The detachment’s two German members, Essner and Brückner, are disguised as Afrika Korps and drive the truck, with the French troops sat in the back and posing as POWs. At the beginning of each episode, the viewer is informed that the series is "[b]ased on a true story", and that "the events depicted which seem most unbelievable… are mostly true". Some wanted excitement, some liked killing and made no pretence about it, some were escaping from their past, some were too eccentric for the ranks; all had to be fit, alert, crafty, ruthless if required and dedicated to the mission. With a lot of hot and dusty backdrops, SAS: Rogue Heroes filmed across a variety of settings to achieve authenticity.

SAS: Rogue Heroes - Ben Macintyre SAS: Rogue Heroes - Ben Macintyre

Accompanied by Mayne's shyness around women and drunken outbursts, historians have questioned the relationship between the pair. Jimmy said that Lewes died pretty quickly, but Lewes was trying to say something… whether it was the name of his girlfriend, Mirren, I couldn’t say. We sought the advice of the SAS Regimental Association, who were super supportive throughout the process. Gwilym Lee (The Great, Bohemian Rhapsody) joins SAS Rogue Heroes for series two to play Bill Stirling, David Stirling’s brother and founder of the 2SAS regiment, while Con O’Neill (Happy Valley, Our Flag Means Death) will play General Montgomery. The adrenaline-fuelled origins of the fearless, reckless Special Forces unit, its legend forged among the mayhem of WWII.And at one point, some Italian soldiers tagged along with them, believing Stirling’s men to be Germans on a drill (which is depicted in the episode). a b "First full-length trailer and new pictures released for SAS Rogue Heroes, coming soon to BBC One and iPlayer". On the night he died, Mayne had been drinking heavily at a Masonic Lodge with a friend in nearby Bangor. The story is one of the most legendary SAS tales, but – according to Mortimer – the product of Stirling’s self-serving imagination. The narrative begins in a Cairo hospital in 1941, when, after a failed training exercise, British Army officer David Stirling has the idea of creating a special commando unit which could operate deep behind enemy lines.

SAS - Penguin Books UK

Stirling made a hasty retreat, and drove out of Benghazi, at which point one of the axles fell off the truck. Through the writing I tried not to refer to other fiction, and tried where possible to refer to first hand accounts.Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama says: “Series one dazzled millions of viewers across the country with its swagger, action-packed set pieces and wit, winning a whole legion of fans in the process. Once he left school, he chose to study law at Queen's University of Belfast, with the aim of becoming a solicitor. Billy Foley, writing in The Irish News, was somewhat more critical of the artistic license employed, particularly in the depiction of Paddy Mayne. Because some consider him to be the bravest soldier in history never to be awarded the Victoria Cross – the highest military award for gallantry – and to this day, there’s an active campaign for it to be awarded posthumously. He was also followed by controversy - read on to find out who Paddy Mayne was, and what happened to him when he left the SAS.