Brutal and unaccountable SAS have no place in light entertainment

The review of Channel 4’s new television programme SAS Who Dares Wins which was carried on your website on Wednesday, October 19, appears to be completely oblivious to the fact that this is a so-called “game show” based around a regiment of the British army that is responsible for the deaths of Irish citizens.

I chose not to watch the programme because I believe the premise behind it is simple, old-fashioned propaganda. It seeks to dull in the viewers’ minds the reason and purpose for the existence of the SAS in the first instance. This is a regiment of the British Army who work in close combat, highly secret operations and who use the cloak of national security to avoid accountability when their actions are outside of the law. They are trained killers who do not take prisoners. They are not personal trainers seeking to assist contestants in achieving their peak fitness.

Anyone who thinks that this programme is about developing skills in physical and mental endurance has completely fallen for the propaganda that it is. There is no way this programme was allowed to be made without the endorsement of the British Ministry of Defence, or at very least its tacit agreement. In showcasing the physical and mental endurance skills of their covert soldiers, they reinforce a national pride in “our boys” and the elite nature of the SAS regiment.