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Don't think Paddy Maine was gay, in the series he was miserable most of the time, I'd have put him more in the sad and angry category.

Paddy Mayne's Father died while he was in the mid-east and he was refused leave to attend the funeral.
He went on a bender and rampage in Cairo to find and beat up journalist Richard Dimbleby.

The tactics and filming of weapon's handling were pretty dire, no mags for reloading, at one scene it was like they had straight pull .45 Thompson.

The modern music was a bit jarring, nothing wrong with using instrumental music to add tension to a scene, I suppose the BBC don't need that orchestra they keep around.

Interesting to see the discussion on this TV series. I was given the book as a Christmas present a couple of years ago. My initial thought was, "Oh no, it's yet another SAS book", but it actually turned out to be an excellent read. The portrayal of Paddy Mayne in the TV series was fairly consistent with the book, so this wasn't the BBC going off on one of its usual culture wars frolics. At first, I thought the accompanying music was completely inappropriate, but very quickly decided it was an excellent choice. Some of the SAS founders' escapades were so outlandish that I doubt any music of the 1940s would have done them justice! However, these things are always a matter of personal preference. Some of my colleagues who are absolutely typical war movie watchers loved this series, so it certainly hit the mark for them (and me).

Sorry could not stand the music. I don’t know if it’s as I get older but an awful lot of programmes have music which drowns out the spoken work and causes me to use subtitles which often miss some of the conversation out.
I think I am turning into my dad

Rookandrabbit wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 10:56 am Sorry could not stand the music. I don’t know if it’s as I get older but an awful lot of programmes have music which drowns out the spoken work and causes me to use subtitles which often miss some of the conversation out.
I think I am turning into my dad

I have to disagree 100% - Jeeps bombing flat out over the desert & down runways guns blazing while AC/DC, Motorhead, Saxon and Judas Priest etc are playing in the background - simply brilliant. It's a drama not a documentary.

Music of the day would've been ridiculous. Just imagine one of Vera bloody Lynns warbler ear torture sessions pumping out over the scene where they're shooting up the airfield in the jeeps The sound levels of course are another matter. Overall I enjoyed the series but took it more like a Graphic Novel version of events than a documentary.

This was from 1938 and would definitely have worked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyAUKU_ImNg

Turn the sound up and look/listen through to the end.......(and tell me what you reckon Krupa was on... )

Pete

I'll have 2 of what the drummers had!

Blackstuff wrote: ↑Tue Jan 24, 2023 9:05 am I'll have 2 of what the drummers had!

Now I know where Animal learned to play the drums

I loved the serial so much that I binge-watched it all the way through twice.

I understand how people objected to the music because it was anachronistic, but I found it really had a powerful impact on the atmosphere, adding to the anti-establishment, anarchic feel. Music has impact when it can stimulate an emotional response in its contemporary audience. Period music is wrong for that because however revolutionary it may have been for its original audience, for us it will only ever be old fashioned and nostalgic. When something feels old fashioned, it reminds you that it was in the past. To feel really powerful you have to feel like it is real, now, so that you can immerse yourself in it. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

I don't know enough of the SAS's history to have been upset about inaccuracies. For me, it was a drama which conveyed a feeling of the past, and that may be more important than a forensic representation. Like someone else here said, it was drama not documentary.