SAS Rogue Heroes - BBC

I have seen this written in a few reviews and attend to agree that the programme is good but the music doesn't fit the period.

There are also a lot of false statements made in it. They make out that Paddy Mayne doesn't like authority due to his father working for a rich landowner. Mayne's father was a landowner in Ireland and he (Paddy) attended a private school.

Well worth a watch.

Edit: The music I say doesn't fit are all great songs.
 
I’ve got mixed feelings to be honest I’ve had a fascination with all things sas every since I saw the princess gate operation on tv as a kid and have read countless books on the regiment including sterling’s autobiography.

So I’m glad that their amazing story is finally being told to a mass audience but I’m not happy at how they have basically turned into a peaky blinders spin off.

The real story is incredible and interesting enough without adding fake French spies and false story lines to it.

It seems others agree - I was reading an article from “paddy” Maynes family the other day ( Belfast times) about it and how they have objected to how their family member has been portrayed.
 
For those that don’t know ( and it’s not a spoiler as it history) Sterling was captured and saw out the rest of the war in colditz, so with jock Lewes dead and Stirling in a POW mayne was the de facto ruler of the SAS it was under his guidance it became what it did.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
Jedi - Have you watched SAS Rogue Warriors presented by Ben Macintyre? If not, this is well worth a watch.
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I’m not sure but I’ll certainly check it out ( as I say I’m somewhat obsessed with all this SAS), particularly early days and the Aden and Malaya campaigns.
 
Enjoyed it.
Looking forward to the next series.
That said I'm not familiar with the details of the true story.
Though I am aware Paddy Mayne was a huge bloke in real life, unlike O'Connell, and an international rugby player I believe.
 
In all the books I’ve read they talk of how ferocious he was and how he never backed down from a fight but unlike his rogue heroes story he was never in prion never insubordinate etc he was a maverick but they all were.

It was basically a suicide mission to go way into enemy territory and do what they did was incredible and they were phenomenally successful as well not just in terms of logistics but psychologically they terrified the German/Italians as they were basically ghosts.

I hope you do read further on the real stories as these were extraordinary men that did extraordinary things they basically changed warfare and military strategy for ever.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
I have seen this written in a few reviews and attend to agree that the programme is good but the music doesn't fit the period.

There are also a lot of false statements made in it. They make out that Paddy Mayne doesn't like authority due to his father working for a rich landowner. Mayne's father was a landowner in Ireland and he (Paddy) attended a private school.

Well worth a watch.

Edit: The music I say doesn't fit are all great songs.
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lol I thought the the music was the best bit tbh it was okay to watch but seemed a bit corny and cliched
 
As James Holland said on his and Al Murrays podcast whatch it as entertainment not as a history program
 
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NorthumberlandBoro said:
Enjoyed it.
Looking forward to the next series.
That said I'm not familiar with the details of the true story.
Though I am aware Paddy Mayne was a huge bloke in real life, unlike O'Connell, and an international rugby player I believe.
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The show doesn't get Mayne or Stirling quite right apparently, though the actors performances are good and draw the average viewer in, but it does get most other characters right and is pretty faithful to true events.

Payne was a big fella mind. Heavywieght boxer for his University, becoming Irish Universities Champion and lost in the final of the British Universities Championship on points.

Before the intervention of the war, Mayne was selected for the 1938 Lions Tour to South Africa despite only having a handful of Ireland caps to his name. Lasting over three months and including 24 matches, the Tour ended in a series defeat for the Lions as Mayne played in all three of the Tests and featured 20 times in total. That says a lot because those tours were brutal. At the time South Africa were hailed as the unofficial world champions as they had beaten the All Blacks in New Zealand the year before. Despite the Lions losing, the South Africans thought he was one of the greatest forwards they’d ever seen playing, he was hard, he was abrasive and not afraid of taking retribution. After the first Test a South African journalist described Mayne as ‘outstanding in the pack and stood up tirelessly to an unwinnable task'.

