discussion Rogue Heros.

[Ian M]

Just watched the series Rogue Heros on the TV. If you do not know it is about the birth of the SAS.
Well worth a watch if you ask me.
100% accurate? probably not, but it says so at the start. Well made. Spectacular scenes out in the desert. some great ideas for diorama builders....

 

[AlanG]

There is an accompanying series called SAS Rogue Warriors to go along with it. Well worth watching.

But yes SAS Rogue Heroes was good

All the above can be found on BBC iPlayer

 

[PaulTRose]

finished binge watching it yesterday..............it was ok i thought.............found the 'modern' music a bit off putting (and why was so much of it AC/DC?)............lost a lot of credibility when one guy saluted with the wrong hand :rolling:

 

[Tim Marlow]

Watched the first two episodes, and unfortunately I think it’s pretty poor so far. Setting and scenery are good, and it’s nice to see early war desert stuff being given some air time, but characterisation appears to be absolute rubbish. The main characters are shown in a very two dimensional light, basically as arrogant thugs. I can’t believe they were this shallow, which destroys any credibility the show might have for me. If the main protagonists really were as undisciplined and chaotic as they are being portrayed they would have achieved very little. After all, aggression without the application of strategic intelligence and the focus of self discipline is just a recipe to get your own side killed for very little gain. Mind you, I’ve always thought the SAS have been glamourised well above their strategic military effectiveness, and this program is just adding another facet to the “legend”. Personally I think the SOE, Commando, and LRDG irregular forces were far more useful to the overall allied cause.

 

[Ian M]

All the above can be found on BBC iPlayer

We watched it on HBO.

finished binge watching it yesterday..............it was ok i thought.............found the 'modern' music a bit off putting (and why was so much of it AC/DC?)............lost a lot of credibility when one guy saluted with the wrong hand :rolling:

I don't know why but I thought that the music went quite well with it. (I also thought the same in Peaky Blinders). I misse the wrong handed salut. Maybe he was a Free French. lol

Watched the first two episodes, and unfortunately I think it’s pretty poor so far.

I find a lot of things start slow and get better. This was also. By the third we where hooked. Maybe the characters where a bit over cooked, but it was a drama, based on the events not a documentary.
I watch TV for entertainment, If I want to learn, I read a book.
It was good to see some British based action, in a fantastic landscape. with mostly correct vehicles. Although most of the aircraft where rather "dodgy" and the tank in the last episode..... looked rather m60ish to me... Still hard to find a working WWII German tank and get to take it to Egypt!

 

[Tim Marlow]

We watched it on HBO.

I don't know why but I thought that the music went quite well with it. (I also thought the same in Peaky Blinders). I misse the wrong handed salut. Maybe he was a Free French. lol


I find a lot of things start slow and get better. This was also. By the third we where hooked. Maybe the characters where a bit over cooked, but it was a drama, based on the events not a documentary.
I watch TV for entertainment, If I want to learn, I read a book.
It was good to see some British based action, in a fantastic landscape. with mostly correct vehicles. Although most of the aircraft where rather "dodgy" and the tank in the last episode..... looked rather m60ish to me... Still hard to find a working WWII German tank and get to take it to Egypt!

I get most of that Ian. Agree that the music worked well, probably because it’s a type of music I like and it fitted the high energy feel, and I too missed the wrong handed salute :tongue-out3:.
Yes, the first episode was a bit slow, but I don’t mind a build up. As I said, it’s great that some early war stuff is being shown. I also get that it’s a drama, and don’t mind the judicious application of dramatic license. Sometimes programs need that approach to set the scene and fully introduce the characters.
For example, Band of Brothers, which I thought superb, had an entire episode based around the discovery of Nazi concentration camp atrocities (Why we fight, I think) that never actually happened. It was used to give dramatic context to that period of the war and worked really well.
In this case though the writers have just used dramatic license, such as it is, to emphasise the characters obnoxiousness. Maybe in the modern world that is thought of as cool :rolling: but to me I just find it a bit obvious and ultimately disappointingly empty.
To do what they did the main characters must have had well above average leadership skills and displayed flexible original thinking, so why not show some of that. As it stands so far they are just coming across as posh thugs recruiting a street gang.
After saying all that though, I’m honestly not trying to put down anyone that enjoys it. There is enough negativity in the world without me adding to it. If it floats your boat, fill yer boots :thumb2: I was just trying to put into words how I felt after the first two episodes.

Also, I’ll probably keep watching because there’s bog all else on at the moment, so hopefully I’ll be pleasantly surprised

 

[PaulTRose]

looked rather m60ish to me... Still hard to find a working WWII German tank and get to take it to Egypt!

it was........just looked and it was filmed in Morroco and they have plenty of M60s in reserve, so must have borrowed one..................i just watched that bit of the last episode again....you can tell by the mudguard brackets and the domed commanders hatch

 

[AlanG]

To do what they did the main characters must have had well above average leadership skills and displayed flexible original thinking, so why not show some of that. As it stands so far they are just coming across as posh thugs recruiting a street gang.

