Man down! Steven Knight’s crackerjack dramatisation of the formation and second world war exploits of the Special Air Service returns with a snag to fix. In season one, this new elite British army regiment, and the show commemorating it, were led by Connor Swindells as David Stirling, an officer with an intoxicating blend of debonair dash and suppressed rage. But SAS Rogue Heroes is based on fact, albeit in a scatter-gun, tie askew, stolen-your-wife sort of way, and the fact is that in January 1943, Stirling became a prisoner of war in Italy. Season two begins in the spring and summer of that year, so Stirling is duly confined and Swindells, the star, is hardly in it.
Taking command now is Jack O’Connell as Paddy Mayne, previously the screaming id to Stirling’s smart ego. Can he hack it on his own? The success of the operation depends on him … Paddy Mayne is still a borderline-certifiable risk-taker and dead-eyed slayer of the faceless enemy, but his new position as a leader requires a new level of reckless bravery from the actor playing him. O’Connell is equal to the task.
