Description
The series uses interviews, re-enactments and graphics to reveal four action-packed tales. Focussing on missions that range from Sierra Leone to the Oman, it illustrates key tactics that a crack-force unit rely on to fulfil their orders.
Ep 1: Iranian Embassy Siege
In April 1980 six men armed with guns and grenades stormed the Iranian Embassy in Kensington. Those inside were taken hostage in a terrifying siege that dragged on for the next five days. When the terrorists shot one of the hostages in cold blood, the SAS were immediately sent in to seize control. The most famous British Special Forces operation in history, the Embassy Siege demonstrated to the world that the SAS were a fighting force to be reckoned with. But in reality it was a high-risk operation which nearly went badly wrong. Told in the words of the soldiers themselves, the hostages and one of the police negotiators, this is a blow-by-blow breakdown of the most famous eleven minutes of military action since the war. The first part of a new drama-documentary series mixes reconstruction with archive to reveal, for the first time, how close the mission really came to disaster.
Ep 2: Terror in the Skies
When armed terrorists seized a German passenger jet in 1977, they threatened to kill everyone on board. Ninety passengers and crew were held hostage after four Palestinian terrorists armed with guns and grenades bluffed their way onto Lufthansa Flight 181. For the next five days they criss-crossed the Mediterranean and the Middle East while they negotiated with the authorities. But behind the scenes the German Special Forces had asked for help from the SAS. Together, the soldiers came up with a bold and ambitious plan to end the hijacking. We follow every twist and turn as the story unfolds before coming to a head in Mogadishu. This is the second of a new four-part series which mixes eyewitness testimony with drama-reconstruction and adrenalised point-of-view footage to powerfully re-create the finest moments of Britain’s Special Forces.
Ep 3: Last Stand In Oman
In July 1972 a nine-man SAS team stationed deep in enemy territory in Oman found itself confronted by over 300 enemy insurgents. What followed has arguably become the greatest SAS battle of all, as the men desperately fought to hold their position near the town of Mirbat against successive waves of attack. In a story of hope and despair, jet fighters were sent to try to support them yet the men suffered losses in their relentless struggle to defend a large artillery gun. Finally the soldiers were relieved by another squadron of SAS troopers based further along the coast. Like the others in the series, the film mixes eyewitness testimony with drama-reconstruction and archive to recreate the finest moments of Britain’s Special Forces.
Ep 4: Operation Certain Death
In August 2000 12 British soldiers, members of the Royal Irish Regiment, were taken hostage in Sierra Leone by a group of armed rebels, the notorious West Side Boys. Beaten and abused for almost three weeks, the men were convinced they were about to be killed by their guards. This is the story of the extraordinary mission to free the captured soldiers. In a hugely risky rescue operation mounted by the SAS and the Parachute Regiment, the struggle to reach the hostages was as dangerous as it was daring. While the Paras attacked one part of the rebels’ camp, the SAS fast-roped out of hovering Chinook helicopters and freed the soldiers. Mixing eyewitness testimony with drama-reconstruction, archive and adrenalised point-of-view footage the show tells the story of perhaps the most ambitious British Special Forces Mission of all