Band of Brothers Meets Peaky Blinders: Why SAS: Rogue Heroes Deserves Its 100% Rotten Tomatoes Score

What happens when the brutal reality of World War II is filtered through the swagger, dark humor, rebellious characters, and kinetic style of Peaky Blinders?

The answer is SAS: Rogue Heroes.

Created by Steven Knight, the series tells the story of the formation of Britain’s Special Air Service during World War II. It has the combat and camaraderie associated with classic war dramas such as Band of Brothers, but its irreverent characters and distinctive visual style give it a very different personality.

That combination has proved remarkably popular with critics. Rotten Tomatoes currently gives the series a 100% Tomatometer score from 24 critic reviews, with both Season 1 and Season 2 individually sitting at 100%.

Both seasons are available on Prime Video, making SAS: Rogue Heroes an easy series to catch up on while its story continues into a third season.

Steven Knight Found Another Perfect Historical Story

Steven Knight is best known for creating Peaky Blinders, but his work extends well beyond the Shelby family.

His television credits include A Thousand Blows, House of Guinness, and All the Light We Cannot See. Among those projects, SAS: Rogue Heroes may be the one that feels most immediately familiar to Peaky Blinders viewers.

The series is based on Ben Macintyre’s 2016 book SAS: Rogue Heroes and dramatizes the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the creation of the Special Air Service during World War II.

The story begins in Cairo during the North Africa campaign. David Stirling, played by Connor Swindells, develops the idea for a radically different kind of commando unit. Jack O’Connell plays Paddy Mayne, one of the key figures who becomes part of the SAS story.

The first season establishes the unit and its unusual collection of soldiers. Season 2 moves the action into Italy, broadening the scope of the story while continuing to follow the men and the pressures surrounding the young regiment.

The result is a World War II drama that is as interested in personalities and relationships as it is in military operations.

Why Peaky Blinders Fans Are Likely to Connect With It

The comparison with Peaky Blinders is more than a convenient marketing line.

Both shows are built around highly distinctive characters who can be intelligent, charismatic, reckless, funny, and deeply flawed at the same time. Their personalities frequently drive the drama as much as the circumstances surrounding them.

That approach is particularly important in SAS: Rogue Heroes.

Instead of presenting the Second World War as a traditional military procedural, the series follows soldiers who routinely push against authority and conventional thinking. They are brave, but they can also be reckless. They are capable of extraordinary loyalty, yet their behavior can be volatile and self-destructive.

That makes the show feel much less formal than many historical dramas.

The difference between the two series is equally important. Peaky Blinders centers on criminals whose actions often endanger innocent people. SAS: Rogue Heroes, by contrast, follows soldiers operating as part of the Allied war effort.

The moral landscape is therefore very different, even if the characters share some of the same swagger and unpredictability.

The series also does not reduce its story to a straightforward celebration of British military institutions. The historical setting provides the framework, but the drama remains focused on the men themselves, their relationships, their ambitions, and the psychological strain of war.

A War Drama With Its Own Visual Rhythm

One of the reasons SAS: Rogue Heroes stands apart is its energy.

The show does not treat every sequence like a solemn historical reconstruction. Action scenes, character moments, humor, music, editing, and visual style are frequently combined to give the series a distinctive rhythm.

That quality will feel familiar to anyone who enjoys the way Peaky Blinders can turn a confrontation into a memorable television sequence.

Think of the tension surrounding Tommy Shelby’s confrontation with Billy Kimber. The impact comes from more than the dialogue itself. The pacing, performances, music, and atmosphere all contribute to the scene.

SAS: Rogue Heroes takes a similar approach to its own material.

Large-scale wartime developments sit alongside smaller moments between the soldiers. The show can shift from danger to humor and back again without losing its central focus on the characters.

That balance helps prevent the series from feeling like a history lesson. Even when the story temporarily moves away from combat, there is usually enough personality and tension to keep the narrative moving.

Why the Series Has Been Easy to Miss

For a series with two perfect Rotten Tomatoes seasons, SAS: Rogue Heroes has remained surprisingly easy to overlook.

