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The title isn't a good start - it sounds like a cheapo action film from some barrel - and I almost turned off early, but I stuck with it and ended up enjoying this. To be fair, the sole cause of my almost-early turnoff was the music. It's liberally peppered with rock (some heavy but mainly punk) from the 70s and 80s, and I think that just doesn't work. I don't expect everything set in WW2 to have Vera Lynn warbling along to it, but in a serious production like this I do expect some authenticity, and as much as I like The Clash, Damned, Fall etc, I think they were entirely the wrong sounds for this. I sort of got used to it but it was a constant sore thumb.
This is based on the formation and early years of Blighty's favourite military operatives, the SAS (or Super Army Soldiers). A title card asserts that the things that seem unlikely are probably true - and the strength of the series for me is that, for the most part, it does stick to the truth. The other sore thumb was the French spy played by Sofia Boutella; partly because she isn't up to the standard of the rest of the very good cast, and because she's very obviously fictional. In fact she does #metoo no good at all by having absolutely nothing to do but fall into bed with the roguest hero - "quick, we'd better get a woman in this". It's a shame as there is more than enough true material to draw on to make more than the 6 episodes.
Short review - mainly true, entertaining and well worth it, with the above reservations.
Β Sounds good, @wowbagger - thanks for the heads-up. ?
Β
Writing in The Guardian, military historian Anthony Beevor commented that the series was "unmissable viewing", and "achieved the right balance of irreverence and admiration all the way through with a brilliant contrast in characters". The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 8.3/10, based on 12 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus said: "With a terrific cast inhabiting this roster of likeable rapscallions, Rogue Heroes is a fun throwback to down-and-dirty adventure stories." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on seven critic reviews, indicating "Generally favourable reviews."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0d5z0xy/sas-rogue-heroes
Yeah, we enjoyed it but would rather they'd have gone for a Band of Brothers feel rather than Inglorious Basterds.
2 Episodes in so far, I'm enjoying it but it seems nothing like the book. The characters in the TV series seem to come across as jolly good English fellows and cheeky chappies. The book is more boring but factual, from what I can remember, I read it a few years ago now.Β
I haven't read the book it's based on, but I've read 'The Phantom Major' by Virginia Cowles, a former war correspondent who interviewed many of the SAS involved in the early years. Her book - published in the 50s - is taken from accounts of the personnel involved, so it's probably as accurate as it's going to get. It was actually recommended to my parents by my uncle, who served with the regiment in the 50s and 60s (and who gets honourable mentions in at least 2 other books about the service). The series has got the characters right, as far as I can remember it. Stirling certainly was a character who treated the whole thing as a ripping good adventure, and many of the others were like that too. That's why I'm annoyed they saw fit to shoehorn in that fictional French woman, because what went on is colourful enough as it is.
