Rogue Heroes Australian Premiere This April on SBS

Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders, is behind this new series, which will premiere this April on SBS, an adaptation of Ben Macintyre’s best-selling book Rogue Heroes about how the Special Air Service (SAS) came to be during World War II. Like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, most of what follows is true. Rogue Heroes tells the story of how the most famous Special Forces unit in the world came to be during the darkest days of World War II.

An ensemble cast of Connor Swindells, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Allen, Dominic West, and Sofia Boutella headline and the self-proclaimed band of oddities, gentlemen, and pirates will be joined by Amir El Masry, Theo Barklem-Biggs, Corin Silva, Jacob Ifan, Dónal Finn, Jacob McCarthy, César Domboy, Miles Jupp, and Jason Watkins. The series will follow the crew as they rail against the status quo of service.

In 1941 Cairo, two young officers, David Stirling (Swindells) and Jock Lewes (Allen), have grown frustrated with the military’s current war strategy. Believing that traditional commando units are ineffective, they devise a revolutionary plan that goes against accepted rules of modern warfare. They attempt to recruit their friend, Robert Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne (O’Connell), to join their mission.

The project is created and written by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Taboo, A Christmas Carol) and directed by Tom Shankland (The Serpent, The Missing), with Stephen Smallwood (The Serpent, Patrick Melrose) as producer.

Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Wrangel Clarke (West) of British secret intelligence in the Middle East has helped Major David Stirling to gain permission to recruit soldiers for a small undercover unit. This unit is intended to create chaos behind enemy lines, and will be comprised of men from public schools and military prisons who are known for their rebelliousness and need for only one order: ‘Go. Kill. Return. Go again’.

The Special Air Service (SAS) has been given an identity and a name, and it is now up to Major Stirling and his men to show that their plan of parachuting into the desert and striking enemy airbases under cover of night will be effective.

Rogue Heroes Premieres Wednesday 5 April 2023 at 9.30pm on SBS.