Early on in SAS Rogue Heroes<\/a>, Alfie Allen\u2019s character delivers a great speech. \u201cIn a world where there are no rules, no order, no organised plan, certain men are identified by war itself as its natural executors. And those natural executors take matters into their own hands. I\u2019m bringing together men of a particular calibre. The others are all insane, in jail or, like me, in despair.\u201d<\/p>\n Allen is playing John \u201cJock\u201d Lewes, the founding principal training officer of the Special Air Service, which was established during the North African desert campaign in 1941. He concludes his speech by saying, \u201cLet\u2019s go and win the f**king war.\u201d<\/p>\n How fitting is that dialogue as an overall description of the spirit of this action-packed, star-studded BBC series \u2013 Ben Macintyre\u2019s best-selling story of the formation of the elite regiment during the Second World War brought to screen by Peaky Blinders<\/a> creator Steven Knight<\/a>?<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d say pretty apt!\u201d Allen, 36, shoots back with a grin. In the acting band of brothers at the heart of the action, Allen is joined by Connor Swindells (Sex Education<\/a>) as SAS co-creator David Stirling, Jack O\u2019Connell (The North Water) as maverick Irishman Paddy Mayne and Tom Glynn-Carney (House of the Dragon<\/a>) as Mike Sadler, at 102 the only surviving founder member of the SAS.<\/p>\n So how were the actors tested in the pre-production boot camp? The preparation, says Allen, was all about mental rather than physical preparation. \u201cThese were wiry, kind of scrawny men who did what people thought was impossible. They weren\u2019t trying to prove anything to anyone else other than to their brothers-in-arms.\u201d<\/p>\n That said, notes Swindells, 26, the SAS\u2019s founding fathers were \u201ca bunch of hard nuts, really,\u201d a view \u201cthat hasn\u2019t changed much\u201d over the course of production.<\/p>\n Equally, they were, as the title puts it, rogue \u2013 a mix of dissolute aristocrats, insubordinates and drunks, in a drama that doesn\u2019t shy away from the antics and gallows humour of men facing death by the hour. Glynn-Carney, 27, reports that Knight spoke to Sadler, who confirmed that those elements are true to the group\u2019s real-life experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cSteven got absolute gold dust from Mike\u2026 the tales that he tells of bombing airstrips and planting Lewes bombs on the enemy\u2019s equipment \u2013 there\u2019s a light-hearted touch to it because he minimises the drama and the risk of all those things they were trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n I interviewed O\u2019Connell in August last year, when he\u2019d just returned from the Moroccan desert where the drama was filmed. He described the shoot as \u201cthe toughest one yet, and I don\u2019t say that lightly\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat makes it worthwhile is what you have with your castmates and crew,\u201d the 32-year-old says as the actors reunite for a Zoom conversation. \u201cAnd then you hope that what you\u2019re doing it for is going to be conveyed on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n Some might take exception to these military men being conveyed as rock stars \u2013 like Peaky Blinders\u2019 Birmingham gangsters, SAS Rogue Heroes does imply as much with its soundtrack: it opens with AC\/DC at full tilt.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, these are individuals with charisma and a taste for doing the dirty stuff. In another plum piece of dialogue, Swindells\u2019s Stirling describes with relish the damage a thumb can do to an eyeball.<\/p>\n But as Glynn-Carney points out, at times of existential peril, we need men like these. \u201cThe unique situation that these lads were in \u2013 it felt like a lawless land when you were out in the desert. Stirling was a maverick [who] didn\u2019t do anything by the book.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are some things that war requires that go away from protocol,\u201d he continues, \u201cand these were the perfect cohort. They weren\u2019t followers, they were extroverts, wild and untamed. And they were willing to put themselves on the line to make an impact on the war.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a scenario of which O\u2019Connell has direct and intense experience, having starred in Angelina Jolie\u2019s Unbroken, about a real-life American survivor of the Pacific campaign. How did making this BBC drama compare to that Hollywood blockbuster?<\/p>\n \u201cUnbroken was great because, again, you had that bond,\u201d he says of a film that also starred Domhnall Gleeson and Luke Treadaway. \u201cThe one common factor is that these things are forged in extremely difficult circumstances.\u201d<\/p> Allen, too, knows battle, having gone sword-to-sword in Game of Thrones. \u201cBut this was totally different,\u201d he says. \u201cCompletely different surroundings \u2013 and it was hot! In terms of the environment, it was definitely still challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n And, finally, Swindells is also aware of, er, the battlefield that is teen hormones. Was making SAS Rogue Heroes anything at all like making Sex Education? \u201cIncomparable!\u201d he laughs, gamely.<\/p>\n \u201cSex Education for the most part is me going to Wales a couple of times a week, saying absolutely nothing, pulling a funny face and then driving home. So being out in the desert was unbelievable. But, thankfully, I made great friends for life.\u201d<\/p>\n SAS Rogue Heroes arrives on BBC One on Sunday 30th October at 9pm.\u00a0<\/strong>Visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight, or check out the rest of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Craig Mclean Published: Sunday, 30 October 2022 at 12:00 am This interview was originally published in\u00a0Radio Times magazine. Early on in SAS Rogue Heroes, Alfie Allen\u2019s character delivers a great speech. \u201cIn a world where there are no rules, no order, no organised plan, certain men are identified by war itself as its natural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24819,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-cast-on-forging-a-bond-during-the-tough-shoot-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-cast-on-forging-a-bond-during-the-tough-shoot-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-cast-on-forging-a-bond-during-the-tough-shoot-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-cast-on-forging-a-bond-during-the-tough-shoot-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-cast-on-forging-a-bond-during-the-tough-shoot-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-cast-on-forging-a-bond-during-the-tough-shoot-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-cast-on-forging-a-bond-during-the-tough-shoot-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Craig Mclean Published: Sunday, 30 October 2022 at 12:00 am This interview was originally published in\u00a0Radio Times magazine. Early on in SAS Rogue Heroes, Alfie Allen\u2019s character delivers a great speech. \u201cIn a world where there are no rules, no order, no organised plan, certain men are identified by war itself as its natural…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/24818"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/391180-b79832b.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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