As aristocratic Bill Stirling in Sunday night action drama Gwilym Lee is desperately trying to fill his brother David’s shoes after he was taken prisoner of war.
It is a million miles from his big screen role in an winning biopic in which he was unrecognisable as he played a world famous musician.
Although he had a wealth of TV experience it was the role of Queen guitarist in the band biopic Bohemian Rhapsody that really thrust him into the spotlight.
Gwilym looked compeltely different as he donned a curly wig to match Brian’s trademark locks. He bore a striking resemblance to the musician in his younger days. So much so that Brian’s wife, star Anita Dobson gave her seal of approval in a chat with the Mirror.
“It was like looking at Brian when I first met him,” she gushed. “It was very strange. They’re the same height, they’ve got quite a lot of similarity in the face, and once he put the curly jet black wig on, looking at him was quite bizarre.
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Brian May was played by Gwilym Lee in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (Image: Brian May’s Queen in 3-D collection)
“He was handsome… he’s lovely. Gorgeous… Not as good as the real thing. Of course,” she added.
Speaking on The View, – but he did have a small change he wanted to make.
“It was quite a surreal moment,” Gwilym recalled. “He knocked on my trailer door and it was the first time he’d seen me in the full get up, the full wig.
“And it was seeing a younger version of himself, going into this strange time warp. He looked at me with this sense of awe that lasted for about three minutes.
“Then he came up to me and started adjusting the wig, saying ‘the fringe was a little bit longer’!”
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Gwilym Lee plays Bill Stirling in BBC’s SAS: Rogue Heroes (Image: BBC)
As for his current role Gwilym has admitted he feels a “responsibilty” playing it saying: “It’s an incredible story we’re telling about some really brave and courageous people, and we all feel that weight of responsibility. There is a passion in everything we do in order to do justice to this story.
“Although he is the newest addition to the cast, which also includes The Crown star Dominic West and Jack O’Connell, he says he was welcomed wth open arms.
“I’ve loved being embraced by them, it’s a really special job. It can be tricky coming into a second series with a really established cast of actors and a great crew, as you worry about ruffling feathers or breaking into a clique, but there was none of that whatsoever. It was open arms from day one,” he said.
SAS: Rogue Heroes is on One on Sunday nights at 9pm.