime Families Explained

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 series Black Doves. Created by Joe Barton (The Lazarus Project, Giri/Haji), Black Doves has outstanding reviews, earning a 98% Rotten Tomatoes critic score after its December 5, 2024 release date. Knightley (Atonement, Pirates of the Caribbean) leads the cast of Black Doves along with Ben Whishaw's Sam Young, best known for playing Q in Daniel Craig's James Bond films. Black Doves features a stellar supporting cast, including Sarah Lancashire's Reed, Kathryn Hunter's Lenny, and Ella Lily Hyland's Williams.

Black Doves follows public figure Helen Webb, the loving and supportive 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 headed by the notorious Clark family, Reed enlists a trusted triggerman named Sam Young for assistance.

The Clarks & The Newmans Are Two Criminal Family Organizations

The Clarks are a much bigger and more dangerous crime conglomerate

In Black Doves season 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 Newman brothers were a violent group of drug dealers with quite a gang at their disposal. Young Hector launched an attack on Sam with this gang to seek revenge for his brothers. He's played by Luther Ford.

The Clarks are a much bigger crime family conglomerate out of London. They have international 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 of Black Doves season 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.

Alex Clark, played by Tracey Ullman, is the London crime boss and the Clark matriarch in Black Doves. Her son, Trent, is meant to be her successor in the business. Helen confronts Alex in a showdown late in the season, and Alex claims she had no part to play in the death of Jason Davies.

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 on Hector 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 Doves season 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. Hector also thanks Sam for killing his bully brothers and offers him a job.

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 in Black Doves and is why Ambassador Chen, Jason, Maggie, Phillip, Stephen Yarrick, and even Elmore Fitch, were all killed. Despite his pleas for innocence and his admission of guilt in the Black Doves season 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. In the Black Doves season 1 finale, Sam shoots Alex and then kills Trent before Helen has a chance to pull the trigger herself. He appears to be sparing her the burden of being a killer like him. A distraught Helen says Trent was hers to kill.

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.

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.

One of the biggest mysteries in Black Doves season 1 is how Hector Newman came to find Kai-Ming in the first place and 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 in Black Doves season 2.