SAS Rogue Heroes

[nheather]

Started to see some teasers for this new drama done by the makers of Peaky Blinders series due in Autumn this year.

 

Looks interesting.

 

 

 

 

[spruecutter96]

Looks pretty good (but that's the whole point of any trailer, innit?).

 

I'm sure I'll be watching it in months to come. 

 

Chris. 

[Stephen]

First episode on BBC One 30th October @ 21.00 then all episodes on iPlayer.

[malpaso]

Hmm I’m not impressed with Episode 1 anyway.  Seems to be from the “SAS, Legends in their own Bathtime” school of film making.

[bentwaters81tfw]

Filmed in Morocco and RAF Bentwaters.

[Grey Beema]

TBH I was ‘whelmed’.  Let’s see what happens next week but it needs to pick up the pace a bit..

[FalkeEins]

11 hours ago, Grey Beema said:

TBH I was ‘whelmed’.  Let’s see what happens next week but it needs to pick up the pace a bit..

 

 all six episodes on iplayer. Thought it was great. The modern 'soundtrack'  (AC-DC, Black Sabbath) jarred a little 

[Grey Beema]

4 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

 

 all six episodes on iplayer. Thought it was great. The modern 'soundtrack'  (AC-DC, Black Sabbath) jarred a little 

 

I live outside the UK, so unless I mess with VPNs the no iPlayer.  I agree about the music..

[malpaso]

I've watched two more episodes, it's okay as entertainment.  I  think it's in the "Where Eagles Dare" school of war films, so can now watch without worrying about anachronisms...

[RobL]

Just watching episode 1 now.  I've gone into it knowing it's in the "Poldark o'clock slot", which has a very obvious demographic.  And this show is clearly aimed at those who know nothing, which is 99.9% of the UK population.  Quite surprised the beeb put such a show in the slot it's in though, clearly run out of period drama rubbish...

 

Doesn't seem too bad so far though, mildly entertaining...

 

As for AC/DC/Sabbath/"modern" music, that's my sort of music, so I like it, but I do agree it does seem at odds, particularly as there's what seems to be period music used also.

 

Last night there was also a 3 part documentary on BBC Four, called SAS Rogue Warriors.  That's also on the iplayer if you want something more informative.

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by RobL

[JohnT]

21 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

 

 all six episodes on iplayer. Thought it was great. The modern 'soundtrack'  (AC-DC, Black Sabbath) jarred a little 

 

 

Agreed about the music too.  It detracts not adds and to the point where I had recorded the first episode and was not too bothered about switching off half way through when asked to do something else.  It was getting a bit "Meh" by then.   I wish my Dad's pal "Bruce" was still around to ask him what he thought as he was one of them.  Dad was an RM Commando and they met and became friends thereafter.

 

16 hours ago, malpaso said:

I've watched two more episodes, it's okay as entertainment.  I  think it's in the "Where Eagles Dare" school of war films, so can now watch without worrying about anachronisms...

 

 

Yep - that's what I am beginning to think and if you park the historical accuracy documentary thing and so with "That's showbizness" its probably ok

 

 

 

[JohnT]

12 hours ago, RobL said:

Just watching episode 1 now.  I've gone into it knowing it's in the "Poldark o'clock slot", which has a very obvious demographic.  And this show is clearly aimed at those who know nothing, which is 99.9% of the UK population.  Quite surprised the beeb put such a show in the slot it's in though, clearly run out of period drama rubbish...

 

Doesn't seem too bad so far though, mildly entertaining...

 

As for AC/DC/Sabbath/"modern" music, that's my sort of music, so I like it, but I do agree it does seem at odds, particularly as there's what seems to be period music used also.

 

Last night there was also a 3 part documentary on BBC Four, called SAS Rogue Warriors.  That's also on the iplayer if you want something more informative.

 

 

 

I watched a program yesterday which was one of those look we have found something valuable and its up at auction things.  They had the tail fin with kill marking off an Me 110 nightfighter flown by the German ace Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer.  

 

Watching I learned a huge amount - well worthwhile   For example from the film

 

1  The Me 110 looks exactly like the JU86 - a cunning Nazi ruse no doubt

2  The French air force flew squadrons of Moranes over Kent saving us in the BoB

3  The Me 109 was disguised as a FW190 in the BoB

4  The USAAF flew B-17's and B-29's in the night bomber offensive over Germany where it looked very much like daylight such must have been the power of German search lights

5  Someone was using Douglas SBD Dauntless and Grumman Wildcats for Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer to shoot down

 

There were more but by then my eyes had rolled so far back i was staring inside my skull.  And all in a ten minute presentation - a record maybe?

 

Oh yes and the tail sold to someone for a sum that wasn't mentioned.....

 

 

[Paul J]

The. Modern music is well out of keeping and once that happened I nearly turned over to watch something else or go to bed. But I stuck it out but watched the doc that followed and found that more interesting. Impressed to see the "Jock" chap was  a quite good  Looky likely of the real one.

 . 

[FalkeEins]

On 11/1/2022 at 1:00 AM, RobL said:

 

 

As for AC/DC/Sabbath/"modern" music, that's my sort of music, so I like it, but I do agree it does seem at odds, particularly as there's what seems to be period music used also.

 

 

 Episode 3 features music by The Clash and Motorhead. And I did smile when the riff to Saxon's 'Wheels of Steel' started up. Full list of tunes in the six episodes 

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/sas-rogue-heroes-bbc-soundtrack/

[John Masters]

As others have said, the music is a bit off-putting, regardless of whether I like it or not.  They have to make the show entertaining, I guess.  I do like the attention they are spending on the vehicles and uniforms, or lack thereof.  In the end  it is modern television, geared for the music video crowd.  I have not been 'unentertained'...

