SAS: Rogue Heroes
A drama based on the true origins of the SAS.
SAS: Rogue Heroes, known as Rogue Heroes in the US and Australia, is a BBC One historical drama from creator Steven Knight. Its first season, which debuted on 30 October 2022, follows the founding of the British Army’s Special Air Service during WWII’s Western Desert Campaign, loosely based on Ben Macintyre’s 2016 book. The second season aired from 1 January 2025, covering SAS missions in the European theatre. A third season was confirmed in September 2025.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Historical drama
- Creator
- Steven Knight
- Director
- Tom Shankland; Stephen Woolfenden
- Composer
- Ilan Eshkeri
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Series
- 2
- Episodes
- 12
Facts from the source article.
Production
The first season of this historical drama follows the creation of the British Army's Special Air Service during World War II's North African campaign, adapting Ben Macintyre's 2016 book. Production on the six-episode season began in March 2021, with Connor Swindells, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Allen, Sofia Boutella, and Dominic West leading the cast. Steven Knight wrote the series, Tom Shankland directed, and César Domboy joined the cast in June. Filming took place in Morocco. A second season, covering SAS operations in Europe, was ordered in December 2022. Its six episodes required 81 shooting days, roughly 370 scenes, and nearly 2,000 slates across two units, filmed from May to September 2023 in Croatia, Italy, England, and Scotland. A third season was greenlit in September 2025.
Release
The series made its premiere on BBC One on 30 October 2022 in the UK. It simultaneously made its US debut on Epix on 13 November 2022. In New Zealand, it was released on TVNZ+. The first episode was watched 5,526,000 times on iPlayer alone during 2022, making it the fifth most viewed individual programme on the platform that year. In November 2024, the BBC released the first trailer for the second series. The second series premiered on 1 January 2025 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on 12 January 2025 on MGM+ in the United States while Banijay Rights, a division of Banijay Entertainment, distributes the series internationally.
Reception
Writing in The Guardian, Antony Beevor commented that the series was 'unmissable viewing', and 'achieved the right balance of irreverence and admiration all the way through with a brilliant contrast in characters'. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 8.3/10, based on 12 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus said: 'With a terrific cast inhabiting this roster of likeable rapscallions, Rogue Heroes is a fun throwback to down-and-dirty adventure stories.' Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on seven critic reviews, indicating 'Generally favourable reviews'. SAS Rogue Heroes was the sixth most-watched UK drama series of 2022, and the fourth most popular of the year on the BBC. The second series has gained a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on five critic reviews, indicating 'Universal acclaim'. Jack Seale of The Guardian gave the second series a positive review, awarding it five stars. Seale wrote that the series explored the themes of sacrifice and extreme adversity 'in bringing out the male psyche.' He also praised the second series' rock music soundtrack, freeze frames and action sequences.
Historical accuracy
At the beginning of each episode in the first series, the viewer is informed that the series is 'Based on a true story', and that 'the events depicted which seem most unbelievable… are mostly true'. In the second series the message was changed to 'Inspired by true events... But be aware... This is NOT a history lesson.' Unlike the main trio of Stirling, Mayne, and Lewes, the character of Eve Mansour is fictional. Sofia Boutella notes, however, that her character is influenced by real-life female spies such as Noor Inayat Khan and Virginia Hall. As military historian Antony Beevor noted, while events surrounding the creation of the SAS 'certainly defy belief', it is true that 'some liberties with the precise record' were taken – for example, in the scripting of a romantic association between David Stirling and Mansour, the French intelligence agent. However, his opinion was that these were 'mainly additions, fleshing out characters and context', rather than being significant 'distortions' of the facts. Billy Foley, writing in The Irish News, was somewhat more critical of the artistic license employed, particularly in the depiction of Paddy Mayne. Far from being 'a brutish, rough man who was looked down on by the aristocracy of his native Newtownards and despised the toff officer class of the British army', Foley pointed out that the ostensibly working class Mayne was in fact born to a landed family, went to grammar school, played rugby for the British & Irish Lions, and studied at Queen's University Belfast before qualifying as a solicitor. Historian Damien Lewis also said it was 'nonsense' to portray Mayne as a 'thug and drunken lout', when he 'cared passionately for those men he commanded'. Moreover, it was Stirling who asked General De Gaulle to have Frenchmen in the SAS because he needed men ready to do anything to deal with the Germans. So the 1re Compagnie de Chasseurs Parachutistes was sent, which became the French Squadron SAS. Gavin Mortimer wrote that the 'main problem with Rogue Heroes is that it is true to David Stirling's version of how the SAS was born. But as I make clear in my recent biography of Stirling, The Phoney Major, based on two decades of research, he was a master at twisting the truth'.
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