The series stars Sex Education<\/a>\u2018s Connor Swindells as David Stirling, the unit\u2019s founder, while Jack O\u2019Connell, Alfie Allen, Sofia Boutella and Dominic West all also play key roles.<\/p>\n The series is based on real British history, but how much of what it details is true? And what did the team use for research and inspiration?<\/p>\n Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind SAS Rogue Heroes.<\/p>\n SAS Rogue Heroes is based on the 2017 Ben Macintyre book Rogue Heroes: The History of the\u00a0SAS, Britain\u2019s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War<\/a>. The book has since been retitled SAS Rogue Heroes to align with the series.<\/p>\n The show\u2019s creator Steven Knight spoke about drawing from the book for the show, admitting that he did have to make some changes.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cTo create a drama from this amazing story, I had to sculpt a world where things are a little bit heightened, much like how war and the absurdity of it heightens every emotion.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he also said that \u201cbringing characters to life to inhabit this world, especially ones that are not archetypical heroes, was made so much easier by leaning on the facts and the truths\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The majority of the characters in SAS Rogue Heroes are based on real people \u2013 David Stirling, Paddy Mayne, Jock Lewes and Dudley Clarke were all real.<\/p>\n One major character who has been created specifically for the series is Eve Mansour, the Deputy Head of French intelligence in Cairo played by Sofia Boutella.<\/p>\n Boutella said of the character: \u201cEven if Eve is a fictional character in comparison to David Stirling or Paddy Mayne, she is very much a character that existed at the time. There were spies like Noor Inayat Khan or Virginia Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many incredible women who were a part of the liberation during the Second World War. Eve, like a lot of them, used methods that were born within her instinct and her intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n Boutella continued: \u201cConsidering their backgrounds, a lot of men at the time had all these pre-made ideas about the capacities of women like Noor Inayat Khan or Virginia Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cMy character also uses her background and her physical aspect in order to lure people, in order to get what she needs to free the exiled Free French government and North Africa from the Nazis.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As with all series based on true stories, some adjustments have had to be made for the real history to be brought to TV. However, the team behind SAS Rogue Heroes has stressed that they have tried, where possible, to stick to the reality of what happened.<\/p>\n When asked about the series\u2019 authenticity to real history at a recent event for the show, attended by RadioTimes.com<\/a> and other press, executive producer Karen Wilson said: \u201cWe have taken that very seriously. We have been in touch with all the surviving members of the families and we have tried to do everything as authentically as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cWe sought the advice of the SAS Regimental Association, who were super supportive throughout the process. We can only use the information that we\u2019ve got, but I think with Ben\u2019s book, with the research that Steve\u2019s done with the team, and the way they approached authenticity, just the costumes, they were, as much as possible, authentic World War II costumes.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, creator Steven Knight said: \u201cIt\u2019s such an amazing, unbelievable, incredible story. We all think we know who they are but when I read the Ben Macintyre book and started researching around, what gets me is how young they were, like 19, 20, 22, 23-year-old boys that were in this incredible pressure cooker situation. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd they just decided among themselves to do something different. And it\u2019s just amazing. They changed the course of the battle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Knight revealed that the team tried to keep the series \u201creal\u201d and this meant dramatising the unit\u2019s failures as well as their successes.<\/p> He said: \u201cIn the book, there\u2019s lots of failure and disaster. And characters who, as a dramatist, you would love to keep going and so you make a choice. And so I\u2019ve chosen that when that character dies, they die and it\u2019s a shock. And hopefully will be quite emotionally affecting. The choice has always been for me keeping to the real story in terms of the tempo.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThrough the writing I tried not to refer to other fiction, and tried where possible to refer to first hand accounts. I think there\u2019s a sort of smoothness about fiction about war, but everything I\u2019ve learned from people who have experienced it is it\u2019s just chaos.<\/p>\n \u201cIndividuals can take control of a few moments and that changes everything. So I tried where it was possible to refer more to first hand accounts rather than fiction.\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 James Hibbs Published: Sunday, 30 October 2022 at 12:00 am New BBC One drama SAS Rogue Heroes comes from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, and tells the story of the formation of the British Army unit the Special Air Service, AKA the SAS. The series stars Sex Education\u2018s Connor Swindells as David Stirling, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24827,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-true-story-how-much-of-the-drama-really-happened-scaled.jpg",2560,1709,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-true-story-how-much-of-the-drama-really-happened-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-true-story-how-much-of-the-drama-really-happened-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-true-story-how-much-of-the-drama-really-happened-768x513.jpg",768,513,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-true-story-how-much-of-the-drama-really-happened-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-true-story-how-much-of-the-drama-really-happened-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/10\/sas-rogue-heroes-true-story-how-much-of-the-drama-really-happened-2048x1367.jpg",2048,1367,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 James Hibbs Published: Sunday, 30 October 2022 at 12:00 am New BBC One drama SAS Rogue Heroes comes from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, and tells the story of the formation of the British Army unit the Special Air Service, AKA the SAS. The series stars Sex Education\u2018s Connor Swindells as David Stirling, the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/24826"}],"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\/24827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Is SAS Rogue Heroes based on a book?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Are the characters in SAS Rogue Heroes real people?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>How closely does SAS Rogue Heroes stick to reality?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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