The irresistible truth of Rogue Heroes
An appetiser not a spoiler
This post includes some dialogue from Series 2: Episode 2 of SAS Rogue Heroes.
The dialogue reveals the irresistible truth of the SAS (as it’s portrayed in the show) but it doesn’t give away any details of the plot. It shouldn’t spoil anything. It might whet the appetite of the uninitiated.
Context for those that need it
SAS Rogue Heroes is described on the BBC website as, “The adrenaline-fuelled origins of the fearless, reckless Special Forces unit, its legend forged among the mayhem of WWII.”
It’s a romp. It’s mostly a violent romp in which WWII action is set to music (my music) from the late seventies and early eighties. In the Series 2 episodes I’ve watched so far we’ve been treated to Madness, Sham 69, and Stiff Little Fingers, amongst others.
But it’s not only a romp. The romping is deceptive. It leaves you unprepared for moments of intense pathos and intimacy. And the show occasionally addresses unexpected subject matter like PTSD. No one, not even the SAS, escapes the psychological damage of warfare.
The show is based on the true origin story of the regiment, but with a fair bit of creative licence. The opening credits stress that it’s NOT a history lesson.
Such was the success of the nascent SAS in the North African campaign (the setting for Series 1), that a second SAS regiment is created to double their impact in support of the Allied invasion of Italy (Series 2). The second SAS regiment is filled with top recruits from existing Commando units in the British Army.
Many a true word…
The original SAS regiment is commanded by Major Paddy Mayne. Staff Sergeant Jim Almonds is training the new regiment and he’s not happy about it. Almonds was part of the original SAS crew in Africa and Mayne respects him. Here’s the revealing dialogue between them:
Almonds: May I request that you do what you can to get me the hell out of this unit?
Mayne: You have no faith in the new incarnation?
Almonds: Well, the issue, sir, is that everyone involved in this new unit is sane, completely sane.
Mayne: Aye, I can see how that would be hazardous.
Almonds: They make considered decisions and proceed according to logic, sir. It’s quite unnerving.
The clue is in the context
It’s no accident that the word Rogue is in the title of the show. And it’s no accident that the BBC blurb (see the context section above) uses words like reckless and mayhem. These descriptions are much closer to the irresistible truth of the SAS than words like logic and sanity.
The new regiment has been filled with damn good soldiers according to standard British Army criteria. But those criteria are a liability to the SAS.
The SAS (as depicted in this show) is effective precisely because it doesn’t play by the rules. It’s home to a bunch of troublemakers and misfits whose intelligence manifests as cunning and imagination, and whose ambition is directed at chaos and havoc. They are terrorists who happen to be on “our side”.
It’s often the case that people can’t see the irresistible truth even when it’s staring them in the face. Let’s face it, I’d be out of a job if they could.
The second SAS regiment is the brainchild of Bill Stirling, seen on the balcony in the screenshot below, looking down on the conversation between Mayne and Almonds.
Bill Stirling is depicted (so far at least) as the straight-laced, by-the-book, and therefore decidedly square elder brother of David Stirling, the unhinged founder of the first SAS regiment.
The second SAS regiment has been created in Bill Stirling’s image when it should have been created in David’s. Maybe it’s sibling rivalry that blinds the elder brother to the irresistible truth of his younger brother’s creation.
Maybe the second SAS regiment and Bill Stirling will have a triumphant narrative arc of their own. I’m yet to find out. But in Episode 2 they look like damp squibs compared to the real thing.
The irresistible truth
Paddy Mayne and Jim Almonds know the truth, and sanity plays no part in it. If the fledgling SAS portrayed in this show were a brand, and I were tasked to write a brief for its brand idea, the proposition would be something like:
The SAS uses calculated madness to achieve the apparently impossible.
I wouldn’t presume to prescribe a tone of voice in the brief, but I’d expect the resulting creative work to be some shade of unruly and unhinged.
And, who knows, maybe the creative idea and strapline from this brief would be, Who dares wins.
Maybe try this too: The irresistible truth of Jesse Armstrong
P.S. I also co-write and co-edit a magazine over on Medium, called A Longing look, which is a series of love letters to song lyrics. It has been quite a while since I wrote one of these but I got back in the saddle recently to write this: Sometimes I feel just a little bit older (A love letter to the lyrics of Travelling Not Running by EMF.)