The SAS wasn't formed the way most people would assume. This is the remarkable story of the birth of the SAS, told by the men who were there and who were The Originals. This three-part series, presented by Colonel Tim Collins, explores the secret history of Britain's Special Air Service. Using unseen interviews with original members, combined with archive footage, this charts the SAS's history from its founding to the present day. Colonel Collins served 12 years with the Special Air Service, seeing two operational tours with the regiment. With "Who Dares Wins" as their motto, this documentary dares to reveal what life is like in Britain's elite military unit.
The setting is the Western Desert of North Africa; the date, November 1941. In the first episode of SAS: The Originals. Colonel Tim Collins presents a unique and comprehensive investigation of the birth of the SAS, concentrating on the originals’ treacherous first mission and the man behind it all – David Stirling. Stuck in hospital recovering from an unsuccessful parachute jump, Stirling developed the concept of the SAS – a revolutionary form of the commando, which consisted of teams of just four men carrying out an operation, as opposed to hundreds.
Transported to 1942, we follow Stirling and the originals’ attempt to disable the heart of the Nazi’s North African supply chain, as they commenced a series of operations in and around Benghazi. The originals comprised of the SAS men who were there from day one, at the genesis of the Special Air Service. Until recently, little has been known about these groundbreaking figures. Using never-before-shown footage, including operational reports and the Paddy Mayne diary, we recreate the SAS’s brave first offensives. The men discuss anything from the mundane, such as digging up and camouflaging their jeeps, to what it’s like to be under fire and leaving wounded comrades in the desert – a fate they too would face if badly wounded. Meanwhile, we explore Stirling’s fight with authority and his eventual triumph over it, as the SAS was raised to full regimental status in the British Army.
By this stage in the war, the originals – the SAS men who were there from day one – had been operating successfully in the Western Desert for over a year, but the war in Africa was now over and their leader, David Stirling, had been captured by the Germans and transported to Berlin. With the SAS now under closer control from the British military hierarchy, its fate stood in the balance. We end our journey with the war’s close and the subsequent liquidation of the SAS. This episode is action-packed and gripping, with the latest graphic technology reconstructing some of the most epic moments of the war. We even travel to Nazi concentration camp Bergen Belsen, which the originals were the first to enter.
What happened to the originals and David Stirling? And why, after all this, was the worlds most famous regiment later revived?