SAS Rogue Heroes season 2 preview: "They’re very much thumbing their noses at authority"

The narrative action – with the emphasis very much on action – opens in 1943, at a time with the future of the SAS in doubt. After it gets reorganised into two separate parts, it would be Mayne, a former British and Irish Lions international rugby player with a wholly justified reputation for insubordination, who took command of the newly formed Special Raiding Squadron.

• Read more | The original rogue heroes of the SAS

Previously, the SAS had operated behind enemy lines in the vast emptiness of the desert, but the second series of SAS Rogue Heroes sees Mayne and his motley crew of hard-as-nails misfits face new challenges in the invasion of Sicily, which would then be followed with Italy.

Director Stephen Woolfenden and producer Stephen Smallwood talk to HistoryExtra about how they went about bringing this story to life…

The new series of SAS Rogue Heroes begins with David Stirling having been captured. But his brother, Bill Stirling (Gwilym Lee), emerges as a key character. Who was he?

Stephen Woolfenden: Bill was the older brother of the two siblings and we learn that he has been in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for the last couple of years. He’s supportive of his brother’s endeavours in the desert, and breaks out of the SOE to come and sort out the SAS.

Stephen Smallwood: I think Ben Macintyre [the author of the book on which the series is based] stated that Bill was a more considered person and less impulsive than David. Bill is a much straighter character and he is the man who inherits the estate, because the Stirlings were lairds in Scotland.

The SAS had been tasked by their creator to operate behind enemy lines only. They were “poachers” and Bill Stirling comes in with instructions that they are no longer going to work from behind military lines. Instead, they’re going to be the shock troops that undertake the invasion of the European mainland via Sicily. They’re going to lead the charge – but that’s not what they were set up to do.

• Read more | “They changed the way war is run”: Ben Macintyre on the early SAS

How real was the threat to the SAS from the British military establishment at this point?

Stephen Smallwood: The British military didn’t really like them because they were uncontrollable; their raison d’être was to operate in areas where headquarters had no control. Hierarchies never like that. I know that as a producer, you want to keep an eye on what everyone’s up to!

Stephen Woolfenden: I think it’s really interesting. It suggests from general headquarters a loss of vision and not really understanding the potential of what they had. The SAS had really poked the bear in North Africa, but nobody had a creative thought about how they could be used in Europe.

So they fell back on a pretty conservative idea: to put them into landing craft as part of the first feet on the beach. Our story is to say how they get out of that problem, and how they show themselves to be experts in the field of working beyond enemy lines.

What did the men of the Special Raiding Squadron experience during the invasion of Sicily?

Stephen Woolfenden: It was the biggest land, sea and air invasion by any combined force before D-Day. The SAS were there ahead of everybody, taking out huge guns that were protecting the coastline.

We were as true as we possibly could be to the events that happened before they got to the beaches. On 10 July 1943 [when Paddy Mayne led his men ashore], there was a horrific storm. More than 60 gliders – carrying airborne troops as part of Operation Ladbroke – landed in the water. We listened to accounts by SAS veteran Pat Riley, who was in a landing craft and said, “We were passing people in the water and we couldn’t do anything about it.”

The British military didn’t really like the SAS because they were uncontrollable; their raison d’être was to operate in areas where headquarters had no control. Hierarchies never like that. I know that as a producer, you want to keep an eye on what everyone’s up to!

As you show these events, how do you go about getting the tone right? There’s a lot of humour in SAS Rogue Heroes, yet these are men seeing the very worst of war.

Stephen Woolfenden: We’ve tried very hard to get the balance right in terms of showing what they experienced, but understanding that they are human. Central to that is Steven Knight’s writing, which clearly shows that these characters are going through traumatic experiences. They can find things funny and, even in crisis moments, see the beauty in things.

The big new part is that they’re not bombing aircraft and carrying out raids on airfields anymore. They’re in amongst a civilian population. In the show, we have a liberation scene and most of our characters don’t quite know how to react to it. They can feel the warmth, but don’t know how to return it. But receiving that warmth is a really positive thing.

• Read more | How the early SAS became heroes of the Second World War

Stephen Smallwood: I think part of the series’ appeal for a young audience is the tone of the writing from Steven Knight. He has portrayed these characters as anarchic. They’re very much thumbing their noses at authority, and so to some extent are like a representation of teenagers. They may be wearing uniforms and be capable of marching and saluting, but none of those things they want to do – and they don’t do, because they loathe authority.

Paddy Mayne emerges as a key character in series two. Historical accounts suggest he really was a kind of a warrior poet, is that how you see him?

Stephen Woolfenden: ‘Warrior poet’ is a lovely way to describe him. Everything we know about him suggests men would follow him wherever he wanted to go. He was brilliant in battle: in his preparation, as a tactician and in the heat of the moment. He had this energy that could ignite at any moment. But we know that he cared deeply about his team.

There’s a thread throughout the second series where we see Paddy asking his team, “Are you okay? How can I help you? I would advise reading some poetry, or staying here a while and making sure you’re okay.” He tells Sergeant Reg Seekings at one point that he too has nightmares and can’t sleep. He was an enigma.

I feel very close to Paddy after working with Jack O’Connell through this series.

SAS Rogue Heroes season 2 release date: when will the hit drama return?

SAS Rogue Heroes season two began on BBC One at 9pm on New Year’s Day, and all episodes are be available on BBC iPlayer. You can also catch up on season one on BBC iPlayer now