SAS Rogue Heroes season 2 episode 1 recap: 'No one would be stupid enough to attack a continent with 35 men...'

This SAS Rogue Heroe season 2 episode 1 recap contains spoilers... Bullets will fly and blood will be spilled as the SAS lead the fight to retake mainland Europe in the second season of this action-packed BBC One World War Two drama.

Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, the six-parter opens in the Spring of 1943, with the recently-formed commando unit leaving the deserts of Africa and spearheading an assault upon Italy.

With Lt David Stirling (Connor Swindells) now a prisoner-of-war in Italy after being captured at the end of the last series, the SAS is now led by the unpredictable Lt Paddy Mayne (Jack O’Connell).

'A poor frame of mind...'

We begin in Cairo with Paddy Mayne in a “poor frame of mind” after being refused leave to return home for his father’s funeral. After smashing up some furniture in his fury, the Military Police come to arrest him and he takes them all on in a brutal fistfight. It’s a fitting start to the series.

As Paddy languishes in a military prison, Lt Col Bill Stirling (Gwilym Lee), elder brother of Paddy’s captured comrade, David Stirling, pays him a visit and explains how the British high command are thinking about disbanding the SAS. He also thinks they refused him leave deliberately, hoping he’d react as he did.

Bill has spent the last two years working for military intelligence and that he wants to try and save the fledgling commando unit. It’s clear that Paddy neither trusts nor respects him, yet despite their differences it seems these two are pulling in the same direction and Bill wants Paddy to spearhead the push to take Europe. Or be the “pointed tip of the spear” as he puts it.

Meanwhile, in London, French spy Eve Mansour (Sofia Boutella) meets with British intelligence officer, Lt Col Dudley Clarke (Dominic West), at the HQ of the French Government in exile. She tells him she’s receiving letters from her lover, David Stirling (Connor Swindells), who’s currently imprisoned in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp. She’s also interested to hear that his brother Bill has changed the name of the SAS to the SRS, The Special Raiding Squadron.

'A War Song to Englishmen...'

At the Port of Suez, the newly-named SRS are in training for what will be a very tough assignment. They are joined by a host of new recruits, including vocal Scotsman, Cpl James "Jock" McDiarmid (Mark Rowley) and the exceedingly well-spoken Lt John Eliot Tonkin (Jack Barton).

Paddy advises them they’re off to Sicily, however, the briefing soon degenerates into a row between Jock and Reg Seekings (Theo Barklem-Biggs). We think they’ll probably end up being best mates, but they’re certainly rubbing each other up the wrong way atm.

However, Paddy’s poetic quote from William Blake’s "A War Song to Englishmen" leaves them in no doubt about the size of their task, before Lt Col Bill Stirling arrives to address the men. It’s soon clear they aren’t impressed by his rank or reputation, yet they soon settle down when he tells them GHQ expects a fatality rate of 50% on their upcoming mission.

He tells them they will lead an operation that consists of 3,000 ships, carrying 160,000 soldiers from the British 8th Army under General Montgomery and the US 7th Army under General Patten. The SRS will be carrying out the initial assault on the coastal defences of Sicily, which consist of machine gun nests, barbed wire and minefields. If the defences are not taken out before dawn, the main attack will fail.

At The Ritz, Eve Mansour meets Dudley Clarke, who realises that his counterpart knew the date of the invasion of Italy. She wants to know why he didn’t share that information with the French government.

She expected the attack to be imminent, yet says her superiors couldn’t believe France’s allies would begin such an operation without their knowledge. He says the reason he couldn’t tell her is that the British and US government don’t trust General De Gaulle, yet does confirm the SRS are “hard at work”.

'Kill Italians!'

Aboard the Ulster Monarch, the SRS are preparing for their mission when Paddy breaks some very macabre news. Apparently a host of gliders carrying Allied troops were sent across ahead of the attack to land behind enemy lines, yet some of them have fallen short leaving men stranded in the water. He says their landing crafts will not be able to stop and rescue these drowning men as it could risk the mission and that anyone trying to do so will be court-martialled.

“You will not jeopardise the liberation of Europe with acts of mercy," he explains grimly. "These are the last moments of your lives when you won’t have images of drowning men stuck inside your head.”

Sure enough, as they make their way to shore they hear heartbreaking screams and pleas for mercy from men in the water. It’s a terrible moment and one that emphasises that not all wartime trauma comes from the blood and guts seen on the battlefield.

However there’s not much time to dwell on those thoughts, as they soon arrive on the beach of Sicily and are taking fire from the Italian defences. “Kill Italians!” shouts Paddy, before a charge up the bluffs.

Once they make it, a bitter firefight ensues in which many of the SRS are killed, yet Reg Seekings carries out a particularly brave attack to break the deadlock and the remaining Italians surrender. “They think there’s more of us than there are," says Paddy. "Because no one would be stupid enough to attack a continent with 35 men." However, one machine gun nest refuses to give up and unloads a hail of bullets, before being taken out by Jock.

As Paddy lights the flare to signal the rest of the attack to come ashore, news of the invasion reaches David Stirling in his POW camp.