If you watch the SAS Rogue Warriors program taken from the exclusive look at the SAS archives, then you'll see that most of them were indeed misfits, borderline psychopaths. Especially Paddy Maine.

 

[Tim Marlow]

If you watch the SAS Rogue Warriors program taken from the exclusive look at the SAS archives, then you'll see that most of them were indeed misfits, borderline psychopaths. Especially Paddy Maine.

Yep, but in this one they’ve crossed the border and disappeared into the distance Alan LOL……

 

[Ian M]

I'm going out on a limb here and thinking that they had the military training to teach them all the "propper" soldiering stuff.
Sterling wanted hard men that where prepared to do risky things and get up close and personal with the enemy.
It would appear that the 'special unit' was the war time equivalent of the suicide squad. If it gets the job done fine. If they all get killed ... find some more. I get the impression that the unit was started just to feed an idea that the Germans had been feed that a "crack paratrooper" squad was in the area and they really only wanted bodies to make the rumor more believable. Sterling was also most likely chosen due to his family more than his military prowess.
What started as a 'joke' by the intelligence service turned out to be a very effective tool.

Any who..... it was an entertaining series.

 

[Guest]

military training to teach them all the "propper" soldiering stuff.

From a realism point of view, though, that is not always the best thing to have A lot of shows set in the past use too modern methods, like carrying firearms with the actor’s index finger along the stock, off the trigger, which is a fairly modern safety measure This is a pretty good video on it:

I haven’t seen the SAS show so I don’t know if it has that too, though.

 

[Ian M]

From a realism point of view, though, that is not always the best thing to have

I was referring to the real soldiers would have had their normal training. Not the actors depicting them.

As to how accurate the depiction was will be hard to guess. There is only one surviving member of the unit and he is blind. His most noteworthy comment was "sounded very much like what it was like..."

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Very interesting, chaps!
I have it recorded and will binge it (without inflicting it on SWMBO) next week, so no spoilers, please....
Since working in the film industry I have become a little more forgiving of details missed or compromises made, on the grounds that it only offends 0.0001% of the audience-
us:tears-of-joy:

 

[Guest]

Having read the autobiography by Stirling and other historical accounts about the start of the LRDG and where it then led onto the SAS, Having watched about two thirds of the first programme I was more or less reminded of the 'Famous Five Do....' I found this programme to be like 'The Crown' almost Director led factually correct, but made for TV sensationalism and therefore not historically/factually correct. And like a lot of historical dramas today, you (director/producer) have to have ticked all the politically correct boxes, even if the characters would not have been there at the time. And as it is also from the left wing bbc, you can expect a slant on the truth.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Don’t know about a “slant on the truth” from the BBC Mike, but I’m sure Stirling would have slanted his biography to make himself look great…..after all, most biography writers do. Stirlings own political views were pretty extreme right wing, so that should counterpoint any “left wing” bias. If he’d been born in Germany he would certainly have been a member of the SS.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Well I've seen the first two episodes and, possibly because my expectations were lowered by this thread, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I very much doubt if such a beautiful woman would have gone round Cairo saying"I'm a spy" if she actually WAS, but what the hell? It's ww2 and it's fun.

 

[Peter Gillson]

Well I've seen the first two episodes and, possibly because my expectations were lowered by this thread, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I very much doubt if such a beautiful woman would have gone round Cairo saying"I'm a spy" if she actually WAS, but what the hell? It's ww2 and it's fun.

The woman is the biggest fictional element, purely included for dramatic and storyline effect.

i watch all of the episodes and enjoyed it, even if not 100 % accurate - it is Sunday evening entertainment rather than a documentary, but still more accurate than some classic films like The Great Escape - great film but very little accuracy.

Peter

 

[Graeme C.]

I've only seen the first three episodes & I've read the book it is based on, it is meant to be entertainment & follows the book reasonably well. Some parts are obviously done for the entertainment value, but some parts, like the raids in episode 3 don't need anything extra, they were pretty exciting anyway.

 

[Airborne01]

Soldiering is generally a couple of percent sheer terror, remainder utter boredom - unfortunately that doesn't make for 'good' television! And ... who cares? - it's entertainment!! So, to hell with the truth and bring on the minstrels!!
Steve

 

[Neil Merryweather]

I'm quite sure the book is a genuinely scholarly work and I have a feeling I have even read it...most of the events seem familiar to me, so I'm looking forward to the rest of it.
But, to add my name to the rivet counters; being a uniform guy I think the wardrobe department got the fabric of the shirts wrong.....it seems like modern cotton and was far too 'crisp' looking. Of course, during filming they would need to be laundered every day, whereas in reality they were probably not laundered even once a month. They managed the sweat stains, yes, but there's a very specific, creased look to the shirt of a Desert Rat, and that's what leaps out at me. I don't know if it's technically doable for continuity, but it was conspicuous by its absence.
But I won't let it spoil my enjoyment of the show.