SAS Rogue Heroes is an adrenaline-fuelled cross between Peaky Blinders and a classic war film Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐
’s Connor Swindells) was kicking his heels in Cairo, getting sozzled and smooth-talking himself out of bar fights with Australian soldiers. “In war, we are allowed to be the beasts we are,” he told the Pom-bashers. Perhaps the least plausible line in the opening episode, but it allowed Knight to relay his overriding theme: that men who would be beyond the pale in peacetime might have the right stuff for no-holds-barred warfare.
His fellow “beasts” were Jock Lewes and Ulsterman Paddy Mayne. The latter was first seen getting the better of three military policemen who had attempted to string him up in his cell. Lewes was meanwhile playing out that inspirational commanding officer thing of blithely remaining standing exposed during an enemy attack.
Director Tom Shankland handled the battle scenes with panache and made the most of the desert scenery . But the highest hurdle facing the drama was how to get our sympathies onside with three such ruthlessly violent and arrogantly entitled men.