There are different accounts of Stirling's first meeting with Mayne, one of which has Mayne in prison for having struck his superior officer. It's probably not true but there are other accounts of him having beef's with officers and his off field antics with the Lions were apparently even more legendary than his performances on it, to the point the Lions skipper reckoned he spent almost every morning intervening and pleading with the Colonel managing the tour not to kick Mayne off it for his night before because he was too vital on the pitch.

So I think the show might not have got all the details right - Stirling never swore for instance - but they have got the spirit right. For instance Dudley Wrangel Clarke (the Dominic West) character did invent a fictitious SAS regiment and he was arrested as a spy in Madrid at one point, dressed as an unconvincing woman.

These SAS men were usually guardsmen who then joined the commandos and then joined the SAS. In short they were adrenaline junkies so tearing through a desert in a jeep while a punk rock song is blaring out seems to capture that to me.

Also, compared to a lot of shows they have actually got a lot of details right. On that first jump Stirling and Lewes really did tie their parachutes to the chair legs. The iconic photo jedi posted is almost indistinguishable from a still from the show.

What I like most is it brings home via drama the both the daring of the missions, but also you can appreciate how the blueprint for much of the SAS was laid down early. The small four or five man units, the premium put on intelligence, questioning, understanding the purpose of a mission and improvisation skills.
 
Wyke Red said:
As James Holland said on his and Al Murrays podcast what it as entertainment not as a history program
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But I take issue with this view as these are real people and I always feel a little uneasy when they are portrayed in a certain light.
 
Lefty said:
The show doesn't get Mayne or Stirling quite right apparently, though the actors performances are good and draw the average viewer in, but it does get most other characters right and is pretty faithful to true events.

Payne was a big fella mind. Heavywieght boxer for his University, becoming Irish Universities Champion and lost in the final of the British Universities Championship on points.

Before the intervention of the war, Mayne was selected for the 1938 Lions Tour to South Africa despite only having a handful of Ireland caps to his name. Lasting over three months and including 24 matches, the Tour ended in a series defeat for the Lions as Mayne played in all three of the Tests and featured 20 times in total. That says a lot because those tours were brutal. At the time South Africa were hailed as the unofficial world champions as they had beaten the All Blacks in New Zealand the year before. Despite the Lions losing, the South Africans thought he was one of the greatest forwards they’d ever seen playing, he was hard, he was abrasive and not afraid of taking retribution. After the first Test a South African journalist described Mayne as ‘outstanding in the pack and stood up tirelessly to an unwinnable task'.

There are different accounts of Stirling's first meeting with Mayne, one of which has Mayne in prison for having struck his superior officer. It's probably not true but there are other accounts of him having beef's with officers and his off field antics with the Lions were apparently even more legendary than his performances on it, to the point the Lions skipper reckoned he spent almost every morning intervening and pleading with the Colonel managing the tour not to kick Mayne off it for his night before because he was too vital on the pitch.

So I think the show might not have got all the details right - Stirling never swore for instance - but they have got the spirit right. For instance Dudley Wrangel Clarke (the Dominic West) character did invent a fictitious SAS regiment and he was arrested as a spy in Madrid at one point, dressed as an unconvincing woman.

These SAS men were usually guardsmen who then joined the commandos and then joined the SAS. In short they were adrenaline junkies so tearing through a desert in a jeep while a punk rock song is blaring out seems to capture that to me.

Also, compared to a lot of shows they have actually got a lot of details right. On that first jump Stirling and Lewes really did tie their parachutes to the chair legs. The iconic photo jedi posted is almost indistinguishable from a still from the show.

What I like most is it brings home via drama the both the daring of the missions, but also you can appreciate how the blueprint for much of the SAS was laid down early. The small four or five man units, the premium put on intelligence, questioning, understanding the purpose of a mission and improvisation skills.
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I agree It does capture the scale and the mood I just hope it leads others to look deeper into the real story.

As it was a story that needed to be told.
 
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