Image via BBC By Billy Fellows Published Jun 24, 2026, 11:06 PM EDT Billy is a Senior Features Author for Collider . Having written over 300 articles in just over a year, Billy regularly covers the biggest TV shows and films releasing while also analysing some of the most underrated properties that may slip your attention. Having studied for an MA in Screenwriting at UAL in 2023, Billy honed his writing skills and also developed his ability to critique the work of other creative minds. Before that, Billy studied politics at the University of Nottingham, which helped him to bring nuanced and scholarly analysis to the frameworks within which filmmakers and writers have framed their thematic messages. Sign in to your Collider account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap There have been a plethora of films and television shows that cover the events of World War II, from Saving Private Ryan to Band of Brothers and Dunkirk . What these stories often focus on are the parts of war we all know about but can never fully comprehend until we see them brought to life — the brutality, sacrifice, and chaos of the battlefield. Yet war breeds more than strategy, conquest, and disturbing imagery. It also creates stories so absurd they seem impossible, where missions that should never work end up changing the course of history. That is part of what made Band of Brothers such an enduring World War II benchmark , and it is also what makes Rogue Heroes such a delightfully entertaining watch, as a band of “mad bastards” help change the tide of the war in Africa and create what would become one of the most prestigious military units in history.
It's little surprise, then, that Rogue Heroes is finding a new audience , with the Steven Knight series recently surging on streaming charts around the world as viewers rediscover its remarkable true story. The show follows David Stirling ( Connor Swindells ) as he and other itchy-trigger-fingered soldiers form a paratrooper regiment whose main mission is to drop into inhospitable locations and do irreparable sabotage to the enemy .
This show is not just one that can truly beggar belief at times, but shows the absurdity bred by war by the key founders of the SAS, who are almost psychotic in their approach to battle and are rewarded for it. Whilst their bloodthirsty approach is effective, it is certainly something that makes you ponder the true point of this butchery we see before us.
Incredible stories occur everywhere in a war, even when you would not expect them. Yet, when they are adapted to the screen, it can be difficult to truly decipher what is real and what has been exaggerated, or even toned down. The events in the show are, as historian and SAS expert Joshua Levine via History Extra describes, mostly true. This includes, as Peaky Blinders ' creator Steven Knight and SAS creator put it in an interview with Radio Times , "failure and disaster" that occurred, such as Stirling's disastrous parachute test that left him bedridden. What might shock people is that each character's nature was kept the same, with some events toned down .
In the same interview, Knight explained how the scene in Season 1, where Stirling throws a fake grenade at a snooker table to spook fellow officers, was not wholly accurate. In real life, David Stirling threw a…