FAQ

In some ways extremely so. The SAS training in hostage rescue at the 'Killing House' at Hereford and escape and evasion in the nearby Welsh mountains is very true to life. In the 1980s Arab governments such as Libya, Iraq and Iran really did sponsor terrorism in the UK and were supported by extreme left-wing politicians (dubbed the 'looney left' by the press) in the British parliament. The scene where the SAS storm Skellen's flat in order to rescue his family,(boring tiny holes in the wall in order to insert bugs, blasting in using a shaped explosive charge and killing the terrorists with 'double taps'to the head) is identical to the tactics used during the Iranian Embassy siege. The sequence where an SAS trooper catches fire whilst breaching the US Ambassador's residence is taken directly from real life events, Sgt John MacCleese of the SAS doing just that at the Iranian Embassy assault. Igrid Pitt's character is very blatantly based on Ulrike Meinhoff of the infamous German Baader/Meinhoff terrorist group.

The SAS (Special Air Service) were a British and Commonwealth special forces unit formed during World War 2 to conduct irregular warfare behind enemy lines. Britain, New Zealand and Australia all have their own SAS units expert in counter-insurgency, commando raids and anti-terrorism