![]() In the desert, there was little time for snobbery. Several men, including Mayne, may have been suppressing gay instincts as they fought men from other units in Cairo’s red-light district He is also a bit of a prig, with a romantic vision of knightly duty and in love with an ethereal young woman called Miriam Barford whom he wants to marry. Lewes is self-driven, a true military obsessive determined to kill as many of the enemy as possible in night-time raids. The third officer is Lieutenant Jock Lewes of the Welsh guards, another who cannot forgive the weakness of “gentlemen generals” in north Africa. Mayne is first shown meeting Stirling in a military prison, having beaten up his own commanding officer for interrupting a game of chess, although this is almost certainly SAS myth rather than the truth. In sharp contrast to Stirling, Lieutenant Paddy Mayne, a rugger international from Ulster, may be a lover of poetry, but he is better known as an unexploded bomb likely to go off as soon as he has downed more than a bottle of whisky or rum. David Stirling, a tall, polite patrician, has little respect for rank or military discipline, partly because of his own effortless social position, but mainly because of his angry contempt for senior staff officers at General Headquarters back in Cairo. Without wasting any time, Knight introduces the three key characters in the creation of the SAS. In the opening credits, Rogue Heroes proclaims: “Based on a true story, the events depicted which seem most unbelievable … are mostly true.” Although tongue in cheek, this feels necessary, as the origins of this rogue regiment certainly defy belief.Īn unholy alliance … Alfie Allen as Jock Lewes, Connor Swindells as David Stirling and Jack O’Connell as Paddy Mayne. He invents a love affair between Stirling and a beautiful young French intelligence officer, but it does not jar. Knight has of course taken liberties with the precise record, but they are mainly additions, fleshing out characters and context, not distortions. Worst of all are the deceitful rewrites, changing characters and events in vital ways yet still claiming some sort of authenticity, such as the unforgivably distorted film The Imitation Game, in which Benedict Cumberbatch plays legendary codebreaker Alan Turing. I had given up hope of ever seeing another second world war series or movie that did not have me grinding my teeth in irritation at unnecessary historical mistakes. Lady Lampson wore thigh-length boots as she thrashed the British ambassador’s buttocks before bed Rogue Heroes, we soon find, is closer to rock-star history – and yet, so enjoyably gung-ho is this adaptation, the anachronism proves irresistible. ![]() Along with Stirling’s fury, the soundtrack explodes into AC/DC’s If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It). They are on their way to relieve besieged Tobruk but, due to a miscalculation of staggering stupidity, he discovers that they have been given fuel for just 500 kilometres, not the 500 miles required. The junior officer in the lead vehicle, Lieutenant David Stirling of the Scots guards, brings the convoy to a halt. This could be the start of a classic 1950s war movie, but our expectations are soon turned upside down. The show opens with a huge column of British army trucks crossing the Libyan desert to the stirring sounds of Colonel Bogey marching music. The writer of Peaky Blinders has adapted Ben Macintyre’s SAS Rogue Heroes, the authorised history of the Special Air Service, and turned it into the best dramatic series the BBC has produced for ages. I really have to take my hat off to Steven Knight.
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