[Paul J]

Just  thought, wasn't the LRDG (LongRangeDesert Group) a forerunner of the SAS?

 

PS: I think the music makes it a bit like Top Gun.

[FalkeEins]

kind of. No spoilers, but after the 'failure' at the end of  episode 1, Stirling's fledgling SAS turn to a  'land-based delivery system' .  I was struck by how close the drama follows the bios of the two principal characters and SAS founding fathers - David Stirling and 'Paddy' Mayne - on the National Army museum web site.  Difficult to believe they could be that mad, bad and downright dangerous!

" Punky drama a worthy successor to Peaky Blinders "

[Paul821]

Mrs 821 is no great fan of the type of music used in SAS Rogue heroes, but she enjoyed all six episodes, including the music. To me it seems a fairly accurate account of events, apart from the female French spy. In fact, against the original book, and other sources some dramatic events have been 

 

As it has been mentioned by @bentwaters81tfw it's not surprising to see that the Luftwaffe seen to have used cold war hardened aircraft shelters in the north African desert.

[noelh]

14 hours ago, Paul J said:

Just  thought, wasn't the LRDG (LongRangeDesert Group) a forerunner of the SAS?

 

PS: I think the music makes it a bit like Top Gun.

No it wasn't. The LRDG was a recce  group not  a raiding force as such. Stirling latched onto  them as a taxi service when the obvious  deficiencies of parachuting into the  desert  became obvious. Once  they acquired Jeeps they didn't  need the LRDG. 

 

Actually you  need to  read Ben McIntyres book of the same name. Also watch  the  BBC documentary. 

 

Frankly the music  doesn’t bother me. Like Peaky Blinders you  have to  modernise it is so contemporary audiences get it.

 

I  just  suspend belief. However being the BBC  certain details are carefully depicted. For example an army officer with RAF wings. But look  closely  and they are RFC wings. The post  war Rapide looked odd but  where  do you get a Bristol Bombay?

 

The reality of the  SAS experience is that it has everything that makes a Hollywood amazing except it really  happened.

 

I  look  forward to the rest of  the series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alt-92]

On 11/3/2022 at 8:27 AM, FalkeEins said:

kind of. No spoilers, but after the 'failure' at the end of  episode 1, Stirling's fledgling SAS turn to a  'land-based delivery system' .  I was struck by how close the drama follows the bios of the two principal characters and SAS founding fathers - David Stirling and 'Paddy' Mayne - on the National Army museum web site.  Difficult to believe they could be that mad, bad and downright dangerous!

" Punky drama a worthy successor to Peaky Blinders "

Ooooh-er. 
If you're interested in a good rant (polite) about some misunderstandings regarding the beginning days of the SAS, I can recommend the History Rage podcast episode about David Stirling's role.

 

 

[RobL]

18 hours ago, John Masters said:

As others have said, the music is a bit off-putting, regardless of whether I like it or not.  They have to make the show entertaining, I guess.  I do like the attention they are spending on the vehicles and uniforms, or lack thereof.  In the end  it is modern television, geared for the music video crowd.  I have not been 'unentertained'...

 

Sadly that attention doesn't extend to one scene in the final episode.  All I'll say is that even with all the resources globally, or even cgi, it would seem they took the Patton/Battle of the Bulge route...

 

Spoiler

I have no idea what it was, I didn't examine the footage closely enough, but it looked like it has rounded front track guards and a 105mm with a fume extractor!!

 

 

Good series though, if not a bit light on the exact details (I'm sure the docu stated the Benghazi raid was a monumental balls up?!), and a little box ticky (i.e. token French spy).

 

I'm rarely enthused by the output of the BBC, or the rest of our terrestrial channels (ITV, 4, 5, etc.) but I'm actually hoping there's more to come, as there's more to tell of the WW2 days of the SAS, particularly the events around D-Day.

Edited November 4, 2022 by RobL

[John Masters]

7 hours ago, RobL said:

Patton/Battle of the Bulge route...

Patton Panzers...too bad.  I'll try to ignore it, like I did the soundtrack.  It actually reminded me of a tv version of a graphic novel.  I haven't seen the final episode.

 

 

[Mark Harmsworth]

Well, I almost hate to say this given the comments above - but I'm enjoying it and I may well get Ben Macintyre's book. War accommodates, and sometimes makes heroes of, people who may well fail in normal society - plenty of other examples of that I suppose (thinking about Malta). Ben Macintyre writes pieces in the Times and he did one on this series. One point that stuck with me is how they decided to leave out some of the more extreme events as viewers would find it difficult to believe them.

Mark (working my way slowly through the episodes)

[Ray_W]

On 11/5/2022 at 11:29 PM, Mark Harmsworth said:

I may well get Ben Macintyre's book

 

I just finished Ben Macintyre's Audible version as narrated by himself. Excellent book and narration. The latter often not typical of authors narrating their own work. In this case,  very good. Amazing story and towards war's end, harrowing. I wondered if @Bullbasket took his user name from that period. 

 

Great character studies. I expect, you are doing it the right way around because I could easily see disappointment if you read the book first. Film for pure entertainment, I expect it will be good enough and look forward to seeing it when it gets broader release.

[Bullbasket]

4 minutes ago, Ray_W said:

I wondered if @Bullbasket took his user name from that period. 

Got it one! And for one very good reason. The members of Operation Bulbasket (I spelt it correctly this time.....one L) who were murdered by the Nazis, are buried in a cemetery less than two miles from where I live, along with an unfortunate USAAF P-51 pilot who got caught up with them just before they got captured. They are buried in the village grave yard and the French look after the graves brilliantly. Every year on the 29th September, they hold a ceremony in the woods, where the bodies were discovered after the war, and then reburied in the grave yard in Rom. It's very moving and humbling. 

 

John.