The daring real story behind SAS: Rogue Heroes
3-4 minute read
By Ellie Ayton | January 3, 2025
Audacious missions, covert operations, and larger-than-life characters… but how much of this WW2-era BBC series is a true story?
We’re delighted to see SAS: Rogue Heroes season 2 hit our television screens, having immensely enjoyed its first outing in 2022.
With exploits that ‘read like a school-boy thriller’ according to one article, we couldn’t resist delving into our historical newspapers to see how the 1940s press reported on their antics.
The SAS: Rogue Heroes cast
The WW2 historical drama series about the origins of the Special Air Service was created by Steven Knight, who was also the creator of Peaky Blinders.
The co-founder of the SAS, David Stirling, pictured in Liverpool Evening Express, 28 August 1944.
The all-star cast includes Connor Swindells as maverick officer David Stirling, Jack O’Connell as Paddy Mayne, Gwilym Lee as Bill Stirling, Sofia Boutella as Eve Mansour (not a historical figure, but based on the fierce women spies of the Special Operations Executive), and Dominic West as Dudley Moore.
Con O’Neill also makes an appearance as the famous WW2 general Bernard Montgomery.
Jock Lewes’ death was reported in Coventry Evening Telegraph, 28 January 1942.
Season one also included Alfie Allen as co-founder Jock Lewes, Dónal Finn as Eoin McGonigal, and Tom Glynn-Carney as Mike Sadler – Sadler was the last surviving original member of the SAS and the Long Range Desert Group before his death in January 2024.
Some of the real-life members of the SAS, pictured on patrol in North Africa, in Illustrated London News, 2 September 1944. Paddy Mayne and David Stirling are on the right.
Almost all of the characters in SAS: Rogue Heroes are based on real, audacious people.
Paddy Mayne, pictured in The Sphere, 3 March 1945, with a description of his intrepid deeds.
Supporting actors for season two include Mark Rowley as Jock McDiarmid and Jack Barton as John Tonkin.
Is SAS: Rogue Heroes a true story?
The BBC series is based on real events described in Ben Macintyre’s 2016 book of the same name. The early regiment operated in the North African desert, quickly earning a reputation for daring raids against enemy airfields and supply depots.
With night raids and elite precision, the SAS destroyed hundreds of Axis aircraft, crippling the Luftwaffe’s ability to support Erwin Rommel’s ambitions for North Africa.
Some of the exploits of David Stirling’s SAS, in Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, 9 October 1942.
Newspapers of the time report how David Stirling, dubbed ‘the Phantom Major’ and his regiment were a ‘desert threat to the Nazis’ and regularly ‘upset Rommel’ during the North African campaign.
The SAS were ‘feared by the Germans’ according to The Scotsman, 4 September 1942.
Season two of SAS: Rogue Heroes sees the commandos, under David Stirling’s brother Bill, help turn the tide of the war in Italy and Sicily.
When was the SAS formed?
The Special Air Service was the brainchild of David Stirling and Jock Lewes, founded as a L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade, in July 1941. David had a vision of unconventional warfare, a simple yet revolutionary idea to deploy small but highly trained units to cause maximum disruption.
Notes on the founding of the SAS, in Weekly Dispatch, 27 August 1944.
Their idea was to trick the Axis powers into thinking there was a paratrooper regiment in North Africa, when in reality, the commando force was operating behind enemy lines.
Requirements of an SAS commando, published in Western Mail, 28 August 1944.
By forcing the Axis powers to guard their airfields and supply lines, the SAS were able to undermine the logistical backbone of enemy operations.
Where to watch SAS: Rogue Heroes
Season 1 of the BBC blockbuster was released in October 2022. The second series aired on New Year’s Day 2025, focusing on the SAS’s antics in Italy and Sicily.
You can enjoy the episodes on BBC iPlayer.
The SAS's success in the North African campaign led to its support of missions in Europe, such as resistance movements, sabotaging infrastructure, and gathering intelligence. Though the SAS was disbanded in 1945, it was reformed and is still a regiment today.
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