Its complicated streaming history has not helped.

The show originally aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the first season was released on Epix, while the second season arrived on MGM+. That change in platforms created an additional barrier for viewers who discovered the series and then had to figure out where the next season was available.

The situation is now considerably simpler for viewers with access to Prime Video. Rotten Tomatoes lists Prime Video as a place to watch the series, while its current ratings show a 100% Tomatometer score across 24 critic reviews. Season 1 has 100% from 18 reviews, and Season 2 has 100% from six.

Those numbers do not mean every viewer will respond to the series in exactly the same way. But they do underline just how consistently critics have embraced its unusual blend of war drama, action, humor, and character-driven storytelling.

Season 3 Takes the SAS Into France

There is also more of the story on the way.

Production on the third season began in September 2025, with filming taking place in the UK and France. The new six-part season moves the story to France in the summer of 1944, as the Allied campaign moves toward the liberation of Western Europe.

Paddy Mayne and the other SAS soldiers will operate behind enemy lines, working alongside the French Resistance and new recruits as they attempt to disrupt German forces.

Jack O’Connell returns as Paddy Mayne, with Sofia Boutella back as Eve Mansour and Dominic West returning as Dudley Clarke.

The returning cast also includes Theo Barklem-Biggs as Reg Seekings, Corin Silva as Jim Almonds, Jacob Ifan as Pat Riley, Jacob McCarthy as Johnny Cooper, Stuart Campbell as Bill Fraser, Bobby Schofield as Dave Kershaw, and Jack Barton as John Tonkin.

New cast members include Lorne MacFadyen, Nick Hargrove, Andrew Dawson, and Jake Jarratt. MacFadyen joins as Reverend Fraser McLusky, while the new recruits will be involved alongside members of the French and Belgian Maquis.

The third season is once again created, written, and executive produced by Steven Knight, with Stephen Woolfenden returning as director. It is planned as six 60-minute episodes and will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and MGM+ in the United States.

Where Band of Brothers and Peaky Blinders Meet

The appeal of SAS: Rogue Heroes becomes easier to understand when viewed between two very different series.

Band of Brothers provides the obvious comparison on the war-drama side. Like that landmark series, SAS: Rogue Heroes is concerned with soldiers facing combat, fear, loyalty, sacrifice, and the demands of military life.

Peaky Blinders provides the other half of the equation.

Here, the connection comes through Steven Knight’s interest in larger-than-life personalities, sharp exchanges, dark humor, rebellion, and stylish presentation. The characters are allowed to be messy and contradictory rather than simply functioning as pieces on a military map.

That mixture gives SAS: Rogue Heroes a personality of its own.

Its soldiers can be heroic without being presented as flawless. Their victories come with consequences, while their relationships and rivalries give the historical events a more personal dimension.

The result is a series that can move from battlefield danger to irreverent humor without losing its sense of place or purpose.

A 100% Score That Makes Sense

A perfect Rotten Tomatoes score is always worth examining rather than accepting as a guarantee that everyone will love a show. In this case, though, the critical response reflects several qualities that are easy to recognize once the series gets going.

SAS: Rogue Heroes has strong performances, memorable characters, an unusually lively tone for a World War II drama, and a willingness to tell its historical story with style.

Most importantly, it knows what kind of show it wants to be.

It is not trying to replicate Band of Brothers, and it does not simply transplant Peaky Blinders into wartime Britain. Instead, it takes elements that fans of both shows tend to appreciate and builds them into a story about the men who created one of World War II’s most famous special forces units.

The show’s journey between BBC One, Epix, and MGM+ may have kept it from becoming as widely discussed as some of its better-known counterparts. Its availability on Prime Video makes that barrier much smaller now.

For viewers who love the character-driven intensity of Band of Brothers or the swagger and dark humor of Peaky Blinders, SAS: Rogue Heroes is a natural addition to the watchlist.

And with its third season already filmed in part across the UK and France and its story heading into the summer of 1944, there is plenty of reason to catch up with Paddy Mayne and the rest of the Rogue Heroes now.