Was SAS: Rogue Heroes’ Paddy Mayne gay? The truth behind the hit BBC war series

The BBC’s critically acclaimed drama SAS: Rogue Heroes is back for season two on BBC One and iPlayer, with lieutenant colonel Paddy Mayne taking centre stage.

Based on the true story of the formation of the Special Air Service (SAS) and the elite unit’s exploits in the WWII, season two began with lieutenant David Stirling, played by Sex Education star Connor Swindells, as a prisoner of war in Italy.

Cantankerous live-wire Mayne (Unbroken and Skins favourite Jack O’Connell) was left to spearhead the next essential operation, in southern Italy.

While the new season continued to explore the trauma Mayne endured, from the capture of his good friend Stirling, to the death of his father, his method of dealing with it remained the same. During season one of Steven Knight’s (Peaky Blinders) drama, viewers watched as he used the guise of masculinity – bar fights, the killing of enemy troops, booze and sports (he had played international rugby) – as coping mechanisms.

One struggle alluded to was Mayne’s sexuality, with implications that he could have been gay.

Was Paddy Mayne gay?

Considering the series is based on true events, questions have been raised about whether Mayne – one of the founding members of the SAS – grappled in real life with his sexuality.

For years, historians have for mulled over the possibility that Mayne was gay, with journalist and author Martin Dillon seemingly the first to raise the question in the 2003 rewrite of his Rogue Warrior of the SAS: The Blair Mayne Legend, which he co-wrote in 1987.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph following the book’s publication, Dillon said: “Raising questions about his personal life, and conflicted sexuality, were not intended to besmirch his reputation. As I pointed out, there was no evidence he was a practicing homosexual but I raised questions about his sexuality, as did some of those who served with him.

“Sometimes, questions encourage us to look deeper into the personal behaviour of our heroes, in order to better understand what motivated or shaped them. If Blair Mayne hid aspects of his sexuality, it does not erode my respect for him and his crucial role in the Second World War.”

Other historians, including Hamish Ross, one of Mayne’s most recent biographers, and the author of Paddy Mayne: Lt Col Blair “Paddy” Mayne, 1 SAS Regiment, have cast doubt on the theory. Some have said that he had a girlfriend back home in Ireland before the war.

There is no evidence to suggest that Mayne was gay, with the rumour seeming to evolve from his suggested “shyness” around women, and his propensity for drunken violence, which some have assumed was a response to having to repress his sexuality.

During Mayne’s lifetime – he died in a car crash in 1955, at the age of 40 – being gay was illegal in the UK and Ireland. There have been a number of campaigns to have him posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry but even as recently as 2005, the UK government declined to look at it again.

SAS: Rogue Heroes is streaming now on BBC iPlayer and season two continues on BBC1 on Sundays.

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