Connor Swindells as David Stirling (Image: BBC)
SAS Rogue Heroes is back on BBC One with Paddy Mayne (played by Jack O’Connell) having taken over leadership of the regiment following David Stirling’s (Connor Swindells) capture.
While the SAS discovered both friends and enemies in Sicily, at Gavi prisoner of war camp, Stirling received an unexpected visitor. In January 1943, the real David Stirling was captured during a mission in Tunisia.
By this time, he had become a legend known as ‘The Phantom Major’ from his German adversaries. After his capture, he tried to escape four times, resulting in his transfer to the supposedly ‘escape-proof’ Colditz Castle in Germany.
He stayed there until the end of the war and upon his arrival in August 1944, he was given the task of setting up the Colditz British Intelligence Unit.
There were fears among his men that his capture would mean the end of the unit, but thankfully this did not happen under Paddy’s leadership.
The Campaign In North Africa 1940-1943 featuring Colonel David Stirling (Image: Imperial War Museums via Getty Images)
One of his escape attempts before he moved was part of a mass escape, made via a cistern tunnel from Gavi, the ‘Italian Colditz’.
Winston Churchill’s nephew and the nephew of the then British King George VI were also among Colditz Castle’s prisoners.
Today, guests from all over the world stay at the European Youth Hostel there, and the venue hosts events and concerts.
Opening up on David’s role in season two of SAS Rogue Heroes, Connor Swindells said: “We now find Paddy leading his boys in a very Paddy-like fashion whilst David rattles away in his cell very begrudgingly.
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David Stirling was a prisoner of war in the series (Image: BBC)
“Largely, the story for David’s part is him coming to terms with the fact he is missing out on all the action – which is how I felt too, because I was missing out on all the fun.
“Everyone was shooting in very wonderful conditions and I was in a cave.”
He said of David’s frustration: “He can’t do anything about this and he has to relinquish control.
“He’s someone who has always been trying to gain control by opening himself up to failure a lot of the time, that’s what I tried to play with in the first series and what Tom Shankland (series one director) and I mined.
“I think during series two the challenge has been that this is about David being on his own for the first time in his life, and for me as an actor that’s really fun.”
SAS Rogue Heroes is available to watch on iPlayer