Based on Ben Macintyre’s book of the same name, the series will offer a dramatised account of the formation of the SAS during the deadly height of World War Two.

Connor Swindells (Sex Education) will front the series as David Stirling, an eccentric young officer desperate for action after being hospitalised during a training exercise accident in Cairo, 1941. Convinced that the army commando units are failing, he formulates a radical plan to recruit the nation’s toughest and brightest soldiers for a small undercover unit.

Subverting all the traditional rules of modern warfare, the rebellious and heroic SAS crew are set a mission to create as much mayhem behind enemy lines as possible.

Leading the cast alongside Swindells are Jack O’Connell (Skins) as Paddy Mayne, Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones) as Jock Lewes, Sofia Boutella (Modern Love) as Eve and Dominic West (The Wire) as Lieutenant Colonel Wrangel Clarke.

The six-part series will also feature Amir El Masry (Industry), Theo Barklem-Biggs (The First Team), Corin Silva (The Bay), Jacob Ifan (The Accident), Dónal Finn (Cursed), Jacob McCarthy (The Last Summer), Michael Schaeffer (Chernobyl), and Miles Jupp (The Great).

Connor Swindells commented: “I feel tremendously honoured to be joining this series with such a talented group of people. Portraying such an interesting man is incredibly exciting and I feel very lucky to be able to do so. It’s going to be an amazing ride.”

Writer Steven Knight added: “I’m really excited to be gathering together the very best of a new generation of British and International talent to tell this remarkable story. The people who are depicted and who did such extraordinary things were young, in their 20s, and we have made a conscious decision to cast people of the same age. We enter this project with a spirit of adventure and believe our young and talented actors will do justice to this period of history.”